Dawn week 2 progress update

Below is my progress update video on the piece! I’ve stuck to my 15 minutes / day minimum practice time and am quite happy with my progress so far. Just after the video ends is when the piece gets into the very high fast part which will be tricky, but I’m excited to start learning it. I’ve found for learning the piece, penciling in the notes above the notation is handy as I’m still quite slow to read the music but getting better. Excited for the journey ahead!

After 1 week of learning the piece, I wanted to focus on proper hand position and posture. Yamaha (which is a professional piano brand and institute) recommends sitting with a straight back, relaxing the shoulders and elbows, while keeping majority of the weight in your buttocks. This seating position allows every part of your body to move freely up to your fingertips, and will allow the player to play the piano for prolonged periods of time without strain.

For the hand position specifically, it’s recommended to imaging your hand is holding or covering an egg. It’s important to not lay your fingers flat across the keys, but to arch them over an imaginary object, in way that allows your fingers to spread out, and will help with accuracy when not hitting unwanted keys.

I am still practicing implementing these techniques as posture is something I can struggle with sometimes, but ensuring I’m in the proper position before practicing has made a sizeable difference.