{"id":26254,"date":"2022-06-01T08:43:12","date_gmt":"2022-06-01T06:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edwinm29.sg-host.com\/?p=26254"},"modified":"2025-03-10T12:33:44","modified_gmt":"2025-03-10T11:33:44","slug":"strategies-to-practice-music-away-from-a-piano","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skoove.com\/blog\/strategies-to-practice-music-away-from-a-piano\/","title":{"rendered":"Strategies to practice music away from a piano"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_86 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #103133;color:#103133\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #103133;color:#103133\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.skoove.com\/blog\/strategies-to-practice-music-away-from-a-piano\/#Can_I_practice_piano_without_a_piano\" >Can I practice piano without a piano?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.skoove.com\/blog\/strategies-to-practice-music-away-from-a-piano\/#Using_visualization_as_a_practice_technique\" >Using visualization as a practice technique<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.skoove.com\/blog\/strategies-to-practice-music-away-from-a-piano\/#Rhythm_practice\" >Rhythm practice<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.skoove.com\/blog\/strategies-to-practice-music-away-from-a-piano\/#Pitch_and_ear_training_practice\" >Pitch and ear training practice<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.skoove.com\/blog\/strategies-to-practice-music-away-from-a-piano\/#Physical_exercises\" >Physical exercises<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.skoove.com\/blog\/strategies-to-practice-music-away-from-a-piano\/#More_learning_options\" >More learning options<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The more you practice piano, the faster you will improve. That is a basic fact of piano playing that we all must deal with. However, we do not always have access to the piano, even when we want to practice. Fortunately, it is possible to practice music away from the piano!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This week we will dive into some strategies we can use to practice music away from the piano. Often, these types of practices help us to expand our general musician skills, not just the piano specific movements that we practice with the instrument.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"componentContainer\"><div class=\"row\"><div class=\"column\"><div class=\"h2Notable\">Start your musical journey<\/div><ul><li><span><strong>Fall in love with the music -<\/strong> Learn your favorite songs, at a level suitable for you.<\/span><\/li><li><span><strong>Enjoy interactive piano lessons -<\/strong> Explore courses covering music theory, technique chords & more.<\/span><\/li><li><span><strong>Get real-time feedback -<\/strong> Skoove's feedback tells you what went well and what needs practice.<\/span><\/li><\/ul><\/div><div class=\"column\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/optimized\/iPhone15-1A-3-800.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"846\" class=\"alignnone size-large\" \/><\/div><\/div><small><\/small><a class=\"skooveButton skooveButtonWithin\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Book a trial lesson\" href=\"https:\/\/www.skoove.com\/auth\/register_promotion?coupon=7d-blog-npd&utm_source=blog&utm_medium=btf&utm_campaign=7d-blog-npd&t=Start%20a%207%20day%20free%20trial&st=No%20credit%20card%20required!\" rel=\"noopener\">Book a trial lesson<\/a><small>No credit card details required<\/small><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Can_I_practice_piano_without_a_piano\"><\/span><strong>Can I practice piano without a piano?<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yes of course, it is possible to practice piano without a piano. It is even simpler to practice pure musical skills such as rhythm and pitch away from the piano. We can use various techniques to practice away from the instrument. Examples include visualization exercises with musical scores, rhythmic <a href=\"\/blog\/piano-games\/\">piano learning games<\/a>, pitch games, and bodily awareness exercises.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Using_visualization_as_a_practice_technique\"><\/span><strong>Using visualization as a practice technique<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"\/blog\/how-to-remember-piano-notes\/\">Visualizing your piano practice<\/a> is an effective way to practice away from the instrument. Best of all, you can practice visualization in many places. For example, if you are traveling long distance, you can practice visualizing on an airplane, bus, or train.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>How to practice visualization<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can practice visualization in many different ways. For example, you can practice purely imagining playing <a href=\"\/blog\/piano-keys\/\">the piano keys<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0in your mind. Practice visualizing yourself practicing the basic warm up and scale exercises you do. Imagine moving your hands on the keys. The more clearly you can picture yourself doing this, the more effective it will be.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Think of all the times you see professional athletes or performers close their eyes before they begin. They are visualizing what they are about to do in order to put themselves in the proper mindset to perform. We can use these same tactics to practice music away from the piano.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Visualizing scores<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We can also practice away from the piano by using our notated scores. Try this out with any sheet music you have. While looking at the sheet music, visualize yourself practicing the music. You can break it down even further by just visualizing yourself practicing the hands separately. This is a great way to assist you in memorizing the music as well!<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"ast-oembed-container\"><iframe title=\"Mrs Robinson &amp; Sight reading\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/712024583?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"500\" height=\"231\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span class='maxbutton-1-container mb-container'><a class=\"maxbutton-1 maxbutton maxbutton-christmas\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Go to the course\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.skoove.com\/en\/auth\/register_promotion?coupon=7d-blog-npd\"><span class='mb-text'>Go to the lesson<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can do this as well with music that you have never played. The next time you are traveling away from your piano, bring along some sheet music that you have never played. Try to sit and imagine yourself playing the music. This is a great way to build your imagination skills, as well as your rhythm and pitch training. Additionally, practicing like this will help you learn to <\/span><a href=\"\/blog\/how-to-read-sheet-music\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">read piano sheet music faster<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Rhythm_practice\"><\/span><strong>Rhythm practice<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Practicing away from the piano presents awesome opportunities to practice our rhythm. There are many great ways to do this. We can practice different <\/span><a href=\"\/blog\/rhythm-in-music\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">rhythms in music<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> while listening to songs we enjoy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, put on a pop song that you like. See if you can tap your foot on the first beat of every measure. What about the third beat? Once you can do that, try to tap your foot and second and fourth beats. Can you identify which beat the snare drum is playing on or which <\/span><a href=\"\/blog\/time-signatures-explained\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">time signature<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the piece is in?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"ast-oembed-container\"><iframe title=\"Valse d&#039;Amelie II &amp; The 3\/4 time signature\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/712028151?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"500\" height=\"231\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span class='maxbutton-1-container mb-container'><a class=\"maxbutton-1 maxbutton maxbutton-christmas\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Go to the course\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.skoove.com\/en\/auth\/register_promotion?coupon=7d-blog-npd\"><span class='mb-text'>Go to the lesson<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can also practice rhythms by clapping or tapping on your body. Try this: start by tapping a basic pulse on your knees with both hands. These are quarter notes. Then, try to switch your right hand to eighth notes. You will be tapping twice as fast in your right hand than in your left hand. If it feels uncomfortable or you get thrown off, keep trying. Switch between your hands until you can move between them quite easily. There are many different ways to practice rhythms between your hands like this.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can also adapt the score visualization practice to a pure rhythm practice. Look at any piece of music and see if you can count out the rhythm. You can do it in your head, by tapping on your knees, or clapping. This is a great way to develop your pure rhythmic skills aways from the piano.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Pitch_and_ear_training_practice\"><\/span><strong>Pitch and ear training practice<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Practicing pitch and <a href=\"\/blog\/ear-training-exercises\/\">ear training<\/a> is another great musical skill we can develop away from the piano. <a href=\"\/blog\/piano-pitches-in-music\/\">Pitch in music<\/a> might be slightly more difficult to imagine for some people compared to rhythm, but nonetheless there are a handful of solid strategies we can use to develop our ears away from instruments.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, we can practice identifying parts of music by ear. We can either try to identify specific pitches, key centers, chord changes, or even instrumentation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Listen back to the pop song from your rhythm practice. Can you sing the melody of the chorus in your head? What about the bassline? Are you able to name any of those pitches or recognize any of the intervals? Can you identify the main key center of that song? Or any of the chord changes? These are all great skills we can develop by practicing away from the piano.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"ast-oembed-container\"><iframe title=\"New Age II &amp; intervals\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/712026092?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"500\" height=\"231\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span class='maxbutton-1-container mb-container'><a class=\"maxbutton-1 maxbutton maxbutton-christmas\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Go to the course\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.skoove.com\/en\/auth\/register_promotion?coupon=7d-blog-npd\"><span class='mb-text'>Go to the lesson<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can also adapt this same idea to the score practice, like we did with rhythm and visualization. Try now to look at the pitches of the sheet music you brought with you and attempt to sing, internally if you wish, the different parts of the song. Of course, with more complicated music you will not be able to sing all the parts, but try to identify what you can.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Physical_exercises\"><\/span><strong>Physical exercises<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Finally, there are some physical strategies you can use to practice while you are away from <a href=\"\/blog\/how-to-remember-piano-notes\/\">the piano notes<\/a>.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0Examples of physical strategies include:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Practicing proper finger shape and relaxation<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Finger exercises performed on table tops or other flat surfaces<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rhythmic drills in the fingers<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Practicing entire pieces of music on table tops or other flat surfaces<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"More_learning_options\"><\/span><strong>More learning options<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Of course, practicing with online piano lessons or a <\/span><a href=\"\/blog\/best-piano-apps\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">learn piano app<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is another great way to exercise your musical skills even when you do not have direct access to a piano. If you have your phone or tablet, you can use it<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0to practice repertoire or other lessons with Skoove or read from our extensive collection of articles on music theory and piano topics. There is always a new musical world to explore, even when you are away from the piano!<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Tying it all together<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Finding time to practice consistently can be a challenge for many people. Between juggling busy lives and engagements, it can feel difficult to progress in a meaningful way. Fortunately, there are many strategies we can use to practice music away from the piano.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Next time you are away from the piano, try practicing some of these strategies. Visualize yourself practicing some new sheet music. Try tapping out new rhythms or listening to a chord change to identify its properties. Try playing through some repertoire on the table top at the coffee shop.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This way, we end up spending much more time thinking about and engaging with music and will most likely have more satisfying results when the time comes to practice with the instrument again!<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"ast-oembed-container\"><iframe title=\"Skoove\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/479012867?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"500\" height=\"231\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class='maxbutton-1-container mb-container'><a class=\"maxbutton-1 maxbutton maxbutton-christmas\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Start free trial\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.skoove.com\/en\/app\/account\/promotion\/ONBOARDING\/12-month?utm_source=blog&#038;utm_medium=contextual&#038;utm_campaign=free-trial&#038;utm_content=contextual-link-free-trial\"><span class='mb-text'>Start free trial<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Author of this blog post:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-6965 aligncenter\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Author-Box-Edward-1.png\" alt=\"Edward Bond\" width=\"212\" height=\"217\" \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Eddie Bond is a multi-instrumentalist performer, composer, and music instructor currently based in Seattle, Washington USA. He has performed extensively in the US, Canada, Argentina, and China, released over 40 albums, and has over a decade experience working with music students of all ages and ability levels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The more you practice piano, the faster you will improve. That is a basic fact of piano playing that we all must deal with. However, we do not always have access to the piano, even when we want to practice. Fortunately, it is possible to practice music away from the piano!\u00a0 This week we will &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"\/blog\/strategies-to-practice-music-away-from-a-piano\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Strategies to practice music away from a piano<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":26810,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_titles_title":"Strategies to practice music away from a piano","_seopress_titles_desc":"Learn some basic strategies to practice music away from the piano ,including visualization, and rhythm, and pitch games.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"both","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":301,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[245],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-piano-tips-tricks"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skoove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skoove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skoove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skoove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skoove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.skoove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skoove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skoove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skoove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skoove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}