Hey Andy, firstly, congrats on discovering ragtime, it was the first music I really got into when I first picked up piano. I collect my Roland FP-4 this week, not that it will help my playing! but I can't wait! I have also found really slowing it down, and trying to keep it as accurate as possible is really helping! Joplin isn't all that easy, but it is rewarding!Great advice Joplin isn't all that easy, but it is rewarding!
This takes time and I know in months to a year or so this will be significantly improved. If I don't, I find my LH can't consistently find the right notes. I find I have to memorize Joplin pieces so I can look at my hands while I play. I really hate doing this because I am inpatient, but I find the results pay off almost daily in terms of improvement. Once I know it well enough to keep from stalling, I am ready to practice the other hand, and then add them together at a slow speed. For me, once I am hitting the right notes, I try to get the timing down slow with a metronome. Also, learning one hand at a time until you have it correct helps. If you are learning part of the song that you have trouble on and finally get it, immediately go back and play it correctly several more times to help permanently train your muscle memory.ĭon't give up, just take it slow. I ended up memorizing the piece and playing it slowly, and now it is getting better.Īnother mistake I would make is that if I played it right, relieved I would press on. For me, I could not look at the music on the Entertainer and hit the right keys consistently on the left hand. Go very slow, and try to hit all the right notes. So, if you play something and hit the wrong notes, you are starting to build memory playing it incorrectly, and this takes time to fix.
My teacher told me this: For every time you play it wrong, you have to play it correctly 10x to fix. Other easier ragtime pieces by Joplin include: Solace, Elite Syncopations, The Cascades and Palm Leaf Rag.įor me, I wasted weeks on the Entertainer trying to learn it at speed, thinking the mistakes would go away. I think the Maple Leaf Rag is one of his hardest to play at speed, and the Entertainer is another of the hardest. I haven't learned them but I heard that the Willow Rag by Joplin is easier. I think I could learn a similar piece in much less time if I had started with better practice techniques. I just started back lessons and am an early intermediate player. I have been working on The Entertainer for almost 12 weeks now.
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