# Practice suggestions while away from home



## Sonata

So we're going downstate for a couple of days to visit family, which will cut into my already limited practice time. I won't have a keyboard where I'm going. Any suggestions on basic excercises to keep up the little knowledge I've gained so far? Should I just practice reading some sheet music, or memorizing the different scales? Any other suggestions are helpful.


----------



## Jaws

Sonata said:


> So we're going downstate for a couple of days to visit family, which will cut into my already limited practice time. I won't have a keyboard where I'm going. Any suggestions on basic excercises to keep up the little knowledge I've gained so far? Should I just practice reading some sheet music, or memorizing the different scales? Any other suggestions are helpful.


Have a rest. A couple of days won't make any difference.

There is no rush to learn to play the piano I assume? You are allowed to have holidays from playing, it is even a good idea to give yourself a rest from playing.


----------



## Sonata

Oh, it's not a rush. If anything I'm not playing nearly as much as I'd like to be. It's a passion to learn. As it was the little ones kept me too busy to even crack open my iPad. But that's ok with me . I'm really only getting about twenty minutes in about two days a week, with once a week I'll get on for an hour or so. I'll get there when I get there.


----------



## Jaws

Sonata said:


> Oh, it's not a rush. If anything I'm not playing nearly as much as I'd like to be. It's a passion to learn. As it was the little ones kept me too busy to even crack open my iPad. But that's ok with me . I'm really only getting about twenty minutes in about two days a week, with once a week I'll get on for an hour or so. I'll get there when I get there.


Would it be possible to do maybe 5 minutes on the days that you currently don't do any practice?


----------



## Sonata

I'm going to try to get myself out of bed a little earlier in the morning to do so.


----------



## Krummhorn

Visit a music store that sells piano's ... on the guise of 'looking' at pianos to purchase, take your music along ... try out a piano or two. Do several stores on different days ... OR ... ask a local church if you can practice an hour or so each day. 

On the other hand, a short break like this is not going to deteriorate your skills that much.

Kh ♫


----------



## Head_case

Hi there,

I don't play piano anymore but I do travel a lot, so I have a battery of things to mess around with when I go travelling without an instrument. Here's some.

1. Sheet music: I bring mine on my 4" smartphone so that I can read and memorise. Also, I upload several sight unseen pieces so that I can practice the fingering.

2. Rhythm practice: you always see people tapping impatiently; I try and tap to 8/16 beats or Bach's quatrains  You can finger tap and flex against anything - a metro tube post; the chair - the bald man's head in front etc.

3. A finger exerciser:










Always carry one around. You will need two, since your left hand dexterity will be slower than the right. I'm learning the harp, and find that I need to improve my right hand deftness - this really helps. Just 15 minutes a day whilst travelling. You can use it to develop different aspects of your fingering; strength as well as dexterity.

4. Breathing exercises - I guess these aren't as relevant to you since you play the piano whereas I play the flute mostly. Posture exercises are though. I find I tend to slouch lazily so much that when I play the flute, it is a conscious effort to maintain my air column posture. This should be second nature, so I guess I keep reminding myself to sit in the flute player's position. Not sure how that would apply to you 

5). Bring some music with you. I listen to flute music rarely, partly because of the noise around me makes it hard to listen at low volumes without turning it up. I stopped recording myself and listening to my own playing because my recording method was really dire and I was picking up everything except the sound I wanted. But I guess recording yourself and going over your playing with the iPad/kindle sheetmusic to read and see where you can improve helps.

Hope that doesn't feel like homework. I get itchy fingers if I don't practice playing everyday. It makes me really irritable. When I don't play for weeks, I become used to the inertia and then it is an even harder hurdle. By maintaining accessory exercises around playing, it seems to make the re-entry a bit easier


----------

