Learning Piano Without a Piano: Exploring Alternative Approaches
It might seem paradoxical to ask, "Can you learn piano without a piano?" After all, what is the point of learning how to play piano if you don't have an instrument to play it on? However, there are many benefits to learning piano even if you don't have one. Learning how to play piano is a great starting place for deepening your relationship with music, developing your musical skills, and expanding what you already know. Playing piano can help you become a better karaoke singer or connect the dots between everything you've been learning in guitar lessons. Learning how to play piano will help you make sense of how to mix beats or write your own songs. Learning piano is also a way to understand the music that you're already listening to.
Unleashing the Power of the Mind: Mental Practice
One approach to learning piano without a piano involves what one piano student lovingly calls, "Jedi mind tricks." This involves mental practice, audiation (the process of hearing the music in your head), and visualization. A student tuned in to a piano class even though she was feeling sick. Instead of sitting at the piano and playing the material along with us, she opted to watch the video away from the piano and to visualize the movements instead. She reported later that by listening and watching the class while visualizing her own physical movements, that she actually found she absorbed the material better than when she was following along at the piano. It shows that there is a way for you to know how can you learn piano without a piano.
When I was teaching a large group piano class to middle school students years ago, most middle schoolers had iPad with piano apps to play along with the lesson during the class. Occasionally though, we would always have a student that forgot their iPad, or forgot to charge it, anyway. Classic. Those students would be handed a printed copy of a piano keyboard- the same size and same shape as the piano keys. They would then “play” the piano along with the lesson. By putting their hands on the printout of the keyboard, and moving their fingers along with the lesson they were viewing and listening to they were often able to internalize the lesson as successfully as the students surrounding them playing on the digital keyboards.
My first exposure to other people using these “jedi mind tricks,” or simply, mental practice on piano, outside of my own experience was a professor of mine who swore up and down that he learned a new piano piece from beginning to end while flying to Japan. He said that he hadn't planned to learn this repertoire, and that during the flight he visualized the piece, audiated the music (maybe he listened to the piece on cassette too) and imagined himself physically enacting the movements required to play this piece. He claims that by the time he landed in Japan, he had the completely learned and memorized this piece, and his first time playing the piece on the piano was for a full concert hall at the venue! It’s possible that my professor exaggerated this story, but the thing is- I believe him. I believe that it is possible to learn piano from mental practice, audiation (the process of hearing the music in your head) and visualization.
Mental practice-visualizing yourself playing a piece in your head-can help you progress faster. Of course, mental practice isn’t a substitution for actually sitting down at the piano. But it’s a way to keep your mind and body sharp while you’re away from the keys.
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Mobile Keyboards: A Piano in Your Pocket
One amazing way to learn piano without a piano is to download a piano app onto your phone or tablet. This is a great solution because you not only get to see the piano keyboard and learn how to navigate the layout of the piano keys, you also get the experience of pressing down your finger on the correct key and hearing the sound of that key. Or the wrong key, and hearing the sound of that key- there’s a valuable lesson there, too. You can play chords, you can play melodies with each hand, and you can even play both hands together if you're on a large enough device or you adjust the settings and the key size. Because you can adjust the key size, you can also emulate the size of a real piano's keys to help prepare yourself for playing a different instrument in the future.
The best thing about these piano apps is that you can access a piano using the tools that you already have. This perk is two-fold: If you’re trying to learn piano for the first time, then you might not feel ready to buy a piano. It also means that once you’ve downloaded a piano app, you can truly play piano anywhere that you might bring a phone or tablet! You can truly play piano anywhere. That’s the beauty of figuring out how you can learn piano without a piano.
For unfamiliar or complex pieces, it can be helpful to see and hear how the music in both hands fits together at a slower tempo. On MuseScore, you can also upload your own arrangements and music for other users to see, play, and learn from.
Exploring Piano Alternatives
Of course there have always been different variations of pianos. Even before we had an app for that, we had roll-out pianos as an option. I want to love the roll out piano, but all of the ones that I've played so far make it difficult to press several notes at the same time. Maybe I should try again- I might have better luck with a newer model. There are also melodicas which are wind powered keyboards. These are keyboards that you hold like a saxophone and blow into in order to press the notes down, or you can use the tube attached and play it like a regular piano with two hands together. An accordion is another type of wind powered piano. The accordion has more intricacies and details, along with cultural context that characterizes it as its own instrumental category entirely- a keyboard instrument and more. There are truly classic examples of piano alternatives including synthesizer, organ and electric piano keyboards.
Consider investing in a travel-sized keyboard. Thanks to new technology, there are tons of portable keyboard instruments you can bring on your travels. Consider a melodica (the Hohner Performer 37 is a solid model to start with), the Yamaha Reface synthesizers, the Roland GO:KEYS, and the Korg Liano.
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The Importance of Practice, Anywhere and Everywhere
This seems like a good time to say that playing any instrument is going to be more fruitful than playing no instrument at all. I know that may sound obvious, but there was a point in time when I was having a lot of trouble finding a healthy and regular practice routine. When I was in college studying piano, I had professors talk me out of using my keyboard-which was a full sized weighted key piano keyboard equivalent, because they said that it wouldn't give me the same experiences playing a grand piano. They were right that the keyboard is different from playing an acoustic piano and the quality of sound and the touch sensation are different. However-I was still better off practicing my my electric keyboard at home and spending more time making music than I was waiting until I had opportunities to play acoustic pianos. In that context I think that I was best served by practicing on the acoustic pianos to prepare for performances on similar pianos. What I mean by that if I as if I had a performance coming up, then each week I would structure my time at an acoustic piano in preparation for playing that. That's how I structure my practice time now, actually. I regret letting that professor's feedback influence the way that I practiced on my own. Had I thought long and hard about it, I would have realized that any piano player living in a major city or just getting out of college is of course going to be practicing on an electric keyboard, not a full sized piano.
And you as a beginner piano player, as someone beginning their journey to deepen into relationship with music, you are going to learn more and learn better and have so much fun if you aren't stressing yourself out about whether you have space for a piano or if you have the money to spend on something or if you're willing to match the same amount of time that you would put in money or space in order to learn this. You were gonna have the best experience right now if you aren't sitting around waiting for the perfect instrument or whether this is right timing and you just go ahead and get started playing and making music and having fun and enjoying it. That's what the class Play Piano Anywhere is all about. It's a call, or an invitation, to bring you to the piano even if you feel like you're not ready. It’s a way to learn how to play piano even if you don't have a piano. Even if you don't expect to have a long relationship with playing the piano and. you just want to try piano out for the first time- you can learn piano without a piano. You can learn about music without sitting at an acoustic piano. You can still learn piano even if you live in a tiny apartment in NYC or LA. The online beginner piano piano class for adults Play Piano Anywhere is a starting point for people to learn piano without a piano, but will also provide a guide for you if you are ready to try playing on a piano when you're ready to move from your entry level experience into a full sized instrument of some kind.
Finger Exercises on the Go
You can practice finger independence and dexterity on the go. First, create some patterns. Write down the finger numbers 1 to 5 in random order. Then, play that pattern on your desk with each hand. Mix up the order of numbers. You can also use a metronome and slowly ramp up the speed. Don’t want to bring a metronome? Try to lift and press each finger individually without moving the others. Personally, I always find the 4 finger (the ring finger) to be a struggle. Try playing scales on your forearm. Why your forearm? Because you can feel exactly how hard each finger is pressing. Again, try doing this with a metronome. One thing you can absolutely practice on the go? Rhythm exercises are a great way to practice hand independence, one of the trickiest piano techniques for beginners to master. Try tapping one note value with one hand and another note value on the other. Then, try tapping some trickier rhythms, like polyrhythms.
Tabletop Piano: An Imaginary Instrument
Exercise your fingers by tapping them on a tabletop as if you were striking keys. When you tap away, do rhythm finger drills or play through an entire song. If you need to memorize a piece, study the score 1 bar at a time and tap each hand’s part on the tabletop. Gradually build up parts and bars until you’ve worked through the entire song. Use a tabletop as a “piano” and practice scales or finger patterns on it. To memorize, learn 1 bar at a time, 1 hand at a time on a tabletop. For example, as you ascend (most) scales with your right hand, practice crossing your thumb to play the scale’s fourth note. As you ascend (most) scales with your left hand, cross your middle finger to play the sixth note. Try to play with equal pressure from each finger. Starting with your thumb and ending with your pinky, tap all 5 fingers as if you were tapping the white keys from middle C to G. Ascend and descend, or tap from your thumb to your pinky, then from your pinky to your thumb. Number your fingers 1 through 5 from your thumb to your pinky (your thumb is 1 in both hands). Pick a combination of numbers, such as 1, 2, and 5. Switch up your combinations and make them more complex. Practicing scales and drills with your non-dominant hand can help you improve your coordination and dexterity-even if you’re just using a counter. Practice playing a piece on a tabletop either from a score or by memory. Try to imagine playing it as vividly as possible. Work slowly through awkward passages and try out different fingerings to see what feels most comfortable. Playing on a tabletop is great for your muscle memory.
Paper Keyboard: A Visual Aid
I was 11 years old when I asked my mum for piano lessons, in 2010. We were in the fallout of the recession and she’d recently been made redundant. She said a polite “no”.That didn’t deter me. I Googled the dimensions of a keyboard, drew the keys on to a piece of paper and stuck it on my desk. I would click notes on an online keyboard and “play” them back on my paper one - keeping the sound they made on the computer in my head. After a while I could hear the notes in my head while pressing the keys on the paper. I spent six months playing scales and chord sequences without touching a real piano. Once my mum saw it wasn’t a fad, she borrowed some money from family and friends, and bought me 10 lessons.I still remember the first one. I was struck by how organic the sound of the piano was, as I had become familiar with the artificial electronic sound. The teacher tried to explain where middle C was but I could already play all the major and minor scales, as well as tonic and dominant functions, and the circle of fifths.I sat my grade one after eight lessons and got distinction. By the time I started secondary school, we couldn’t afford lessons again, so I returned to my paper keyboard. I passed grade three, then grade five, practising only on my piece of paper.
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When you’re just starting out, trace the dimensions of a standard piano keyboard onto a piece of paper. Practice simple chord progressions and fingering on the paper keys.
Public Pianos: A Community Resource
Believe it or not, there are probably several pianos available to play for free around your community. I have had students take lessons from pianos at music stores, which sometimes have rent to own options or used and refurbished instruments. I've also seen folks learn piano at a church, or using neighbor's piano or even at the library. Major city public libraries and universities will often have pianos and music practice rooms available. This is the kind of sleuthing that will likely require you to ask around, you might not find the answer to this from a search on the Internet.
One of my favorite best kept secrets is the fact that you can get an acoustic piano for FREE! If you have the luxury of physical space, you will be amazed at the magic that is craigslist piano listings. There are always pianos listed for the cost of moving, or listed incredibly cheap. This is because a lot of people have never learned to play, and aren’t willing to pay for the cost of a piano tuning. You would be amazed at the amount of parents that buy electric keyboards for their kids, and when the kids give up on playing piano the parents give up the piano, families are quick to pass it on for free on community forums.
Find a public piano. Public pianos have become very popular in cities around the world. They’re not just great places to practice songs. You can also practice performing in front of an audience, play with other people, socialize, and jam!
Find somewhere to play piano for free near you: Many community centers and public schools have pianos that can be used by guests or students. Similarly, some cities have public piano initiatives that place pianos in parks, train stations, and other public spaces.
Online Resources
When you're away from the piano, watch and practice along with video lessons. Search YouTube for free tutorial videos on specific pieces or scales. Many music schools, universities, or arts nonprofits also offer free resources.
Start learning piano for free by searching for beginner piano lessons on Youtube.
Ear Training and Listening
Listen to music on a portable device. Finally, it’s easier than ever to listen to music on the go.
Listen to recordings of the piece (if there are any) several times to get the sound and style of the piece in your ear. Think about what kind of sound you want the piano to produce and what kind of shape you're giving each phrase. Imagining the sound and character of a piece of music can also help you memorize it.
Sight-Reading
Sight reading, or reading and playing a score at first sight, is an essential skill, but it can take some practice to master. Try apps like Sight-Reading (Piano) to drill your sight reading abilities.
Beginner Apps
If you’re just starting out, try using a free beginner’s app like Piano Maestro from JoyTunes.
Key Elements of Piano Technique
When you play the piano, your hands need to be rounded and relaxed. Try holding a ball or placing your hands on your kneecaps. When your fingers curve in a proper hand shape for piano, they shouldn’t be bent or tense.
Start by reading only the right hand melody in the piece’s first bar. After studying the first bar’s right hand part, start playing it on a tabletop as if it were a piano. Try to play the part 4 or 5 times without looking at the score. Move on to the left hand chords or melody when you’re confident that you have the first bar’s right hand part memorized. When you’re comfortable with the left hand, practice playing both hands together.
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