In many areas of life, especially when learning something new, you may choose to be a skimmer, or you may choose to be a diver. A skimmer would learn the new skill or subject "well enough," but not at a deep level. You might need to give a talk on the subject, so you study it, but you don't intend to become an expert on it. If you're a diver, you want to go deep into the subject and perhaps attain some level of mastery of it. If you're a skimmer, you can expose yourself to a wide range of material, since you'll spend less time on each skill or topic, but if you're a diver, you'll have to be more selective so you can have the time to acquire the mastery.
Regarding the piano, being a skimmer doesn't necessarily mean you learn superficially. However, many people do just that. They start learning a piece, maybe sight-read through it, but then, when it starts to get difficult to conquer the technical challenges, for example, they lose interest and move on to another piece. There could be some valid reasons to do this: perhaps you want to see if you enjoy the sound of the piece enough to actually work on it. If you don't, you can move on. However, virtually every piece of music affords opportunities to improve your skills; if you don't pursue those, you won't get much out of the time you spent on it. And you'll still have to acquire those skills in another piece in the future. Just "learning the notes" is, by definition, skimming. If you don't imbue the music with expression, nuance, and energy, you are just skating on the surface. No one would want to hear such a rendition, and neither should you.
A concert pianist would have to be a diver. They would need to master every piece they perform, not just in terms of notes, but in order to create as much beauty as possible. However, outside the concert hall, they may enjoy skimming from time to time, to explore new music, perhaps.
Those of you reading this blog are probably neither concert pianists nor aspiring concert pianists. That is fine! Piano is a skill that can be enjoyed at any level, any age, any phase of life. It is my belief that people enjoy it more if they improve and make progress as opposed to repeating the same things over and over. So, for the beginning or intermediate level pianist, let's explore how skimming and diving might apply.
I start my students playing by ear, and add reading later. Whether by ear or reading, the pieces I assign necessitate that the student learn some very basic skills, such as just being able to move your hands around the keyboard (not as easy as it sounds, as any beginner will attest). When they basically have it, we move on. It doesn't need to be "perfect." Trying to get each of these very short beginner pieces perfect would mean you will progress far too slowly. Forget about perfection. You've probably heard the phrase "perfect is the enemy of the good." It definitely is true here. (However, having the correct rhythm is non-negotiable. Once you start cutting corners on rhythm, you may never develop a good sense of rhythm.) So, in a sense, they are skimming, but with a purpose.
Once they are out of the beginner books, I assign pieces that hone primarily one main skill in each piece. For example, Bach's C major prelude from the Well Tempered Clavier, Book I, is a piece where every measure has the same technical skill: broken chords split between hands, which need to be played smoothly connected. Just by working on this piece you would get a lot of practice on this one skill. Of course, it's not just a matter of learning the notes: the teacher needs to show and teach the skill of being able to do this in a way which is legato and well-phrased. This would be a piece which I recommend they "dive" into. We would continue to work on it until it had a "long line" (not be choppy), and had meaningful dynamics, and where the student really engages with it emotionally. It would also be memorized. I have found over the years that my students derive a great deal of satisfaction in playing this staple of piano literature really well.
As the student progresses, we select some pieces to semi-skim, that is, to use as vehicles primarily to attain new skills. Of course I still want them to play with emotional engagement and make it lovely to listen to, but they won't spend long enough on the pieces to really master them. We will choose other pieces that we want to take to a deeper level, to really explore the possibilites for nuance and expression. I feel this approach is best for several reasons. Most students have busy lives and need to practice smart, not long hours. This is the most efficient use of practice time. It is also the most enjoyable. You spend less time on the pieces you like but don't love, yet still get valuable benefits from them. And you spend more time on the pieces you really love.
I once had an adult student who told me that when he was young, his teacher had him work on one piece only for the whole year (yes you read that right!) so that he could play it perfectly at the recital. The teacher wanted "perfection" so it would reflect well on her, of course. Do you think the student played "perfectly?" Of course not; he was so bored and sick of the piece it was probably mechanical and dull. She had him do 100% diving and no skimming. He would have acquired a very limited range of skills from just one piece. And of course he hated the lessons and quit right after the recital.
It's important for the teacher and student to understand the difference between skimming and diving, and when to employ each.
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