Can Pianists Play Any Song? Facts You Should Know
Piano is one of the most emotive instruments known to the human race. Due to its beautiful variety, texture and sound, piano is one of the most sought-after instruments for playing music. Learning piano takes a good degree of time, patience and skill.
Playing any song on the piano needs specific ear training and knowledge on piano music theory. Pianists can play any song without assistance, only if they have proper training and knowledge on advanced piano music theory. There are many pianists who can perform piano very well however they would need assistance of written sheet music to play any song or tune.
In this article we are going to explore the pre-conditions that will help musicians to play any song at any level as well as how to improve the piano playing capabilities.
Can Pianists Play any Song?
To answer this precisely, it depends on the skill level of the pianist. There are three categories of piano players who usually perform Piano live or at recordings.
1. Playing Piano by Ear
These musicians can play any song just by listening the tune by ear. They do not need notation or sheet music to decode the song. Usually, they pick up the main melody of the song and play the pieces based on their experience.
There is a special training coined as EAR TRAINING which precisely helps musicians to leverage and improve their listening skills to play most of the songs just by listening and converting the sound to notes on the piano.
Ear trained Players can almost play any song. Success Rate goes upto 90-95%.
2. Playing Piano by Sight Reading
Trained pianists who have been well conversant with staff notation for couple of years and grades in music, can play most of the songs using sight reading. Just as we do reading from a written transcript and speak aloud, so is the similar case with staff readers.
Such pianists can play songs by reading the notation of the piano. However, knowledge of piano music theory is highly essential to harness the maximum potential of playing any complex staff notation for a song.
Players with Sight Reading Staff Notation capabilities can play most of the songs. Success Rate goes upto 80-90%
3. Playing Piano Without any Formal Training
There are many musicians and pianists who fall into this category of players. They don’t have any formal training or ear, notation or any form of music. They attempt to play songs on piano or keyboard based on some random content from internet. Without proper training and guidance, they are not able to play most of the complex songs on the piano.
Players without formal training on Sight Reading, Ear Training and Piano Music Theory cannot play most of the songs. Success Rate goes upto 10-20%.
How to Play Any Song Instantly on Piano?
Some of the key points that will help you to improve your Piano playing capabilities to play any song instantly are mentioned below:
- Hire a Professional Mentor who can guide you to learn piano along with notation theory, sheet reading and playing piano music pieces properly.
- Learn and practice Piano Music Theory with the able support from your mentor. You would be able to play complex chords, arpeggios, progressions and ornaments with advanced music theory training.
- Sheet Notation Reading is extremely essential to play songs live without stumbling. You need to practice staff notes, symbols and read notation thoroughly to understand what to play in both the hands on your piano.
- Playing with both Hands for a complete music score or a song is highly recommended. With one hand you can play the melody lines and other hands for chords, backups and arpeggios to make the song complete and full-filling.
- Ear Training is key essential feature for you to master to play any song instantly. Listen to notes, group of notes or chords and try to play them with trial-error method. With a specialized mentor you can learn ear training and it will improve your playing skills significantly.
- Practice and Discipline will make you perfect in your playing skill, as always there is no shortcut to hard work.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Below is the list of the most commonly asked questions by our viewers who are musicians and have been playing the piano either as beginners, intermediate level or expert players.
1. Can I play any song instantly if I learn the Piano?
If you are beginner, you would be able to play the basic melody line / tune of the song by seeing the notation. If you are an intermediate professional, you would be able to play the song in a fulfilling way with chords, transitions and arpeggios.
2. How much time does it take to play any song just by listening to the song?
If you have solid ear training, or you are good at picking up songs by ear, it would take few minutes to play and write the notation of the song completely.
3. Why can’t I play all songs by Ear?
Some songs have complex arrangements and hence pianists need sheet music to play the songs. Expert pianists with solid ear training skills, can play almost all songs by ear. It really depends on your skill, level of the song as well.
4. How do I master piano playing so that I can play any song?
To master the art of playing piano perfectly with any song, you should complete the professional piano courses either online or in-person. With the training from a good mentor on ear training, music theory and piano grades 1-8, you would be a professional player within 3-4 years of your playing career.
We also recommend our 90 day digital course which would be quite effective for your piano learning and skill development.
5. How do I improve my piano skills so that I can sound professional?
Here are some of the key steps you need to undertake:
Get a good mentor who is best at his/her playing skills
Learn Piano Music Theory in detail with chords, progressions, ornaments and sheet music
You must hear music pieces from various composers and try to attempt to play them in both hands
Solicit feedback from your mentor for improvement in your playing techniques periodically
6. How can I learn Piano online and play any song?
To learn piano online and play any song with ease, take up our fully featured 90-day music course. You can also reach out for hiring professional mentors who can guide you for your piano training.
7. Is it necessary to learn music theory to play any song perfectly?
We advise you to learn Piano Music Theory which will enable to you get an extra edge among pianists as you would be able to decode, play and understand music pieces within minutes of your playing.
8. How can I learn speed staff notation reading, so that I can play any song I am asked to?
To learn staff and play any songs without stumbling, we advise you to go for a professional Western Piano Mentor with Grade-8 certification. All 8 grades of piano training will slowly enable you to learn chords, notes, progressions, arpeggios and also will help you to play notation without stumbling. Furthermore, your skill will only develop with regular discipline and practice of the exercises and assignments.
For more details about Certification Courses from Top 10 Universities in the world, here is a link to the article
Final Verdict and Conclusion
As a musician, if you want to enable yourself to play any song without stumbling or looking after the notation; you must be prepared for a disciplined journey towards mastering this instrument. This can be feasible with the help of a mentor who can guide towards perfection.
We hope our readers have understood the concept of playing any song on the piano and what it takes to achieve the feat. For more interesting articles on Piano, visit the PIANO Section of our website.
