Has anyone tried playing a piece they know really well w/out visual aid? If ever there was a way to test if you know a piece, I'd say that's it!

HM

actually, once you really have memorizied a piece you could just play it with or without looking at your hands at all. because of hand memory, you can simply close your eyes and play that piece, but the exceptions are those difficult pieces where some passages are just too difficult without visual checking (such as big leaps or hand crossing etc). for easy pieces, such as Bach's prelude in C (WTC I), i can absolutely play it with my eyes closed.

I usually don't try to play with my eyes completely closed.

I do remember that my teacher forced me to do this once, sort of. The hands were very far apart on the keyboard, so I was looking back and forth between them as though watching a tennis match. He told me that I should pick one hand to focus on and play the other without looking. To prove this was possible, he took the music and held it over my right hand, which had the melody. Lo and behold, I was able to play the right hand just fine.

I agree with Signa. If I've got a piece memorized well enough, I will usually play with my eyes closed and try to get lost in the music...at least until I screw it up. But I will still have to peek on more difficult passages.

It's interesting about looking at one hand when the hands are far apart. For me, there is an intermediate step when learning a scale in contra motion where I will be focusing only on one hand (always my left for some reason) and not ping ponging my eyes back and forth.

the pieces I've learned well and committed to memory, I tend to have my eyes closed.. When hands are far apart, I tend to look at my left hand, even though my right hand might be doing the faster melodic stuff. Not sure why that is. My teacher will often have me look at the hand he sees I'm not looking at, just to mix things up.

When I look at my hands (which I don't normally do), I seem to look exclusively at my left hand even if the right one is doing more difficult motions. Maybe it's because I'm left-handed?

HermanM,

To test myself I'd just take off my glasses ..... If I dare take a peek, I believe the keyboard would look like a zebra & the music would look like vanilla/chocolate swirl ice cream..... Hence, I'd be either dizzy or hungry. The other choice of course, leaves me closing my eyes & acting a bit like Ray Charles. Needless to say, I try not to do much memory work .

That's exactly what I find with my playing. I am right handed though.