Would It Be Beneficial to First Learn a Piano Piece in Silence or at Low Volume, Before Moving on to Full-Sound Practice and Refinement?

Would it be a good approach to first learn a piano piece with the keyboard volume switched off or turned very low, or by using the soft pedal on the piano right from the beginning, before gradually moving on to fuller-sounding practice and musical refinement?

I have sometimes done this in the past and have been experimenting with it a little more recently. The idea is to first familiarise oneself with all the notes, rhythms, general techniques and physical movements without overloading the ears with sound, helping to minimise cumulative auditory fatigue over extended practice sessions.

Slow practice can also be incorporated at this initial stage. Working out the unwritten dynamics, phrasing and articulation can likewise begin during the learning process, through listening to and imagining the piece, or be explored further once one is familiar with the notes and rhythms and moves on to the piano.

I am curious whether this quieter approach to the initial stages of learning, followed by progressively fuller-sounding practice, might be beneficial before eventually refining the musical interpretation.

Does anyone else practise this way, and what has your experience been? Feel free to share : ) ...

Hi @Aw Ke Shen !

I actually did this before when I was young, as I always press the middle pedal of an upright to practice so everything is muted. I did this to strengthen my fingerings though.

Your learning approach as you describe would be mainly aural and theoretical, but there are also some people who learn by auditory or manual method, so it really depends. My recent learning approach would be to play the piece as close as the original tempo with all details. By forcing myself to so many things happening I actually learn faster than just grabbing details first, probably because I’m an N person (intuitive) in MBTI instead of an S person (sensory), so I need to grab the big picture before going into details first.

Henry

When you said

On 11/8/2026 at 8:47 PM, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

to play the piece as close as the original tempo with all details

You mean when you first sight read the piece you already try to incorporate as many details as possible all while figuring out the notes and playing as closely to the intended tempo?... that's really challenging haha