Getting the most from this great hobby!
This article is part of my guide on how to practice piano effectively. In it I explore how my practice approach has evolved over the years. This fabulous little waltz is more commonly called the Minute Waltz – almost always pronounced ‘minute’ as in hours, minutes and seconds but actually intended as ‘minute’ as in...
"Chopin ‘Valse du petit chien’ – the ‘little dog waltz’ (Op. 64 No. 1)"Continue reading
When I first got my Clavinova, I had all good intentions of doing some serious practice. This then opens the question of where to start – scales, arpeggios, studies, pieces. Naturally, these days, if you want to know anything, then the way to go is Google. So I spent some time with Google (and YouTube)...
"How to practice?"Continue reading
I suppose I should start with how I first wanted to play the piano. I would say that I come from a reasonably musical family. My earliest musical recollection is of playing the recorder at Junior or even Infant school. Brought up in the good tradition of the Salvation Army, I started playing brass instruments from...
"First Steps"Continue reading
From being about 10 years old to my early twenties, I was a very keen pianist. Not necessarily a very good one when compared to some of these fantastic kids you see playing, but acceptable all the same. For reasons I’ll probably go into later, I ended up abandoning the piano and pretty much didn’t...
"Getting back to the Piano"Continue reading