Getting the most from this great hobby!
Another year has passed and it’s perhaps a good time to reflect on what 2022 has taught me about practising the piano. Quantity wise, it’s easy to calculate. I managed to get 754 hours of practice done this year. All in all, I’m quite pleased with that! It’s less than last year, but with the...
"What 2022 has taught me about practising the piano"Continue reading
One thing about returning to piano after a very long break, is that suddenly learning does feel much more difficult. As a teenager, I could pick most things up relatively quickly. However, what happens when we’ve left a skill to one side for a very long time. My experience has been that it certainly feels...
"Four Step Piano Process – Great for Returners"Continue reading
I recently reviewed The Perfect Wrong Note by William Westney. As I was reading the book, I started to mentally join several other dots too. One of these dots was that quite often, not only do I play wrong notes, I often don’t even know what the right notes should be – even in music...
"Do we even know what the right notes should be?"Continue reading
I was chatting with a pianist friend I met through the Practising the Piano Online Academy (of which I’m a member). During our conversation he mentioned a couple of ‘must read’ books. The first of these was The Perfect Wrong Note by William Westney. On returning home, I fired up my iPad and ordered it...
"The Perfect Wrong Note – Review"Continue reading
On returning to piano, sight reading wasn’t something I really bothered with. I’m not preparing any exams so won’t need to demonstrate it. I don’t accompany other musicians and so don’t need to sight read in those circumstances. However, one thing that I quickly discovered is that when playing from music, my actual reading...
"Celebrating 200 hours of sight reading"Continue reading
An old boss of mine had a favourite expression (which he attributed to Einstein). It was ‘the definition of insanity is constantly repeating the same action and expecting a different result’. It was an expression that always made me smile. I still remember the first time it suddenly occurred to me that by this definition...
"Insane Pianist?"Continue reading
One common theme amongst we amateur pianists seems to be frustration with how long things can sometimes take us. We’ll often ask ourselves the question as to why aren’t I improving on piano. We’re programmed to believe that if we keep practising, then we should be seeing improvements all the time. Yet, the tough reality...
"Why aren’t I improving on piano?"Continue reading
I read a comment in an online piano forum some time ago that ‘if you practice with tension, you’ll play with tension’. Whether this was a quote from somewhere or a personal observation, I can’t be sure. However, this really resonated with me as, like many, I’m prone to tension in my playing. Does this...
"How to practice piano without tension?"Continue reading
Back in January, I was browsing through the usual ‘New Year’s resolution’ type posts on Facebook. In one of the Piano groups of which I’m a member, someone posted ‘what is the technique you’re going to be working on this year’? I innocently responded that my primary goal was to become a better musician. I...
"To become a better musician"Continue reading
Having the opportunity to discover more music through streaming platforms such as IDAGIO is one thing about the modern age that I have to admit I really love. For a relatively modest monthly fee, we have access to pretty much unlimited music by our favourite artists. We also have an opportunity to explore different composers...
"At last, I can listen to piano music on the go!"Continue reading