Getting the most from this great hobby!
Knowing when to ‘move on’ in our piano practice is something that we need to really think about as amateur pianists. Without wanting to sound like an economist, I think we need to think at a Micro and a Macro level. By micro, I’m meaning those small things, individual bars or groups of notes. By...
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Do you ever feel that, despite practising each day and working hard to improve, if asked to ‘play something’ we’re often at a loss? Sure, we have learned lots of things, but how many of them remain at a ‘performance standard’? In reality, for me at least, very few. So, how do we maintain old...
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This article is part of my approach on how to practice piano effectively. There are lots of discussions about people being naturally talented or having an ‘ear’ for music. So, is there some innate ability that we need to have in order to be able to learn? Do we need to ask the question ‘Am...
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“What you need to know, have and do to start piano right” is a book by Jenny Leigh Hodgins. The book is exactly what it says on the cover and gives great insights for those considering taking up the piano. Jenny kindly consented to doing an interview for Tommy’s Piano Corner which I’m delighted to...
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Are you looking for that perfect Christmas gift for the pianist in your life (or perhaps just a festive treat for yourself)? If space and budget don’t stretch to a Steinway Model D or a nice Fazioli, I’ve got some good ideas of Christmas gifts for pianists below. These should suit all budgets and prove...
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Being able to use chords and patterns to improve sight reading and memorising music is extremely helpful. However, as classical pianists it’s a skill that is often not forefront in how we are taught. However, it’s definitely a skill worth acquiring and in fact it isn’t really that hard to do with a little practice....
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We’re all familiar with the expression ‘muscle memory’ – yet what exactly is muscle memory? We pianists so often rely on this phenomenon that we should probably understand properly what it is don’t you think? The expression muscle memory is generally used in the context of piano playing when it seems that our fingers seem able...
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Volume 3 of my free eBook Series on recording your piano playing is now available. You’ll see a whole series of articles on this website about this – all of which link to YouTube videos. However, I felt that for those who weren’t so used to manipulating unfamiliar software, it would be worth doing something...
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Once we have managed to diagnose a problem, it’s very important to be able to find a solution to it. Naturally, different problems need different solutions so in this article I’d like to explore one such solution that can help. This is part of my guide on how to practice piano effectively. Do you consciously...
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I’m sure that like me, many classically trained pianists also really enjoy other kinds of music. However, we don’t often really learn to play this type of music as we’re very busy keeping up with our classical pieces. However, there are ways of approaching popular music for the classically trained pianist that can make it...
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