Getting the most from this great hobby!
A key aspect of effective piano practice is of course effective fingering strategies. This article explores some less obvious piano fingering choices that often work surprisingly well. Traditional piano fingering When playing piano, a vital part of being able to move up and down the keyboard is the ability to pass our thumb under our...
"Imaginative Piano Fingering Choices"Continue reading
This article is part of my Guide on How to Record Your Piano at Home. Being an Apple user, I demonstrate mostly using Apple products. However, this same advice applies equally well to Android or Windows. What works on Apple … I did a series of posts around how to record your piano playing at...
"Record your Piano Playing using an Android or Windows device"Continue reading
Are you looking for some great resources to help you in your Piano Practice? I bought a series of Piano Practice eBooks by Graham Fitch a couple of years ago and have found them really useful. Indeed, they were a key revelation that led me to my approach on How To Practice Piano Effectively. Practicing...
"Piano Practice eBooks by Graham Fitch – expert practice advice"Continue reading
The Essential and Nice to Have settings at your fingertips This article is part of my guide to recording your piano at home. More and more people are enjoying recording themselves playing Piano and sharing on social media. This is either for advice from other pianists or just for the sheer hell of it. An...
"Take control of your Shure MV88 microphone"Continue reading
Aimed at returning pianists Are you returning to piano after a break or perhaps looking for a set of pieces aimed to gradually build or rebuild your technique … this is my third instalment on Melanie Spanswick’s Play It Again Piano Book 2 – today looking at the third piece she has chosen – one...
"Song Without Words: from Play It Again Piano"Continue reading
Piano Solo? Piano can sometimes be a lonely hobby … do you ever want to play with your own band, ensemble or even orchestra? Well, these days you can quite easily create your own if you’re willing to spend the time. Keep reading to learn how. We pianists spend hour upon hour alone practicing. For...
"Create your own orchestra and play along on piano"Continue reading
Childhood Memories Bach’s Air on a G String was originally written for a String Quintet (as part of a larger orchestral suite). You’ll find many transcriptions of it for solo piano – including one by Siloti. Air on a G String brings back childhood memories for me. There was a famous set of Cigar advertisements...
"Air on a G String"Continue reading
Beethoven’s iconic Fur Elise is the second cleverly selected piece in Book 2 of Melanie Spanswicks Play it again Piano series. This is a series of books aimed at pianists returning to the piano after a break. Introducing Play It Again Piano I recently released a post and a video giving my initial impressions of...
"Für Elise: More from Play It Again Piano"Continue reading
Piano playing essentials I’m a firm believer in using the technology (such as iPads) available to us all now to enhance our enjoyment of our great piano playing hobby. It’s possible to use an iPad or other tablet to replace many of the things any pianist needs – things like Sheet Music, a Metronome, a...
"Every pianist deserves an iPad"Continue reading
There are so many flawless versions … You might think there is no benefit to the wider world in us recording ourselves playing and then publishing on YouTube or Facebook. Clearly, we amateurs aren’t likely to produce a rendition as faultless as our favourite pianists, however, that doesn’t mean that we aren’t some of the...
"Why record your own piano playing and post on Facebook?"Continue reading