Getting the most from this great hobby!
Sight reading and memorising are two absolutely enormous topics for us pianists. Whilst there is definitely no silver bullet, recognising chords and recurring patterns can be a useful addition to our toolkit to help us sight read, learn and memorise music. Classical pianists are not always taught to approach a score in these terms, but...
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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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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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What do I mean by supplement slow piano practice? One thing I have discovered since coming back to piano is that there are literally hundreds of different ways to practice effectively. Unfortunately, all too often the only advice that gets shared on many social media sites is ‘slow it right down’. I don’t think anybody...
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To Hanon, or not to Hanon – that is the question! Do Hanon exercises provide the biggest bang for your buck? The traditional approach Some insist that Technical Exercises like Hanon are vital whereas others even go as far as to say they are most likely dangerous. To make things worse, proponents of both sides...
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I participate in a few online groups that bring amateur pianists together on places such as Facebook and Reddit. One question that is constantly raised is around whether or not it’s necessary to memorise your piano pieces. I quite often read the debates with a little smile on my face. You’ll see every opinion from...
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Can you teach yourself piano? Lots of people for a variety of reasons try it. However, is this even possible? Horowitz famously said that the piano is the easiest instrument to play in the beginning and the hardest to master in the end. Equally famously, Richter was self-taught until his twenties – and even afterwards his...
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This article is part of my guide on how to practice piano more effectively. Recognising a chord at the keyboard and seeing the same structure inside written music are related but slightly different skills. My article Mastering chords for classical pianists develops the first of these. Here, we will look at how to start seeing...
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Whilst becoming familiar with chords might seem like a theoretical exercise, it is a useful addition to our toolkit and can help us practise piano more effectively. It gives us another way to organise what we see, hear and play. It can strongly support sight reading and memorising, help us understand more of the broader...
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