Getting the most from this great hobby!
Clair de Lune is one of those iconic pieces that many of us decide to learn on piano before we’re really ready. Both the beginning and the ending sound deceptively simple. The middle section gets progressively more and more difficult and it can be awkward to control properly. It might take a very long time...
"Learning Debussy’s Clair de Lune"Continue reading
When I started to re-learn piano and work out my practice regime, I decided not to bother with sight reading. I think the main reason for my decision was the title (sight reading). Particularly the ‘sight’ part. I have always associated sight reading with the traditional interpretation of playing a piece of music for the...
"The hidden benefit of Sight Reading – why we should all practice it"Continue reading
Playing at speed is probably the one thing that I’ve always found the most difficult to do. This is why I think it is so important to mention it specifically in my approach on how to practice piano effectively. Short bursts of notes (such as in mordents, turns and the like) aren’t so difficult to...
"Piano speed building ideas"Continue reading
This post is part of my guide on How to Record Your Piano at Home – and covers one of the fun things you can do with GarageBand. Thanks to something called MIDI and Virtual Instruments, we are able – surprisingly easily – to create orchestral backing tracks using GarageBand. The basic process creating an...
"Saint Saens ‘The Swan’ – Play Along with your Piano"Continue reading
Do you ever wonder if your Piano Practice is as effective as it might be? If you’d have asked me last week whether I practiced effectively, I’d probably have quite proudly answered ‘oh yes’. And I’d have really believed it. Why my practice should be good First, I have a very well defined planned...
"Piano practice game changer – record what you’re doing"Continue reading
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
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
First thoughts Are you like myself and find that if you try to play things quickly, you get a lot of tension in your hands, arms, shoulders and even back sometimes? If so, read on and let me know whether or not you think I might be on to a possible significant contributor. You can...
"A possible relationship between tension and speed at the piano"Continue reading
To plan or not to plan …? Do you plan out your practice or just go with the flow? We all have limited time to practice and, if there is one thing I have learned with age, it’s that when things are well planned up front, it generally saves lots of time and effort down...
"Should we plan our Piano Practice?"Continue reading
