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
In a recent blog post, I explained the basic process creating an orchestral backing track that you can use to play along with your piano. This first piece – to which I made a free MP3 download – was using Gounod’s Ave Maria. This is based on an almost note-for-note version of Bach’s well know...
"Saint Saens ‘The Swan’ – Play Along with your 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
This post is to go with my YouTube video with piano practice ideas for Chopin’s C Sharp Minor Waltz (Op 64 No. 2). I found it quite tricky to master and as I tried to overcome the problem areas, I came up with a few strategies that I’d like to share with you. Basic structure...
"Ideas for Practicing Chopin’s C Sharp Minor Waltz"Continue reading
This piece appeared in Pianist Magazine Issue 94. More popularly recognized as a cello solo (with piano accompaniment) famed as the music to the ‘Dying Swan’, this arrangement by Silotti is beautiful by its elegance and simplicity. Here, I’m using the term simplicity in its relative sense. If you take transcriptions by composers such as...
"Learning The Swan for Solo Piano, arranged by Siloti"Continue reading
This fabulous little waltz is more commonly called the Minute Waltz – almost always pronounced ‘minute’ as in hours, minutes and seconds but actually intended as ‘minute’ as in very small. Chopin’s inspiration was apparently watching a little dog chase its own tail. This is the type of piece that I would never try to...
"Chopin ‘Valse du petit chien’ – the ‘little dog waltz’ (Op. 64 No. 1)"Continue reading