Getting the most from this great hobby!
This article is part of my approach on How to Practice Piano Effectively. There are lots of occasions when we try to find out how difficult (or easy) a piece of music might be. We might need to do this when we are: The challenge Of course, if your interest is more into popular music...
"How difficult is this piece? Henle can help"Continue reading
An essential part of learning piano is listening. Listening to piano music helps us to discover new repertoire. It also helps us get an initial understanding of pieces we’re trying to learn. It also keeps us inspired through the sheer joy of hearing beautiful works played amazingly well. We have traditional radio and TV where...
"Streaming Services for Classical Music"Continue reading
Journey so far with Play It Again Piano I’ve been progressively charting my progress following Melanie Spanswick’s Play It Again Piano course. I bought Book 2 (aimed at a late intermediate and beyond level) and am having a great time working through it. At the moment, I’m looking at pieces 4 and 5. If you...
"Variety is the spice of piano playing life"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
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
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
Goodbye to bags and bags of paper On discovering forScore for piano sheet music, it makes me smile as I remember all those years ago. As a student, I often played background music at dinner functions. I used to carry around two massive plastic bags of books, photocopies and all sorts of moth-eared bits of...
"forScore: Piano Sheet Music with you everywhere"Continue reading
I first came across this book in the pages of Pianist Magazine (of which I’m a subscriber). The author, Alan Rusbridger, relates his story of tackling Chopin’s 1st Ballade in a year culminating in performing it to an audience. I bought the Kindle Edition from Amazon and read it during a Christmas Holiday in Bali. ...
"Review: Play It Again: An Amateur Against The Impossible"Continue reading