A Ghost Story
There are certain places in the repertoire where I can predict that a student is going to hurry. They will usually tend to rob long notes of their value by…
Practising Chords (Part Four): Odds and Ends
Unless anyone cares to contact me with further suggestions, this will be the last of my posts on chords. It's a selection of a few unrelated odds and ends which…
Practising Chords (Part Three): The Difficult Chord
I am sure we can all identify a particular chord in a piece that causes us to stumble or fumble (and, under our breath, mumble). This could be because the…
Practising Chords (Part Two): An Extract from Rachmaninov
In this post, I aim to give a thorough approach to practising an extract, the return of the "A" section from Rachmaninov's famous warhorse, the Prelude in C sharp minor,…
Voicing Chords
A chord is officially two or more notes played simultaneously, but there are probably as many species of chords as there are of spiders. There is so much to say…
Top Ten Tips for Trouble Spots
It is possible to hack away at a trouble spot for several minutes, constantly repeating it and beating it into submission, and then be able to manage it, more or…
Preparing the Canvas
With the advent of the summer holidays, a lot of piano students will be learning new pieces. On the proceeds of lessons, we piano teachers will be sunning ourselves in…
A Helping Hand
When I was in my teens I had the good fortune to participate in Christopher Elton's masterclasses at Downe House summer school. One of the things he got me to…
The Three S’s (Part Three)
And so to the last installment of "The Three S's" - "Sections". I realise I am in danger of repeating myself here - much of what is contained in this…
The Three S’s (Part Two)
The next installment of “The Three S’s”, this week SLOWLY. I confess to having appeared in print many times on this subject. You can read the full text on my…