Some Thoughts on Mental Tension
When we think of tension in piano playing, we correctly label this as negative - it is a thing that hampers us and our objective should be to locate its…
Double Trouble
This week, the latest issue of Pianist Magazine arrived through the post with my article Confidence with Double Notes inside. Those of you who have seen the magazine will have…
Freedom in Interpretation
...what bestows upon the performer the status of artist and on the performance the status of art, is the real, full-bloodied possibility of the performer finding a better or at…
“Sorry, I haven’t done as much practice as I would like this week…”
How often we piano teachers hear this comment! "Sorry, I haven't done as much practice as I would like this week." It has to rank with the exclamation "But I…
Take a Rest
Following on from last week's post on the floating fermata, I would like to share another practice idea involving the planning of deliberate stops. Instead of an arbitrary length of…
Chopin’s First Ballade – a Practice Suggestion
Chopin's evergreen First Ballade has never been more popular, thanks in part to Alan Rusbridger's book about his personal quest with the piece, Play It Again. It is a piece that…
Zigzag Practice
The intermediate piano student who has enjoyed playing CPE Bach's Solfeggietto in C minor will have learned how to convince the listener that the semiquavers passed back and forth between…
The Piano Teachers’ Course EPTA UK
The life of a pianist can be very lonely indeed. For polished performances hours and hours need to be spent at the instrument. Teaching (and for the majority of pianists,…