This week’s blog post features Clara Schumann’s Prelude and Fugue in B-flat which is currently included in the new ABRSM 2021 & 2022 Grade 8 syllabus.
Piano Day Festival Write-Up (1)
A write-up of a selection of online events from our Piano Day 2021 festival.
Take Your Practising to the Next Level!
Our online events line-up for our Piano Day 2021 festival includes two interactive practising workshops. These sessions are designed to give you a hands-on, interactive experience in applying Graham Fitch’s practice tools in your daily practising and within the context of pieces that you play or are learning.
Building Speed, Inventing Exercises & Get Feedback!
The next showcase for our #pianoday2021 festival line-up includes online workshops on building speed, inventing exercises from your pieces and a chance to get feedback on your playing!
Playing Softly, Keeping Going & More…
Our biggest ever online events programme kicks off on Friday 26th March. We will be providing further information on the various events in the run-up, starting a showcase of an initial selection from the programme. In these sessions, William Westney demystifies the technique of playing softly, Ken Johansen shows how to keep going no matter what when sight-reading and Graham Fitch takes us back to Haydn’s visit to London! Please see further details for each event below or click here to view the full programme. Click here if you haven’t attended one of our online events before and would like to find out more about how they work. Keeping Going, No Matter What! Friday 26th March @ 15:00 – 17:00 GMT In sight-reading, we are often told to maintain a steady pulse and keep going, no matter what happens. But when confronted with confusing-looking rhythms, technical difficulties, and other challenges, it can be difficult to keep our rhythm regular and accurate. In this online workshop, Ken Johansen shows how to find a suitable tempo in sight-reading, keep the beat going even in challenging circumstances, and how to avoid common rhythmic inaccuracies. We’ll discuss several techniques that help us to find and solve rhythmic difficulties before we play, so that our sight-reading will be more comfortable and successful from the first reading. Examples will be drawn from all levels of difficulty, from easy to advanced, including several pieces from the Read Ahead curriculum, as well as a preview of Part 4 of the Advanced Sight-Reading Curriculum, soon to be added to the Online Academy. Click here to book your place. Making Good, Healthy Sound – Even at the Softest Dynamic Level Friday 26th March @ 17:30 – 18:45 GMT Although it may seem like a simple matter, playing softly can […]
Piano Day 2021 Festival
The 29th of March is Piano Day 2021 and we’re celebrating with a festival featuring our biggest ever line-up of online events and workshops! Piano Day Weekend Festival Taking place from Fri 26th – Sun 28th of March, the programme comprises ten sessions on various topics, including: Presentations by William Westney on the technique of playing softly and Ken Johansen on rhythm in sight-reading Two further interactive practising workshops based on our popular “hands-on” workshop format A “Fantasy Analysis” by Graham Fitch on Haydn’s “English” Sonata (click here for Graham’s Fantasy Analysis of a work by Brahms) A special lecture / performance by Harpsichordist Jory Vinikour followed by a workshop by Graham Fitch on Baroque style A chance to perform and get feedback on your playing (or observe) in a performance workshop with Graham Fitch …and much more! Tickets can be purchased for individual events or you can save 20% by purchasing combined “weekend pass” for all ten. All events will be recorded and links to recordings along with any relevant resources will be provided to ticketholders shortly after the festival. Further information on how our online events work is available here. Please click here to view the full programme and booking details. Online Academy subscribers are also entitled to a 40% discount on all events, including the weekend pass (Click here to find out more about the Online Academy or click here to sign-in for your discount to be applied if you are a subscriber). Other Special Offers & Updates We will be making other special offers available as part of our celebrations and providing updates with further information on scheduled events in the run-up. Be sure to sign-up to our mailing list here for further information and notifications!
A Balanced Approach to Exercises and Studies
A balanced approach to using exercises and studies to solve specific pianistic problems.
Top Tips for Starting a New Piece
Last week I launched a free email course on how to start learning a new piece and lay solid foundations from the outset (click here to find out more). The following is a summary of some of the tips and practice tools from my course which will help you get started on the right track: One (or two) read-throughs is enough to get the gist of the piece – aim for a rough sketch at this stage, leaving out surface detail you cannot manage. Taking the time to practise hands separately is incredibly valuable, not only in the note learning stage but regularly thereafter. Practising separately doesn’t only apply to hands alone, but also to strands. It can be useful to deconstruct a score and play voices separately and then together in different combinations. Working on a piece in small sections at the Speed of No Mistakes ensures accuracy from the start and helps you avoid embedding careless errors that may be hard to fix later. By identifying and marking tricky spots in a piece upfront, you can begin each practice session with a step-by-step sequence of activities designed to solve the problems. Dividing the piece into manageable, meaningful sections helps us structure our practice and ensure that all parts of the piece are equally solid and secure. If you would like a more detailed explanation of these tips and tools, plus examples and other resources then please do sign up for my email course! The course is entirely free, featuring seven video lessons ranging from three to twelve minutes in length. The videos are accompanied by downloads, notes and exercises to help you follow and implement each stage of the process.