After some initial trepidation regarding how to approach extending our resources on the complex subject of piano technique on the Online Academy, I am happy to say that we have just published the first module in a new collection, with others to follow in due course. Because there can be no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach to teaching technique, as it grows, our technique library will also contain content from other leading experts offering different angles on the subject. As such it will be a research-based, organic and consistently growing resource representing diverse viewpoints. I have several worthy books on piano technique on my shelves, some are clearer and more usable than others. However, as soon as an author starts writing about hand positions, arm movements, giving detailed instructions about what the fingers are supposed to be doing in a given situation, etc., they immediately run the risk of being misunderstood. Very often the excessive verbiage involved is hard to fully understand, even by the most educated of readers, and any images included can only tell part of the story. In the modern age, many of these problems can be resolved by video demonstrations. Building text-light modules around a number of videos has been my default choice of format this new material. Some videos are longer with more description; others are very short indeed – with few words, if any, and filmed close up. The beauty of the short videos is they can easily be watched repeatedly, when you might want to check and recheck how a particular movement looks. My aim is to identify and use the best format to communicate the subject matter at hand. My attitude to technique is based […]
Technique Library & Resources Preview
Following our announcements last year regarding upcoming projects and content, we’ve been hard at work on a collection of modules on piano technique, the first of which is now available on the Online Academy – with others to follow thereafter. These initial modules will cover technical fundamentals, scales and arpeggios and a detailed exploration of forearm rotation. The first module explores the basics of piano technique, covering seating position, posture, whole-arm and legato touches. Using a combination of bite-sized annotated video demonstrations, musical examples and downloads, this module shows how to move in ways that are natural to the body and to achieve physical freedom for playing that feels and sounds good. It will be a good starting point for beginners and useful for piano teachers who teach beginners as well as those seeking a refresher or “health check” on the basics. The next module will look at the basics of scale and arpeggio playing, featuring close-up video demonstrations of the movements involved. The following video example takes a break from the technical aspects and offers a practical keyboard theory lesson showing how we can go through the circle of fifths one key at a time, clockwise in the sharp direction or anti-clockwise in the flat direction by playing the scale as a chord (all eight notes together, one tetrachord per hand). The scale-chord gives us a bird’s-eye view of the scale and is an excellent way of seeing the pattern of black and white keys as a whole. Building on the first two modules is an extended video-based course on the principles of forearm rotation and its application, with many musical examples and text. This video excerpt shows a short example of how […]
Q-Spots Series: Beethoven’s Für Elise
This is the third in my series on Q-Spots, and I’m going to feature one short excerpt from Beethoven’s Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor, WoO 59 – otherwise known as Für Elise. Q-Spots (short for Quarantine Spots) is a practice tool whereby we identify and mark in the score those sections in a given piece where we stumble, fumble or approximate the notes. As we play we know things are not quite right, but a little voice in the back of our mind says “it’ll be OK tomorrow” or “once I run through the piece a few more times I’ll eventually get it”. A much more effective and economical approach is to identify and then quarantine such sections (they might be as short as a bar or two) and apply a step-by-step approach to our practice before reintegrating the Q-Spot backs into the piece. This means not starting at the beginning each time we practise, and going back to the step-by-step process each day for several days until our inner Quality Control Inspector is happy to sign off the work. In my Online Academy article on Für Elise I have come up with two Q-Spots that cause players to baulk. The Q-Spot I want to look at today is the C major episode (bars 29 – 35), the site of many a derailment. I have included the bar before the problem begins because it is important to be able to lead into the difficult spot from slightly before (besides which the LH fingering in bar 29, if you go with it, could use a little reinforcement from the extra practice this bar is going to get). Start with the left hand! Whenever there is a difficulty present […]
Some Practical Suggestions for Debussy’s Voiles
There is one scale that can take plenty of pedal without sounding in any way offensive, the whole-tone scale. Because all six notes of the whole-tone scale are the same distance apart, there is no leading note or tonic, thus no feeling of a stable tonal centre. The only triads possible are augmented ones, which feel the same in their inversions. Try an experiment. Put the right pedal down and play a whole-tone scale; if you do this fast and light, you will invoke the magical spirit of Tinkerbell herself. This arrangement between the hands works well, crossing over from right hand to left up and then back down as you like. Debussy’s Voiles, the second Prélude from Book I, moves between whole-tone and pentatonic harmonies. If the whole-tone scale itself is ambiguous, so is the title. Voiles translates as sails or veils; the piece might be about either, or both. Currently set for ABRSM Grade 8, it offers the player vast scope for creating variety in touch and tone, skilful layering of sounds and subtle pedalling. I’m going to look at one or two things in the blog post that I hope will help you as you discover what is possible, especially with regard to pedalling. Pedalling is always problematic in Debussy’s music since he left so few markings, preferring to leave it to the performer. Voiles contains the only pedal mark in Book 1 of the Préludes – the long pedal at the end. Why was Debussy so reticent about marking pedalling in the score when he notated all other details of performance so scrupulously and painstakingly? It is of course impossible to notate the depth of sustaining pedal depression and indispensable techniques such as flutter and fractional pedallings, since these will […]
Advanced Sight-Reading Curriculum Launched!
This week’s guest blog post announces the launch of a unique new online sight-reading curriculum for advanced pianists by Ken Johansen, associate professor at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University and Online Academy contributor. *** *** *** Introducing the Advanced Sight-Reading Curriculum It gives me great pleasure to introduce the Advanced Sight-Reading Curriculum to readers of this blog. This is the curriculum that I use in my class for piano majors at the Peabody Conservatory. It has been nearly twenty years in the making, and I believe that there is at present nothing else quite like it, in print or online. Virtually all piano teachers agree that sight-reading is an extremely important skill, perhaps even the most important. At the same time, it is a difficult skill to teach. It requires a vast quantity of carefully-chosen music, and the gradual, but concurrent, development of multiple aural, analytical, technical, and cognitive abilities. In this curriculum, we work on each of these component abilities – twenty of them altogether – individually, tackling the complex multi-tasking activity of sight-reading from twenty different angles, as it were. Improvement in sight-reading comes not simply from playing lots of pieces, but from acquiring new habits, and learning to think in new ways. Each of these new habits of mind needs first to be isolated, worked on with deliberate attention, and repeated in enough musical examples to become second nature. Whether we are learning how to read ahead, mastering dotted rhythms, or practicing the simplification of complex textures, we first need ways to think about these things, then lots of musical excerpts to practice them on, without too many other difficulties to distract or confuse us. Each of the twenty […]
Edvard Grieg’s Arietta
Edvard Grieg’s collection of 66 short Lyric Pieces includes some of his best known music. They were published in 10 volumes between 1867 and 1901 and because most are accessible to the intermediate player, they will always find a place in the pianist’s heart. This does not mean that the music is only for the amateur; on the contrary, many of the world’s greatest pianists have recorded and programmed them. The theme of the very first piece of the collection, Arietta (Little Song), was one of Grieg’s favourite melodies. You might begin by singing and then playing this beautiful melody alone, taking time where the music needs to breathe. Once you have a sense of its shape and flow, add the bass line, noticing its contours and how it supports the upper line. The middle element consists of broken harmony shared between the hands, similar in texture and design to Schumann’s Von fremden Ländern und Menschen (Of Foreign Lands and People), the opening piece from Kinderszenen, op. 15. Balancing the texture is one of the main challenges of the piece. It is a good plan to practise the middle semiquaver (sixteenth note) line by itself, making the connections as seamless as possible as one hand passes to the other (do this with and without the pedal). It is also excellent practice to omit the melody line; if you are feeling ambitious, try singing the top line as you play the accompaniment and bass line (tricky, but worth it!). A few pointers for practice: Hold on to the long bass E flats (bars 1-4, 15-16), so that when you change the pedal the bass note is still present. Avoid pedalling through the rests, but elsewhere change […]
New Year’s Piano Resolutions!
We’d like to wish all of our readers all of the best for the year ahead and thank you for your support in 2019. With 2020 now underway, there are a number of exciting developments in the pipeline for Practising the Piano which we’re very much looking forward to sharing with you! The following are some examples of what we have in store over the next few months: Technique library and resources – A comprehensive library of resources focussing on improving technique and tackling technical challenges for all levels. This will include detailed demonstrations of various areas of technique, guides to exercises and studies with contributions from current and new authors. The Practice Tools – More content based on Graham Fitch’s workshops and eBook series, including a course teaching the fundamentals of effective practising and a revised index of practice tools for different levels. Walk throughs – Our repertoire library will continue to grow with works including Für Elise, Chopin’s mighty 1st Ballade and Brahms’s Intermezzo in A Major Op. 118 No. 2 coming shortly. We will also be celebrating Beethoven’s 250th birthday with the launch of a series dedicated to his Sonatas. Healthy playing – Our healthy piano playing module by Penelope Roskell will be extended to include information and numerous video demonstrations on preventing and recovering from common pianist injuries. Together with Penelope’s recently published Yoga for Musicians videos, this will serve as an invaluable resource for pianists and teachers alike. Sight reading – An exciting new sight-reading curriculum developed by Ken Johansen at the Peabody Institute, for the advanced level along with exercises along with sample exercises from ReadAhead Level 4. New features – A number of developments are planned for the […]
Highlights & Most Popular Content of 2019
We’re currently taking a break over the Festive Session and will resume further posts and updates in the New Year. In the meantime, the following are some of our highlights and most popular content over the last year. 2019 Highlights: Launch of the Piano Teachers’ Course Online and a section within the Online Academy focusing on teaching Completion of our series of video walkthroughs for all the etudes in Burgmüller’s 25 Easy and Progressive Studies, Op. 100 The Online Academy celebrated its third birthday Interactive Practice Tools workshop in London in partnership with Casio Music Most popular blog posts (new): The Fantasie-Impromptu Hands Separately Practice – Useful or Not? Precision Measurement in Jumps Why Perform? Resources for Pianists Schumann’s Romance in F-Sharp Most popular blog posts (previous): Enjoying Ultra-Slow Practice “But it Takes Me Ages to Learn a New Piece!” The 20-Minute Practice Session Rediscovering Bach’s Prelude in C Burgmüller’s 25 Easy and Progressive Studies Most popular Online Academy series 25 Easy and Progressive Etudes (Burgmüller) Von fremden Ländern und Menschen (Schumann) A Guide to the Trinity College Piano Syllabus Foundations of Good Technique The Practice Tools Lecture Series Most popular videos on our YouTube channel: Proksch – And Now Let’s Handel Bruch – Moderato from Sechs Klavierstücke (Op. 12, No. 4) Mendelssohn – No. 2 from Kinderstücke (Op. 72) Sonata No. 8 in C Minor (Pathétique) – 1st Mvt (Preview) Chopin – Fantaisie Impromptu – How to Manage the 4:3 Polyrhythm Graham was also delighted to participate in an interview with Dr. Josh Wright which turned out to be an incredibly popular video (click here to view)! We also launched new functionality which makes Online Academy lessons available for once-off purchase without a subscription […]
Happy Holidays
This is my final post for 2019 – let me take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy and peaceful holiday season. It has been a year of tremendous growth for the Online Academy, and we have some exciting plans in place for the New Year (about which more later!). As a thank you for your support over the past year, I’m delighted to offer a free gift of two study editions for Burgmüller’s Op. 100 set that we’ve been featuring throughout the year. The study editions include a teaching note, practice and performance suggestions (with exercises in manuscript) as well as a link to a video walkthrough. All you need to do to receive your free gift editions of L’arabesque and Ballade is sign-up for our mailing list here and they will be sent to you next week. Let me leave you with Frederic Chiu’s transcription of Prokoviev’s Troika from the Lieutenant Kijé Suite. A troika is a traditional Russian three-horse sled that takes us on an exhilarating ride through the snow, accompanied by the sounds of sleigh bells. Looking for a gift for a pianist? We’ve just added a new feature to our site which makes it possible to purchase a range of digital products and subscriptions as gift vouchers. Our range of eBooks, digital editions, online lessons and subscriptions make ideal Christmas presents for piano lovers! How it works Select a gift from our catalogue (a full listing of products and subscriptions available for gift purchase can be viewed here) and click “Buy gift” Enter the details of the payment card that you wish to use to make the purchase and click “Pay” On successful completion of your payment you will be taken to a confirmation page which provides […]