It is with a great deal of excitement that I introduce this new set of videos, explaining a fundamental approach to practising the piano that I have come to call “making friends with the notes.” I was the lucky recipient of this concept when I started with my first “real” piano teacher at the age of seventeen. He was a Russian concert artist named Leopold Mittman, and had trained at the Warsaw Conservatory with the great Aleksander Michalowski (1851-1938).
Although it’s a very simple concept, it was contrary to everything I had been told before. Yet it made 100% sense to me from the outset. Little did I realise on that first day that, due to this ultra-practical and liberating approach to mastering any classical piece, I would ultimately enjoy a concert career of my own and be in a position to pass Mittman’s wisdom along to generations of students.
This video excerpt will demonstrate the basic idea using Erste Verlust from Schumann’s Album for the Young:
I certainly appreciate the fact that, just like I was at seventeen, many viewers of this video will be unfamiliar with this approach, and may find it a bit surprising. In any event, it is straightforward, refreshing, and has proven to be amazingly – and consistently – effective. This is why I feel it is worth every consideration as part of anyone’s “practice toolbox.”
Enjoy!
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An index with links to all four videos in William’s new series Making Friends With the Notes can be viewed here and are included with an Online Academy subscription. Subscriptions cost as little as £13.99 per month or £119.99 per year and give access to these videos and 1,000+ others! Click here to subscribe or click here to find out more about the Online Academy.
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