Our latest Practice Clinic formed part of our recent Piano Day with Graham Fitch at the 1901 Arts Club in London. Recorded during the audience Q&A session, it brings together questions from participants and audience members on interpretation, technique, practising and performance, and is now available to watch on our blog.
Topics include building speed without tension, developing fluency in ornaments, practice strategies for a particularly challenging Rachmaninoff Prelude, and exploring expressive timing and rubato. Although the questions and answers draw on works by composers such as Rachmaninoff, Chopin and Schumann, the principles Graham discusses extend far beyond these pieces and can be applied across a much wider range of repertoire.
Practice clinic questions
Chopin Berceuse, Op. 57 – I currently use gradual increments in metronome speed to increase my tempo in challenging passages. Can you suggest other methods or approaches for moving beyond the ‘speed of no mistakes’?
Ornaments
- Can you provide practice strategies and tips for playing ornaments with the non-dominant hand, so that they sound as good and fluid as ones played by the dominant hand?
- I find when I’m playing light, fast ornaments e.g. in Mozart, Chopin or Beethoven, my hand tenses up before them and no matter how well I’ve practised them in isolation, they are uneven and messy (or my fingers get stuck). Can you suggest ways I can approach these ornaments to avoid this?
Rachmaninoff – Prelude in B-flat major, Op. 23 No. 2 – Do you have any suggestions for practising the particularly demanding double note passages so that they become lighter, more even and rhythmically secure?”
Understanding Rubato – Rubato is often described as ‘taking’ time in one place and ‘giving it back’ in another. Is this really the best way to think about it, and how can we use expressive timing while still maintaining a convincing pulse?
Continue Exploring
If you enjoyed this video, you’ll find many more practical ideas and musical insights in Graham Fitch’s complete programme of presentations, demonstrations and live coaching.
Alongside the audience Q&A, the recordings also include:
🎼 Those Pesky Ornaments
Making sense of ornamentation across the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods.
🎼 The Art of Phrase Shaping
Exploring how touch, voicing, timing and pedalling combine to create compelling musical lines.
🎼 Live Performance Workshop
Watch Graham coach pianists on repertoire by Bach, Haydn, Chopin, Debussy, Rachmaninoff and more, demonstrating practical ideas that apply across a wide range of music.
With over four hours of teaching, demonstrations and discussion, the recordings will be a valuable resource that you can watch at your convenience and return to whenever you’d like to revisit a particular topic or musical idea.
👉 Get the complete recording & resources here or find out more here!
Next Practice Clinic
Our Practice Clinics will return after the summer break. Sign up to our mailing list to receive advance notice of future clinics, together with joining instructions if you’d like to watch live and a link to the recording afterwards if you’re unable to attend:
Watch previous clinics
Recordings of past practice clinics are posted up on our blog, Facebook page and YouTube channel once recorded and you can also view our full archive of previous events via these platforms.
How they work?
Further information on how our practice clinics work is available here