Summer Piano Projects

Ideas and resources to help you make the most of your summer at the piano

Summer can offer a slightly different kind of opportunity at the piano. You may have more time than usual, a break from lessons or performances, or simply a little more freedom to explore something outside your normal routine.

That does not necessarily mean packing your summer with demanding goals. We all need a break! Choosing one or two projects can be a simple way to make progress and enjoy your time at the piano. For example, you might choose to learn a new piece, revisit an area of technique, prepare to share your playing or explore a musical interest that you have not previously had time to pursue.

It can, however, be helpful to have something specific to work towards. Otherwise, the summer can all too easily whiz by, leaving us wondering what might have been. Before long, the new term begins, normal routines return and the ideas we meant to explore are still sitting untouched.

The important thing is to choose something that feels meaningful, interesting and achievable. Here are some ideas for summer piano projects, together with resources to inspire you and help you along the way.

Start a New Piece

Beginning a new piece is always one of the most exciting parts of playing the piano, and summer is the perfect time to do it.

But a fresh score can also feel daunting. With no obvious place to begin, it is easy simply to keep reading and playing through the piece without a clear idea of what to do next. After a while, you may feel that you have not really got anywhere and have little to show for your efforts.

Our new course, Right From the Start, provides a five-stage blueprint for beginning any new piece. It gives you a structured way to connect with the music, understand the score, make useful early decisions and organise the first stages of learning, helping you make meaningful progress while keeping the music at the heart of the process.

Your summer piece could be…

• a piece you have wanted to learn for some time;
• something shorter or slightly easier than your usual repertoire;
• a quick study to develop reading and fluency;
• a work by a new composer or in an unfamiliar style;
• a piece offering a particular musical or technical challenge.

Right From the Start is available separately and is also included with an Online Academy subscription. Click here to find out more.

Build Stronger Foundations

Summer can provide the space for a more substantial project. Perhaps you are preparing a piece for an exam, recital or other performance, or simply want to discover what it means to learn a work on a much deeper level.

This could be the summer you move beyond relying mainly on muscle memory and develop a more intimate knowledge of your piece. By learning the music in several complementary ways, you can build the security and resilience needed for performance.

Building Firm Foundations is a course that brings together an extensive collection of tried-and-tested tools to provide a structured approach to deep learning and memorisation. It shows you how to engage different memory systems and learn your piece inside out, so that you can perform with greater security, confidence and musical freedom.

Summer offer: Get Building Firm Foundations for £120, or just £72 if you are an Online Academy subscriber. Find out more or take advantage of the offer.

Refine Your Technique

Technique is a means to an end. Refining it can make playing feel easier, support greater expression and help you avoid unnecessary strain. Perhaps this summer is an opportunity to give this essential area of your playing some focused attention.

Rather than trying to improve everything at once, you might choose to:

• revisit posture, balance and healthy technical foundations;
• improve coordination, freedom and release;
• explore tone production and expand your palette of sound;
• strengthen scales, arpeggios, chords or other core patterns;
• investigate rotation and other fundamental movements.

For beginners and returning pianists, Penelope Roskell’s Foundations in Piano Technique covers the essential skills needed for healthy, musically focused playing, helping you establish good habits from the outset or revisit fundamentals that may have been overlooked.

Summer offer: Get Foundations in Piano Technique for £80, or just £64 if you are an Online Academy subscriber. Find out more or take advantage of the offer.

For intermediate pianists, Fred Karpoff’s Mastering Intermediate Technique applies his three-dimensional, whole-body approach to a rich range of repertoire. It shows how movement, tone and musical intention work together, helping you play with greater ease, fluidity and expressive freedom.

Summer offer: Get Mastering Intermediate Technique, Parts 1 & 2 for £80, or just £64 if you are an Online Academy subscriber. Find out more or take advantage of the offer.

Take Steps Towards Performance

Performance offers rewards that private practice cannot quite replicate: communication, connection, moments of flow and the unique satisfaction of sharing music meaningfully with others. It can also bring fresh purpose to a piece and renewed motivation to prepare it with greater care and imagination.

Yet even the presence of a single listener can change how playing feels, bringing self-consciousness, judgement and pressure into the room. Your summer project might therefore be to work towards feeling more comfortable and confident when playing for others.

This does not have to mean preparing for a formal concert or exam. You might:

• play for a friend or family member;
• record a complete performance;
• arrange an informal run-through;
• practise recovering and continuing after mistakes;
• explore how attention and expectations affect your playing;
• experiment with communicating the character of a piece more vividly.

Lights-Camera-Action! offers a gradual pathway from private practice towards performance. Through manageable experiments, simple performance tasks and guided reflections, it helps you understand how judgement, attention, practice habits and expectations shape the experience.

Whether you are beginning to explore performance, returning after difficult experiences or hoping to enjoy performance more fully, the course will help you move away from self-consciousness and towards communication, connection and greater freedom.

Summer offer: Get Lights-Camera-Action! for £64, or just £38.40 if you are an Online Academy subscriber. Find out more or take advantage of the offer.

Broaden Your Musical Skills

Summer might give you the chance to focus on skills that often get squeezed out by repertoire and technique, or simply to follow your musical curiosity.

Sight reading, theory and improvisation can all enrich the way you understand, learn and experience music, helping you become a more versatile and well-rounded musician.

Perhaps this is the summer to:

• improve your sight reading;
• brush up on your theory and explore how it works in practice;
• experiment with improvisation.

The Online Academy’s Skills library brings together courses, videos, exercises and other resources covering sight reading, theory, rhythm, improvisation and more. Explore whichever area interests you most this summer.

Explore our musical skills resources >>

Make Your Summer More Rewarding

Whether you embark on a new piece, tackle an aspect of your technique, prepare to perform or broaden your musical horizons, our summer offers on the courses featured above can help bring your plans to life.

Here’s to a summer with room for rest, inspiration and plenty of joyful music-making.