Stepping into JS Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier
Three hundred years after their first publication, the 48 preludes & fugues of JS Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier are as important, fascinating and demanding as ever - every aspiring pianist should…
Pieces to Play – Birthday Offers
The next instalment in our “Pieces to play” series features a selection of popular works at a more advanced level for which we have published annotated study editions and other…
Simplifying the Score
When we begin work on a new piece, we might feel bewildered by all the information on the page. The score is dense with notes, fingerings, pedallings and other instructions…
Flexibility in Pulse
I heard Chopin’s beautiful Waltz in A minor in a class the other day. The basic feeling, tempo, balance between the hands and the pedalling were extremely good, and there…
Hold Me, I’m a Fermata!
Following on from last week's post on rests, I'm going to move on to the fermata - or the pause. We find this marked on rests as well as on…
Mind the Gap! (Part 2)
Following on from last week's post on slurs and short phrases in the Baroque and Classical periods, I thought I would look at some other examples from Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin…
Solving a Rhythmical Problem
It should be obvious that playing in time and playing rhythmically are two rather different things. It is possible to play in time according to a fixed beat but still be unrhythmical,…
Rediscovering Bach’s Prelude in C
The C major Prelude from Bach's Prelude and Fugue in C (Book 1 of the WTC) is very familiar to us all. This beautiful progression of harmony in broken chord…
Applying the Stepladder Approach
At the core of my practice tools are what I call The Three S's - or Slowly, Separately, Sections. They refer to nitty-gritty practising, the sort of thing we do not…
Freshen it Up
Ideas for freshening up an interpretation of a piece by playing in different styles.