Many will know that I taught at the 2021 Chetham’s International Piano Summer School; you can read my blog post about it by clicking here. This course provided a great opportunity to meet and chat with all types of students, but particularly the adult amateur player. I teach few adult amateur students, as most of my pupils are either children or teenagers; teaching adults requires a totally different approach and perspective to that of working with younger students.

Students and faculty members all ate together on the course in the school canteen, and I was able to take advantage of this free time to enjoy many interesting conversations about various aspects of pianism. During one such lunchtime, an adult student who regularly read my blog asked a very specific question: ‘why is it that I can tell a professional pianist from an amateur player after just one bar?’ And the next question, ‘how can I improve my playing to sound similar?’ This was followed by ‘can you write about this on your blog, please?’ Never one to disappoint, I will attempt to answer this much-debated topic, even if there has been quite a time lapse!

A ‘professional’ sound should ideally begin with professional practice methods. I can only speak from my own experience here, but when I work with my students, I aim to train them to play at a high level, and because of this, I work in a fair amount of detail from the outset.

As is usual for most pianists, learning begins with plenty of separate hand practice, working out fingerings, suitable hand and finger movements for various passages, and generally memorising bar by bar and page by page before hands are worked at together. This is usually done in conjunction with constant use of the metronome (at many differing speeds) and with careful attention to the depth of key bed employed during such practice. And the student must be able to move around the piano freely without any excess tension.

This might all be considered arduous, not necessary, or just plain boring—and, perhaps, pretty dull. But that’s the conundrum about ‘training’ for anything. I imagine it to be similar to a tennis player, or any high-level sportsperson, who sets a routine for their training every day and adheres to it until they achieve their elusive goal. Of course, music study is not so clear-cut, and ‘winning’ doesn’t play such a decisive role, but in some respects it is exactly the same in terms of discipline.

My aim is to coach my students to be as robotic as possible, and I do realise this to be a controversial statement. Certainly not ‘robotic’ because I want them to play devoid of expressivity, far from it, but because they need to be able to recall hundreds of notes coupled with a sound sense of rhythmic pulse irrespective of the sometimes nerve-racking situations they will find themselves in;  playing any piano piece must ideally be replicated with total accuracy at every performance, and, for me, that is what constitutes being ‘professional’. Therefore, substantial ‘training’, or practice, is required to do this. Is it possible to coach any student to play like this? Maybe not, but if those playing for fun worked in a more detailed manner, they might just be able to surprise themselves.

A particular aspect to mark out the professional pianist, in my opinion, is their rhythmic precision. From the first note, those who practice, or have practised, with a firm pulse (or metronome tick!) eventually develop a clear sense of rhythmic pulse, and they generally have the ability to recover instantly from odd slips because of constant adherence to that pulse.

Students who know how to move flexibly and are conversant with practising using a ‘deep’ finger touch, or those who practice playing into the key bed, are able to create the sounds they desire more easily; they have significant control over the sound they produce right from the first bar. Very slow metronome practice in combination with developing a heavy touch, helps students acquire a ‘professional’ sound. It’s a slow process, and it’s necessary to ‘micro-manage’ students to work in this way, but once they get the hang of it, there’s no going back to their old habits, and the improvement can be impressive. This type of practice also enables them to ‘manage’ note patterns effectively, ensuring their hands are hovering over the keys at the right moment. It might sound trite or even irrelevant, but the constant observation of note management via suitable hand positions can really aid speed and note accuracy.

Once students can play their piece fluently slowly, adding speed, albeit gradually, and with an awareness of constantly changing the touch, that is, using a lighter touch for faster pieces and certain styles, is fairly straightforward, and only then do we start thinking about interpretation.

It’s this fairly robotic approach that contributes to ‘professionalism’, and it may be where some adult players might want to focus their attention. It takes concentrated work, dedication, and, yes, a certain amount of boring repetition.

I hope this briefly answers the course participant’s original question. I did attempt to explain this whilst eating my sandwich, and, after listening attentively, she immediately decided to change her approach to practising the piano. I do hope it helped!