This article was recently published on Pianist Magazine’s website. Many believe that we shouldn’t listen to recordings of our pieces before we learn to play them mainly because we run the risk of ‘copying’ the artists we are hearing. However, recordings can be of real value during the learning process. Here’s how you can use…
Tag: 5 Tips
5 Tips To Help Develop Dynamic Range
This month’s Pianist Magazine website article focuses on developing piano sonority or tonal colour, also known as ‘dynamic range’. Building dynamic colour into our playing is vital if we want it to be expressive, warm and engaging. But sometimes it takes all our attention just to play the notes on the page combined with the…
The Metronome: 5 Tips
Greetings from Melbourne, Australia, where I’m on a book tour. I’ve been intending to publish this post for a while; it’s a recent blog post written for Pianist Magazine’s website focusing on the use of the metronome. Over the years, I have found this device to be extremely helpful in my teaching class and I…
Voicing: 5 Tips
This month’s 5 tips article for Pianist Magazine’s website focuses on voicing. This is a vital role in piano playing and will determine a pianist’s artistry and musical phrasing. I hope the following ideas are beneficial. Voicing, or the highlighting of various musical lines or strands of music, plays a crucial role in good piano…
Reverse Practice
This article was published in Pianist Magazine’s latest newsletter and is, therefore, in the customary ‘5 Tips’ format which applies to nearly all my articles for Pianist’s website. It highlights a rather unusual practice tool, that of reverse practice. Some may find this unnecessary and irrelevant, but it does help to focus our minds when…
5 Tips To Create Rhythmic Independence
Rhythmic independence is the topic of my most recent article for Pianist Magazine’s newsletter. As usual, these articles are in a ‘5 tips’ format and I hope you find it of interest. In some of my past articles for this newsletter, I’ve suggested and implied that the use of the metronome is paramount. It can…
Exploring the Key Bed: 5 Tips
My latest article for Pianist Magazine’s newsletter explores the tonal possibilities found in the ‘key bed’ or the area of the key beneath the double escapement action. I hope you find it of interest. The key-bed can remain a mystery for many, lurking, as it does, beneath the only part of the key that is…
Perfect Alignment: 5 Tips
My latest article for Pianist Magazine’s newsletter focuses on hand alignment at the keyboard. One of the most noticeable aspects when learning to play the piano is wrist, hand and finger choreography. As soon as a student starts to play, it’s possible to determine any physical difficulties which they are experiencing, just from how they…
Attuning Our Listening Skills
My most recent post for Pianist Magazine’s newsletter focuses on our ability to ‘hear’ what we are playing. One of the most important piano playing skills that we need to assimilate is the ability to listen. I spent my college years struggling with aural tests, especially the atonal ones! But, years later, when I decided…
Creating Even Passage Work
The following article was recently published in Pianist magazine’s newsletter. I hope it might be a useful practice tool for creating nice, even passages. Creating even passages, devoid of lumps, bumps, and rhythmic jerkiness, can be a demanding challenge. How can we practice fruitfully, encouraging fingers to work optimally? Here are my 5 tips: 1….