My article for last month’s Pianist Magazine explores this important practice idea. As a general rule, I’m a fan of piano exams or any type of ‘test’ which encourages a student’s progress. Most teachers are delighted when their student gets to grips with a piece or an aspect of their piano playing enabling them to…
Tag: Piano Playing
Interpretative Guidelines: Rami Bar-Niv
My guest writer this week is pianist, teacher and author Rami Bar-Niv. Rami has written many articles for this website and today’s focuses on interpretation. You can read more from Rami by clicking here. A good start is the balance between brain and heart, which is pretty good advice for life in general. Brain is…
Piano Pedagogy Spotlight: An Interview Series with James Kirby – Part 3
Today’s post continues my series Piano Pedagogy Spotlight featuring pianist and piano professor James Kirby. Here, we discuss his work as a concert pianist and chamber music player. Were you tempted to enter the Tchaikovsky competition again, or any other international competitions? And after the competition ended, were you approached for concerts or management in…
10 Tips To Help Develop Arm-Weight
Today’s post was published in Pianist Magazine’s newsletter last month. It focuses on the importance of establishing and developing arm-weight into your piano playing. I hope you find it of interest. Producing an attractive, pleasing sound when playing the piano is key to good interpretation. When we perform a piece of music, we want our…
Pianists From The Past: Teresa Carreño written by Clara Rodriguez
My Pianists From The Past series continues with this fascinating post detailing the life and career of Venezuelan pianist and composer Teresa Carreño. This article was written by Venezuelan pianist and pedagogue Clara Rodriguez. She is a professor of piano at the Royal College of Music Junior Department. Clara is also a noted exponent of…
5 Tips to Help Develop the Fourth & Fifth Fingers
This post was first published in Pianist Magazine’s April 2020 newsletter. The fourth and fifth fingers can be tricky to control. They require patience to develop. If left to their own devices, they will assume all kinds of weird, sprawling positions. Here are a few ideas to tame them. Most pianists know only too well…
Pianists From The Past: Lamar Crowson written by Julian Jacobson
I hope you continue to be safe and well during this difficult period. It’s time for a guest feature article. My Pianists From The Past series is proving popular. Today’s post has been penned by British pianist Julian Jacobson. He is a professor of piano at the Royal College of Music in London, UK, and…
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….
5 Tips on Stage Presentation Part 1
Stage presentation is an important topic. It is not just for those who perform regularly, it also concerns students preparing for exams, diplomas, or school concerts and festivals. In my latest article for Pianist Magazine newsletter, I offer the first of two articles on stage presentation. This article provides a few ideas for honing and…
Playing to Your Strengths
I haven’t written many guest posts over the past six years, which is the length of time that I have been running this blog. There’s no particular reason for this, but when the renowned writer, author, journalist, and presenter, Jessica Duchen, kindly invited me to pen a post for her excellent blog, it was an…
Are you all Fingers and Thumbs?
My most recent article for Pianist Magazine’s e-newsletter focuses on the thumb. As always, my intention is to draw attention to an area of piano playing which may benefit from concentrated practice. I notice in my own teaching that students perpetually work to achieve and maintain finger strength, but then leave the poor old thumb…
Focal Dystonia: Andreas Eggertsberger
I first met Austrian pianist Andreas Eggertsberger in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) last November, when we were both presenting at the UCSI University Piano Pedagogy Conference. I was fortunate to catch Andreas’ fascinating presentation which focused on this little known condition. Injuries are frequently considered a taboo subject for pianists, and tend to be surreptitiously swept…