We all know there’s no such thing as ‘perfect’ piano playing but hopefully these tips might be helpful. The sustaining or damper pedal is one of the most important assets for a pianist. It adds another dimension to the piano timbre, and can provide a whole variety of sound layers. The most commonly used pedal,…
Tag: Practising the Piano
5 Top Tips to Improve Wrist Staccato
This is the second post exploring touch and articulation. The first focused on finger staccato (you can read it here), and today I’ll try to provide a few practice ideas for wrist staccato. Wrist staccato technique is generally used to play chordal passage work or groups of two notes or more in a very short, detached manner. A pianist friend and…
5 Top Tips to Improve Finger Staccato
One aspect of playing I have written little about is touch and articulation, specifically staccato. This past term, several of my students have taken advanced graded ABRSM exams requiring many scales, the majority of which must be played legato or smoothly, and staccato or short or detached, as indicated on the score by dotes above or…
5 Practice Tips To Instantly Improve A Performance
Over the past few weeks I’ve been travelling around, teaching and adjudicating, providing the opportunity to hear a large and varied selection of piano playing. Whether pianists are young or old, beginners or very advanced players, and there has been an unusually large cohort of superb playing this year, several issues persist amongst pianists. With…
10 Top Tips for Tonal Beauty
The following article was originally published in Piano Professional magazine. This is an EPTA UK (European Piano Teachers Association) publication. It appeared in the most recent edition, Issue 37. You can read the original article by clicking on the link at the bottom of the page. I have compiled a list of ten top tips…
10 Top Tips to help Resolve Tension
A few days ago I published an article which was originally written for EPTA (European Piano Teachers Association) last year, and was published in the Piano Professional Magazine. This article focused on resolving tension at the piano. Many of you have subsequently contacted me asking for a few tips regarding tension, to remember whilst practising. So…
Resolving Tension in Piano Playing: Article for EPTA’s Piano Professional
Most of us know that too much tension can ruin piano playing. Reducing this tension usually requires time and lots of work. There are many ways to address the uncomfortable, tight feeling. This feeling often accompanies a fixed and tense disposition at the piano. The following article was originally written for the Piano Professional Magazine, an…
Improving Your Scales: Feature Article for Piano Professional Magazine
I have written about scales and arpeggios before here on my blog. The following article was penned for the Piano Professional Magazine (Issue 34: Spring 2014). It was published by the European Piano Teachers Association or EPTA, which is designed for piano teachers. For many years I wrote a regular feature article on technique for this informative publication. Hopefully…
15 Top Tips for Successful Sight-reading
Last weekend’s blog post featured the first article I wrote for the European Piano Teachers Association (EPTA), which appeared in the Piano Professional Magazine (Autumn 2013 edition). Continuing with this theme, the following article was published in the Autumn 2014 Piano Professional (pages 20-22). It focuses on Sight-reading. We all know how important it is to be…
Ten Top Tips for Effective Memorisation: The Memory Game
This post comprises the first article I wrote for the Piano Professional Magazine (Autumn 2013 edition, Pg. 22-24), which is published by EPTA or the European Piano Teaching Association. I hope these suggestions and ideas might be useful to those studying for their diplomas or teaching memorisation to students. There is a helpful PDF download at the…
A few thoughts on Ornaments
Ornaments decorate a melodic line and add colour to it. Quick notes are typically added around a ‘central’ note. This adds beauty and variation. There are a variety of ways to interpret these ornaments. This includes trills, mordents, turns, and the like. Interpretation depends on the period of the work, the composer, and the character…
Dance in Bulgarian Rhythm No. 4 from Mikrokosmos Book 6 by Bartók
It’s great to see old favourites like this wonderful work on various examination lists, and this piece often appears on Grade 8 syllabuses. Hungarian composer Béla Bartók (1981-1945) is a particularly popular choice. Whilst not every student’s cup of tea, Bartók’s style is one of the most highly original of the Twentieth century. A superlative pianist and prolific composer, there’s…