A musician who can sight read has the ability to play any score of music regardless of familiarity with the piece. Like learning to read in school, musical sight reading abilities start from the basics and then build on each other as you move further along in your practice. Sight reading is a skill that […]

Dynamics (variation in loudness) is a common missing ingredient from piano performances. Without dynamic contrast, a pianist’s playing is lifeless and dull.  Adjudicators of festivals or exams frequently recommend to “use more dynamics”. Dynamics are often in place during rehearsal but absent during the performance. In this case, performance anxiety is the culprit. In other […]

Daily practice punctuated by weekly lessons are time-honored traditions when learning to play the piano or any other musical instrument. Recent findings in neuroscience regarding motor learning and sleep support the wisdom of these traditions. It also helps us to understand a common experience. This experience is as follows. We sit down to practice a […]

Stage fright, for some musicians, presents a difficult challenge. Musicians are very much on the edge when performing. One minor mishap can initiate a domino effect that can derail a performance. Add stage fright into this scenario and it will have the potential to hijack one performance after another. Often, this experience is disheartening, discouraging […]

Learning to play the piano involves working with focus and discipline.  Much of the time this work is fun and enjoyable. To illustrate, one of my adult students said learning a piece is like solving a puzzle. In the beginning, it seems difficult but as I practice it becomes easier. When I finally learn to […]

Do you sometimes find that you have problems during your lesson that you simply didn’t have at home? “I played it better at home” is a common affliction. What do we need to do develop the capacity to deliver the same level performance under more challenging circumstances then the comfort of our home? To get a handle […]

We live stressful lives! While stress comes from different directions, a prime example is the encroachment of technology in our lives. It has taken away much of our downtime and has blurred the lines between work and home. Most of us struggle to find any time where we are “unplugged.” To deal with stress, many […]

The Jolt of a Memory Slip A common experience for musicians is to feel secure in practice but only to experience memory lapses during a performance. What can we do to enhance performance security and avoid the jolt of memory slips?  This post will explore the three different compartments of musical memory and discuss methods […]

One of our most important piano practice techniques is slow practice. In fact, it is our foundation. It is a useful tool for the beginner and the most seasoned virtuoso alike. To illustrate, in his book Speaking of Pianists, Abram Chasins describes a time he arrived for a lesson with Rachmaninov and overhead him practicing. Rachmaninov was practicing […]

“Think Ten Times and Play Once.” These are famous words from the renowned pianist and pedagogue Theodor Leschetizhy. Leschetizky was born in Poland in 1820 and was the head of the piano department and one of the founders of the St. Petersburg Conservatory of Music. In 1878 he settled in Vienna and began teaching there. Promising pianists flocked […]