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 […]
Historical Perspective As an introduction, a brief historical perspective of piano performance traditions is explored as this sheds light on the topic of memorizing music. Until the latter part of the nineteen century, it was in bad taste to perform from memory. It was disrespectful and showy. Mozart, for example, had an expansive musical memory […]
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 […]
The practice of Yoga may provide an answer to a widespread problem among musicians. That problem is performance anxiety or stage fright. One in four musicians use Beta-blockers to improve their live performances. For some musicians, anxiety symptoms can be so debilitating that they lower the quality of performance and lower marks resulting from examinations. In […]
Piano Technique of a Legend It has been reported that the Hungarian Pianist Franz Liszt practiced exercises to develop piano technique including scales, chords, and arpeggios for five to six hours a day. Liszt’s technical abilities were legendary. For those of us who play the piano for personal enjoyment and don’t need the conditioning of an”Olympic […]
The day will come when your child will play the piano well enough and will practice without revolt, out of a sense of joy that music has to offer. Until that blessed day arrives, the following are suggestions to help smooth the road. Physical Practice Environment First, create a “practice zone” or a space that is […]
When learning music we often find passages that are challenging and difficult to master. We find our progress with these passages lags behind. In this situation, it is helpful to use sectional practice whereby we isolate difficult passages and work on them separately. Following are a few suggestions which will help make sectional practice as effective as possible. […]
Shopping for a Digital Piano What kind of digital piano should I buy for my piano lessons? I get asked this question often. It is difficult to answer because there is a maze of different makes and models. To address this question, I will highlight three important features of an acoustic piano. Before making a […]
Nearly all music has vocal qualities except for some styles of contemporary music. Often when playing a passage on the keyboard we fail to recognize the natural vocal inflections. We become preoccupied with coordinating our fingers and forget what we are doing musically. Finger singing is an exercise to develop a cantabile (singing) style of playing. Chopin […]