Tips for Playing the Piano

Practicing for 5 to 7 Minutes Per Day is All that is Necessary to Make Progress

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For the very early years of teaching the piano, I have recommended for students, especially beginners to practice for 5 to 7 minutes every day. I decided that this would be my recommendation simply because when I was a beginner piano student, I was told to practice between 5 and 7 minutes per day. Hundreds … Read more

What To Do When a Piece of Music Isn’t Working

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We’ve all been there, whether as a student or someone who has been playing the piano for years, that we are working on a new piece of music and even though we are trying it is not coming together and it can be really frustrating. The first bit of advice would be that this happens … Read more

Practicing is not Playing and Playing is not Practicing

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So how can practicing the piano not be playing the piano and vice versa? The really simple answer is that both fulfil a completely different function. Playing a piece of music really happens once you have learned how to play the particular piece of music. You play a piece of music when you know it … Read more

Learning to Find the Notes on a Piano is Easier Than You Think

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To someone who doesn’t know how to play the piano, the 88 keys that a piano has would naturally look daunting and the thought of being able to name them all would seem almost impossible. While the piano does have a lot of notes, there’s a way to break things down so it makes learning … Read more

Is Learning to Improvise and Essential Skill?

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Is learning to improvise an essential skill for all piano players? Well it really all depends on who you ask. If you ask a classical piano player, they will tell you that it is not necessary at all, simply because classical musicians don’t improvise. The closest thing to improvising that classical musicians do is when … Read more

How to Instantly Make Your Playing Sound Better

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I was watching a You Tube video the other day and it featured this woman starting to play the beginning of Beethoven’s Fur Elise, which you might not be familiar with the name, but you would have definitely heard it before. I could tell that this woman had only been playing the piano for a … Read more

Can Poor Technique Cause Paralysis and Pain?

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Years ago I heard a story of a professional violinist that developed RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury) where the pain and strain got so bad that the muscles in her arms and shoulders locked up and that some everyday tasks became impossible. For a whole year she couldn’t play at all. For several years she had … Read more