Piano Teachers are Professionals

For some of you that statement is obvious. You understand that piano teachers are indeed professionals. However, every so often I hear a comment here or there that piano teachers are not really that good. I’ve even had comments made to my face, in the context of meeting a new student (or parent when it … Read more

Keeping a Beat is Important

Keeping a beat is important, but so is playing the right notes and adding adequate expression. But keeping the beat is possibly the most important aspect, for a number of reasons. The first reason why keeping the beat is important, is that it maintains the flow and integrity of the piece of music. This is … Read more

Why Some Music is Written Badly

Some music is written badly and it is not because the quality of the music is particularly bad. I am not imposing my personal opinion here, it just that some music is not written well. Actually it is more accurate to state that some music is transcribed really badly. If you have every heard a … Read more

Some Thoughts on Practical Fingering

This can be a bit tricky to work out whether you should follow the fingering or not on any given piece of music. On top of this, everyone also seems to have an opinion on what is best practice, so here is what I think should be the case. First of all, if you have … Read more

Reasons Why  You Should Not Learn To Play The Piano

I know this sounds quite strange, particularly coming from a blog the is all about giving information and encouragement to retirees to learn to play the piano, but hang in there because there is very much a point I want to make. One reason that you should not learn to play the piano, is because … Read more