Piano Practicing Tips

Some Common Yet Easily Fixable Mistakes

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There are some mistakes that are very common to piano students, so much so that I would argue that everyone has made these at some point. I know I have and so have all my piano students (although some more than others). The first very fixable mistake that everyone makes at some point or other … Read more

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

The Good News About the Fact That Everyone Has a Weakness

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I’ve been teaching many years and one of the many things I have noticed over the years is that everyone has a weakness. What I mean by this is that everyone will have some aspect that they really have to work on, while other areas they will master quickly. I don’t mind admitting that my … 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