Where Piano Playing Retirees Get Information and Encouragement
Maybe it is just me, but when I was learning to play the piano, I often really struggled with learning to play anything from the Baroque Era (which was from about 1600 to 1750). For me, this meant quite a bit of Handel and J.S. Bach. For those of us that studied classical music, you … Read more
From the numerous people that have spoken to me over the years about wanting to be able to play the piano, I would say that at least half of those people did in fact start learning to play the piano when they were younger. I have heard all sorts of reasons why this happened and … Read more
Yes, the ideal is to practice every single day, but we all know that while that might be the ideal, it just simply doesn’t always happen. There are genuine reasons why piano practice doesn’t happen in the short term. Those reasons are often because of sickness or due to travelling. The very first thing that … Read more
It is well and truly obvious that to learn to play the piano, or any other musical instrument, you need to practice regularly and the more regular it is the better. In fact, I think that it is much more important to practice for a few minutes every single day than an hour once a … Read more
Recently I have seen online various adverts that talk about secret knowledge of being able to successfully remember how to play pieces of music that you have already learned months or even years ago. It is no big secret, it is just using what is called muscle memory. (As an aside, it is purely a … Read more
I’ve been thinking lately about why kids seem to be content when they are learning something new, like learning the piano, unlike adults, who seem to spend so much energy wondering whether they are going to be any good. If you think of a five or six year old, they don’t worry whether they will … Read more
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