Rote Learning Has Its Place

When we were young and in school, a lot of the learning we did was rote learning, but then in the eighties and nineties, rote learning was considered antiquated (or at least this was the experience in Australia). It’s funny how things can go in and out of fashion – even in education circles. Now … Read more

Mistakes are Important to Make

I know it sounds counter intuitive at best and crazy at worst, but it is true that mistakes are beneficial to make when you are learning to play the piano. So often we are trying to avoid mistakes because it is the mistakes that makes our playing flawed, but really it is making mistakes that … Read more

Some Ways to Improve Your Piano Playing

There are many ways that you can improve your piano playing. Some of then are quite simple and straightforward while others take some time and effort to make a difference. Here is just some random ideas about potentially useful tools you can use. I have briefly mentioned this one before but a metronome can be … Read more

There is One Rule That Should Never Be Broken

If you have followed my blog much at all, you probably realize that even though I have formulated what I think is the ideal way of learning to play the piano, I am flexible and I think that there are many circumstances that require a different approach or a different mindset to tackling an issue … Read more

How to Improve Your Timing

If you are anything like I used to be, getting your timing right is not exactly the easiest thing for you when it comes to learning a new piece of music. Just like everything else, there are strategies that you can use to help improve your timing of a piece of music. The first step … Read more

The Importance of Fingering

No matter what style or what genre of piano playing that you are in to, you need to be mindful of the fingering that you use. This doesn’t mean that there are a rigid set of rules that must be adhered to. Actually the only rule that I have ever heard is one that actually … Read more