piano wisdom

A Journey Through the Musical Ages

2023-01-03T21:17:02+00:00

You may notice that when you play the piano different pieces have certain characteristics. This will have something to do with the time period that it was written in. Music has five main eras, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Modernist; today, we are going to travel in time and discover the beauty of each period. The Renaissance period (1400-1600) was ruled by composers from the likes of William Byrd, Thomas Tallis and Claudio Monteverdi. Interestingly, Byrd and Tallis were the first composers to ever be granted a patent to print and publish music meanwhile Monteverdi was the first opera composer who’s [...]

A Journey Through the Musical Ages2023-01-03T21:17:02+00:00

The Psychological, Emotional and Physical Benefits of Playing The Piano

2023-01-03T21:16:10+00:00

There are many benefits that come with playing an instrument, specifically the piano. Some are obvious and some you wouldn’t believe, each are just as unique and important in their own way. Here are just a few of the psychological, emotional and physical benefits of learning the piano that may inspire you to learn or to carry on lessons. Learning the piano is known to boost your cognitive and intellectual abilities which essentially makes you stronger in the parts of your brain which uses reasoning and math. This is because the same area (the parietal lobe) is activated when you integrate [...]

The Psychological, Emotional and Physical Benefits of Playing The Piano2023-01-03T21:16:10+00:00

Coping With Stress In Practising/Performing

2022-10-31T12:57:37+00:00

With this article, I would like to share a few things that I found extremely helpful over the years- when it comes to coping with stress. Performing and practising can be highly demanding, and synchronising everyday life with the discipline of piano playing can be a true challenge. It is important to distinguish different types of stress in different fields of music making, so I will focus mainly on the quality of practice time as that is a good base for any further topic. The difficulty in maintaining a quality practice session stems from several aspects… the amount of work that [...]

Coping With Stress In Practising/Performing2022-10-31T12:57:37+00:00

Practising Piano Techniques – Part 2

2022-08-30T20:37:26+01:00

Hello again and welcome to part 2 of practising techniques! If you haven’t already checked out part 1, please do so as I shared some of the practising principles that I find super important. We covered the essence of concepts like searching, listening, identifying the problems and repetition. All of these concepts are somehow a core of practising any instrument. What I would like to further focus on is again both practical advice as well as a general concept. 5. Physical Awareness I find that physical awareness is often overlooked as a concept. Maybe more so with teaching children as they [...]

Practising Piano Techniques – Part 22022-08-30T20:37:26+01:00

Practising Piano Techniques Part 1 

2022-08-30T20:36:33+01:00

Practising is a highly sensitive topic. In my experience as a teacher and a performer - there are thousands of ways to do something on our instrument. Finding those shortcuts that make everything efficient and better,  with true clarity that can later turn into a method - proves to be a challenge. Let’s first examine a little bit what practising is. When we say “I have to practise “ - we already automated the action, I have to be by the piano (or any other instrument) and do some work. I find that some essential understanding of what work needs to [...]

Practising Piano Techniques Part 1 2022-08-30T20:36:33+01:00

10 Reasons (Out Of 100s) Why Concert Attending Is Really Important For Musical Development – Part 2

2022-07-05T10:20:34+01:00

Part 2 In part 1 we covered the essence of what listening to classical music live could mean to us- physically, emotionally, chemically etc. Here are some more reasons why it is a wonderful experience to visit live performances. 6. It Sustains Culture Even though classical concerts might not be everyone’s favourite night out - it is certainly important to send the message that we need culture. And the best way to do so is to, of course, attend performances and show our support. Culture is holding our society together and by actively taking part in live performances (as audience) we [...]

10 Reasons (Out Of 100s) Why Concert Attending Is Really Important For Musical Development – Part 22022-07-05T10:20:34+01:00

10 Reasons (Out Of 100s) Why Concert Attending Is Really Important For Musical Development – Part 1

2022-04-25T15:25:41+01:00

Music Came Before The Language Music is not consumed just for fun as it might seem now, at the present time. Netflix, cinema, a night out... Music has changed its role drastically, in this century specifically. If we try to imagine our life without it - at first it wouldn’t seem that bad. Maybe it would be strange to exercise without music, or we frequently wouldn’t understand the context of a specific movie scene as many movie directors heavily rely on music to tell us the emotion of the scene. Imagine weddings, celebrations, birthday parties... the fact that music is everywhere [...]

10 Reasons (Out Of 100s) Why Concert Attending Is Really Important For Musical Development – Part 12022-04-25T15:25:41+01:00

Choosing Repertoire for Performances

2022-04-14T08:31:11+01:00

Choosing Repertoire This is a very interesting topic that could dictate a lot on how we progress and how we discover our strengths and weaknesses. Many performers today have chosen to stick to performing works by one or just a few composers. This allows a complete dedication and sinking into the depths of a specific language and style. On the other hand, we have performers who like to discover as they play - as they grow as musicians, finding new pieces and challenging themselves by immersing themselves into the unknown. What I find interesting is how the repertoire we chose shapes [...]

Choosing Repertoire for Performances2022-04-14T08:31:11+01:00

Why Scales?

2022-03-30T13:30:40+01:00

Scales can be seen as a tedious task by many people who choose to study the piano but without them your technique and knowledge will never reach its full potential and no one wants to be held back! I get asked frequently by students ‘why do I have to play scales?’ ‘What do they even do that benefit me?’ I usually struggle to find one short answer when this happens because there’s a whole list of reasons I could dive into…. And I do. The main reason for practicing your scales is to build up your finger technique. If you take [...]

Why Scales?2022-03-30T13:30:40+01:00

Joy of improvising and 7 day challenge!

2022-01-19T21:33:36+00:00

Improvising on piano - Part 2 Hello music lovers! In part 1 of this article, I wrote about the importance of composing and improvising on piano. If you haven’t yet - check it out. We discussed the very beginnings of structured improvisation. It is easy and anyone can do it. It might not be the most comfortable at first but it is definitely beneficial, fun and progressively better the more we do it! I suggested that the first steps of structured improvisation could be through imitation of what we hear and variation of some of the components in that material. In [...]

Joy of improvising and 7 day challenge!2022-01-19T21:33:36+00:00

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