So much planning goes on before we play. 

Planning an interpretation

1. Mark the phrases and label the cadences
   
2. Mark the form
   
3. Explore phrasing options
   
4. Select the gestures
   
5. Practice the gestures
   

I can help you learn to play beautifully as others have helped me. 

Call me. 

​David

You play primo. 

Learn your part, put on headphone or ear buds and play along. Remember YouTube videos can be slowed if required. 

Have fun 

​David

So many students are seeking the "secret", the secret that sends them to the front of the line. 

Alas, there is more than one secret. And they are all hiding in plain sight. 

Here are a few of the secrets:

1. Technique with a metronome.
2. Theory, including harmony.
3. History, knowing the repertoire and the historical context from whence it comes.
4. And most importantly, ear training. Connecting the ear with the hands. 

Known by some students as the boring bits. Know by professionals as the exciting bits. 

It is the same for jazz and classical too. 

If I can help, call me. 

David​

One week of piano among other pianists with 1st rate tutors, food, and wine. 

I'm dreaming.

​Click above for more inf. 

David

​

I'm looking forward to the section on ornamentation in Mozart. Always a tricky proposition. 

​David

4 hours of practice: All joy, no grinding. 

Top 5 tips for practicing any musical instrument
​

1. Have everything organized before you begin. Materials ready at hand. 
2. Listen to the music you are learning to play. Mark your scores.
3. Record yourself as you go along. Always know why you are repeating a passage in practice.
4. Warm-up
5. Auxiliary studies hold the keys to your eventual success: ear training, theory, sight-reading, score analysis. 
6. Bonus tip: Find a supportive enthusiastic group of fellow students to hang with, either in person or on-line. 

Playing

• Repertoire retention: Review a piece from your repertoire list.
• Lesson homework

Listening to Classical Piano 

• Form analysis: What is the structure of your piece? Is is in a Baroque Dance form, sonata form, Rondo, etc. Do a little research to discover the answer. Musical form - Wikipedia
• “What’s going on here?” Mark in the articulations and dynamic plans created by professional pianists and compare. Next mark in tempi changes and fluctuations. You may be surprised with what you discover. 
• Watch Youtube videos of professional performances of your repertoire and related pieces in the same genre or style. Deep listening is practicing.
• Listen to some music appreciation lectures. Suggested materials: The Great Courses

Ear training

• Playing melodies in different keys. Work up to complete pieces in new keys. Start simple. Work up to level 1 pieces.
• “What’s going on here?” Mark in the articulations and dynamic plans created by professional pianists and compare. This is so important, I've listed it twice.
• Suggested materials: Perfect ear App, Music Theory Pro and RCM online ear training. 

Classical History

• Reading about Classical music history and checking out the recordings with scores on YouTube. Each month study a different era of music. Research a classical music history outline online and head for YouTube. 

Theory

• Key signatures, intervals, transposition, scale/chord construction.
• Suggested materials: Music Theory Pro for drills, Alfred’s essential music theory is good as are the RCM theory books. But it all depends on where you are starting at. You can ask me for a recommendation based on my assessment.

Sight reading

• A key activity of maintaining joy at the keyboard: Playing for fun. 
• Clapping rhythms with a metronome
• Suggested materials: Lower level classical piano music. If you play at level 6 (grade 6) sight read at level 4 or lower. Other options include RCM sight reading books. Again, it all depends on where you are starting at. You can ask me for a recommendation based on my assessment.

 Piano Technique

• Scales, chords, and arpeggios. I love playing these, thoughtfully, carefully, and joyfully. With and without a metronome. I listen for evenness, watching the fingering, thinking about musicality. 
• The RCM syllabus has good technique lists. Conservatory Canada has even better lists.  

If you would like some help, call me. 

​David

Some ideas. 

1. Knowing what beautiful sounds like is an important step to being able to beautifully play oneself. 
2. Associating with people who can guide on this journey of discovery is important.

One of my students is working at the early advanced stage of Classical piano. This week Chopin Waltz in b minor and Gnossienne #6 by Satie. Sophisticated music. 

She is a retired executive whose career spanned the globe. She is an avid concert goer. As in, more than a concert a week. 

At the end of class I complemented her on her playing and knowledge of the music, it's context, and style. She was slightly taken back. She quickly explained that she has friends who are so much more sophisticated and nuanced in their appreciation of classical music. (One wrote liner notes for a major classical music label, one was a critic if I recall correctly as well.) 

I pointed out to her that she has learned more than she knew through those friendships. She recalled the after concert socializing where great debates on the merits of the performance. 

Furthermore, decades of concert going at the great halls of the world leaves a mark. A significant mark. 

Cheers, 

​David

When I take on a new piece of music of any complexity I will go through some or all the following steps. My goal is to have a clear artistic impression of the piece before I begin. 

1. Compare the different scores available to me.
2. Seek out professional recordings.
3. Print the music as I will be marking it up. 
4. Study the form and phrasing of the work. Sometimes, as in the Telemann I will mark in the phrasing. 
5. I will consider the era in which it was written for clues on possible interpretations.
6. I translate any unfamiliar terms I find in the score.
7. I might consult other sources to explore the style and era of its creation. For the Sonata in C, I enjoyed re-reading the section on Haydn ornaments in the book below.
8. I will listen to multiple professional performances and mark on the score ideas of interest. I often will slow down a recording to hear how the artist plays their ornaments. 
9. I might consult with a colleague or my piano coach as well. 

In short, I will have a clear set of ideas, those I discovered and my own, to explore as I now start to "learn" the piece. I will share these with my students.

If I can help you discover intriguing world of classical music, please call me. 

David

1. Scrolling scores
2. Fugues voices on separate staves
3. Sublime playing by a former weight-lifter Kimiko Douglass-Ishizaka
4. Sublime compositions

Bach's WTC would be one of the 2 music books I would take with me if I was to be exiled to an island. 

David

Listen to great music. A musical truism: "we are who we listen to".

Try this on your next new piece. 

1. Find a professional recording.
2. Listen a few times while watching the score.
3. With pencil in hand work out the fingering for both hands on nearly every note. You can skip repeated notes.
4. Now back to the recording. Listen to the 1st phrase, typically 2-4 measures. Using the fingering you wrote down. mimic what you heard. Make adjustments to match the expression of the professional. If you are playing jazz, make adjustments of the notation to match the recording. The recording is correct. Fakebooks are approximations. 
5. Continue to the end of the piece, painstakingly working out one phrase at a time. 
6. Next day start over. It will go quicker today.
7. As you go along, record your phrases and listen back. Are you shaping and articulating correctly. Don't worry about the tempo. That will come later. 

Have fun. 

David

How do I become a great pianist?

An honest question if a tiny bit naïve.

If you are in a great hurry, it is going to be difficult. If you are looking for a “hack” or some shortcut, I don’t know any.

But musicians for centuries have followed a pretty standard set of practices on the road to proficiency.

1. Humility is good. Trying to reinvent the wheel on your own might make you an artist in the end, but it won’t make you a pianist.
2. Patience is required. Learning to play the piano is a physical skill. It takes time. Though the ten-thousand-hour rule has been debunked, it is a good metaphor.
3. Listen to piano music. Through listening, study, and reflection we raise our level of sophistication which is needed to play well. Student's listening experience is often as a music fan, not as a musician. We musicians listen with intent. Starting with the question, “what is going on here?”
4. Find a teacher who has travelled the road you aspire to experience.
5. Learn to practice. Become a student of practice. Read books, watch videos, read blogs, take courses on how to practice. 

I'm available to help and encourage you on your journey. Just call me. 

David

​Acquiring fluency in the “language” of Classical Music

Two presuppositions:

First: We all play what we hear in our heads. Second: Beautiful music is “heard” in our heads and our hands obey.

​What we “hear” in our mind is a combination of experience, education, and reflection. Experience includes all the listening opportunities we’ve had in life. (My advice is start early) When the our listening experiences are linked to a moment of high emotional arousal: a concert trip with a beloved family member, attending a concert with a date, the impression is going to last. Impassioned listening I call it. For links to studies click this sentence. 

Education is musical appreciation, music theory studies, ear training, analysis, and score study. Sophisticated music does not give up her charms easily. You must work for it. Piano students too often want to skip this stuff and get right to the good stuff. Believing that the score tells you all you need to know to create a beautiful performance is an unfortunate fallacy in piano education. It is just a bare minimum. Artistic insight and performance go way beyond the ink.

​Reflection needs to be deliberate. Another form of deliberate practice. It is listening with intent in the performance of a great artist and ourselves. Reading biographies, autobiographies, listening to podcasts, watching YouTube interviews, and concerts. Asking ourselves, “what is going on here?” “How did they do it?”

What we can execute is all about deliberate practice, time, patience, and access to resources including teachers.

• Bench time is real.
• Education works.
• And our effort must be equal to the depth of our ambitions.

It’s coming to peace with the notion that we are putting ourselves on the well-worn path to proficiency and patiently working and progressing. No hacks, no shortcuts.
Now go practice,
David

1. Try to finish level 6 theory, it will really help us to communicate as musicians and build your understanding of the music you play.  
2. Summer is a good time to explore music history. A good introduction for classical piano students is found on Audible.ca https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/the-23-greatest-solo-piano-works.html check www.audible.com I found it there for a really fair price.  
3. YouTube score watching; paying attention to one element at a time: articulations , dynamics, tempo
4. General piano skills

• Technique
• Etudes
• Repertoire
• Sight reading

Have fun, see you in September. 

David

1. Put your phone on airplane mode. Concentration during “me time” is crucial.
2. Watch a renowned professional pianist perform on YouTube. This will direct your attention to the beauty of the music you play. Be grateful you have the privilege to play and study such music.
3. Plan your practice and how much time to direct to each area.
   1. Theory, knowing what you are doing makes everything easier.
   2. Scales, chords, arpeggios, a chance to practice playing beautifully.
   3. Etudes focus developing specific technical challenges in piano playing.
   4. Repertoire, the music you are currently learning.
   5. Repertoire maintenance, which is review of your favourite pieces.
   6. Ear training really helps us to memorise music, internally hear it, and expand our capacity to hear nuance in our performances and the performances of others.
   7. Sight reading. Good sight readers just enjoy playing music. And, learn music much quicker.
   8. Score study is the activity of marking up a score to record the nuances we hear in a professional performance. Remember the given notation is just a start.
4. Prepare to practice
   1. Get a sharp pencil to make notes in the scores.
   2. Your audio recorder to get feedback on your playing.
   3. Your books all in order and ready at hand.
   4. Metronome is ready at hand.
5. Time to start
   1. Warmup the muscles with technique or sight reading. If you start with technique, start slowly the muscles are cold. Breathe. Use a metronome for some of your technique to maintain the slow tempi.
   2. Now to the rest of it.
6. Take a 5-minute break every 20-30 minutes.
7. Three, thirty minutes sessions spaced in a day, counts too. 
   

​If I can help you, please call and reserve a future spot. I am now taking reservations of summer 2020 and fall 2020.
 
David

Consider:

1. Notes
2. Dynamics
3. Articulations
4. Tempi
5. Balance
6. Cadences and phrasing

 
The ability to discriminate these individual elements will help you play more expressively.

Here is an exercise:
​

1. Find a quiet space
2. Headset
3. Score
4. Pencil
5. Professional performance
6. 1st run through, just listen
7. 2nd run through, note the dynamics. Pay attention of the melodic direction and dynamic changes. Does the music get louder when the melody rises? And, vice versa? What happens to dynamics at the cadence?
8. 3rd run through, note the articulations: legato, staccato, detached, accents of various types.
9. 4th run through, note the relationship to tempi changes to phrasing and sections. Does it speed up or down? Is there a pause between major sections?
10. 5th run through, notice the relative loudness between the melody and accompaniment.

 
Happy listening.
 
David

Ear training gives you the ability to conceptualise what you hear, nothing more. There are countless phone apps, YouTube videos, and social media hustlers, and books promising results in short order. Unless you are in possession of perfect pitch and deep prior experiences listening to music, this will take some time. I am 48 years in. I am still working on it.


Ear Training for Classical Musicians

1. The ability to hear a cadence in a recorded or live performance.
2. The ability to distinguish dynamic shading.
3. The ability to hear intervals, chord qualities, scale qualities when listening to music.
4. The ability to internally hear and then execute with poise and beautiful tonal balance and articulations.
5. The ability to remember repertoire.
6. The ability to sing in pitch
7. The ability to practice solfege
8. The ability to internally hear tempo and manipulate it for dramatic effect.
9. The ability to place your part in the ensemble
10. The ability to correctly hear the tempo before you start.

If I can help you, call me.

​David Story

Even though Bach left us with this, in performance there are nuances to consider. Tempo will one modifier of what we see above. 

Check out this article from Strad Magazine for further details and explanations. 

​https://www.thestrad.com/playing-and-teaching/how-i-interpret-bach-tomas-cotik-on-ornaments-trills-and-appoggiaturas/9879.article

My decades old copy of Opus 821 by Czerny. Still on the piano. 

When I want to work on my tone, I go here. When I want to work on the different physical moves required in piano performance I go here.

This work covers all the keys in very short 8 measure exercises. I'm able to work on finger independence, arm weight, rotation, octaves, staccato, legato, portato, drop, thrust, dynamics, balance, and tone. 

Last weekend I attended the National Ballet of Canada's performance of "etudes". It is a 45 minute ballet of bar moves and set pieces to the etudes of Czerny. It was fun to recognize many of the pieces. It was instructive to hear the music interpreted by the dancers. 

Click here for a free copy:  https://imslp.org/wiki/160_kurze_Übungen,_Op.821_(Czerny,_Carl)

Happy practicing. 

Graham has a some effective ideas. As always, patience and application wins. 

A quick coffee video on practicing from pianist magazine. 

Listening is practicing. A bold statement I'll stick to. Try the following immersive listening exercise.

1. Make a cup of tea or coffee.
2. Grab your tablet or phone, find your headphones and head for a quiet room.
3. Open YouTube and find a professional performance of a favourite piece. Maybe a piece you'd like to secretly play.
4. Listen while doing nothing else. 
5. Listen again and pay attention to a single detail. If you play Classical music, try tapping along to the beat and notice how it ebbs and flows. On the second listen notice how the dynamics ebb and flow? Is there a relationship between dynamic changes and tempo changes? If you play Jazz, make a note of the solo order of instruments. Do you they play the same amount of choruses? These are great places to start.

This is just the beginning of learning to listen like a musician. As a musician I ask myself when listening, "what is going on here?"

​Enjoy, 

​David

The 7 circles to mastery. The following is taken from the YouTube video below. I am riffing on the ideas.

1.       Hearing
2.       Imagination
3.       Expression
4.       Technique
5.       Theory
6.       Analysis
7.       Finally, Practice at the instrument

Hearing: Good old-fashioned ear training. This is often an overlooked component in learning. Traditionally Classical piano students avoided this until a week or two before an exam. Not a great idea. It takes time to develop your ears. Well developed ears are of the greatest benefit because I believe we can only play what we hear.
 
·         Melodic playback for Classical students
·         Transcriptions for Jazz Students
·         Chord identification
·         Cadences
·         Chord progressions
·         Rhythm clap-back

Imagination: A tough one to teach. I believe a teacher must help the student trust their musical instincts. And, treasure them. Musical instincts are a result of the prior musical experiences of a student among other things.

Expression: Expression marks in a score are not suggestions for the novice. Be sure to work on them from the first reading. Do not make the mistake of thinking you can add them later after you “learn” the piece. Consider this, we all play like we practice. So, under stress (in an exam or performance) you will revert to your initial way of playing. Why? This is the way you learned it, spent the most time on. You perfected the piece in a monochromatic way. Flat and boring.

Technique or what is called the fundamentals: Change your attitude. Think of them as the FUN-damentals. I use them as a form of meditation. A chance to slow down and practice playing beautifully. Beauty is that combination of touch and time we learn through repetition and reflection.

Theory: Oh boy, another area most students practice the fine art of avoidance. The musicians we admire know what they are doing! If you want to have any chance of joining them, you need to understand what is going on. Form, harmony, melodic structure, intervals, historical context, the list of knowledge goes on and on. It all helps. I promise.  

Analysis: applied theory and the cornerstone of memorisation.

Practice: Learn to practice, read books on the subject, what YouTube, listen to your teacher. Learning to practice like a pro will save you years of fiddling around. And, it is way more fun because progress is faster.

​Please watch the video below. A wealth of knowledge. 
​
Cheers,
 
David