How to Approach an Accent
An interpretation of an articulation on the piano is only as good as the successful interpretation of both its preceding and succeeding passages. To explain this in a more simplified setting, it’s like when you aim to do, say, a successful pianissimo; to do that, you...
Real Dynamics in Music
p - f - ppp - mp - pf - fff - ffff - fp - pp - mf - ppp... … and the list goes on… and on… REALLY??? Are you really telling me that a pianist could implement all those nonsensical dynamics on a piece of music? And, in our case, a pianist can differentiate...
Leggiero and Its Differences to Legato
Is it possible to describe with words a musical articulation? Well, I could easily say no, because I’m sure that I would be insufficient to achieve this in this very article you are reading. However, a seasoned writer and musical scholar of pianism might let...
Coming Back to Piano After a Long Break
Coming back to piano after a long break is refreshing, is exciting and, undoubtedly, is a brand new experience. But in order to return to piano, something happens inside us. We felt the need to hear ourselves playing this marvellous instrument and we anticipate...
The Night Owl | How to Find the Strength to Practice Your Musical Instrument
Reader Discretion is Advised Intro “I will play the f minor Chopin Nocturne by the summer,” you said to yourself. “I’ll finish that novel by the end of the year,” you heard your friend saying in the cafeteria. “This year I will finally complete my 1st piano...
How to Improve Stamina in Piano Practising
Here, the parent should act as a guardian of the student’s right to finish their practising on time. Parents should encourage their kids not to keep practising but to stop practising, because their kids “have practised enough for the day”.
Do Bodily Positions Matter in Pianism?
Attention: Not for the sensitive and sincere individuals. If you’re easily offended, please exit this website at once. This text is not politically correct. It is vulgar, insensitive and contains harsh and disrespectful expressions to facilitate an enjoyable read....
The Peter Principle in Musical Performance
In this article, I explore the belief that different branches of knowledge often correlate, and, in our case as pianists, can potentially show us how to perform the piano. The notion of morality, for instance, which is amongst others a philosophical and cultural...
Ethical Performing in Music (part 2)
As in everything we do in life, ethics can make or break our plight. We constantly make decisions in our own everyday lives — from the smallest, trivial matters, such as which carton of milk to buy from the supermarket, to the more important ones, such as which is the...
Ethical Performing in Music
“Grub first, then ethics” Bertolt Brecht ❦ Ethical performing… “Really, Nikos? What? Is there even a notion like that?” I hear you ask… Well, almost twenty years ago, I was playing to Oxana Yablonskaya Liszt’s 10th transcendental étude in f minor....