Fundamentals of Piano Practice

FoPP 033 1.II.25 Hands Together and Mental Play

We can finally start putting the hands together (HT)! Some students encounter the most...

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FoPP 032 1.II.24 Soft Pedal, Hammer Voicing and Physics of the Piano Sound

Grand pianos: The soft pedal is used to change the mood of the sound from percussive to more...

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FoPP 031 1.II.23 Damper Pedal

Practice any new piece without the pedal HS, then HT, until you can play it comfortably HT at...

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FoPP 030 1.II.22 Bad Habits: A Pianist’s Worst Enemy

Bad habits are the worst time-wasters in piano practice. Most bad habits are caused by stress...

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FoPP 029 1.II.21 Building Endurance, Breathing

“Endurance” is a controversial term in piano practice. This controversy originates from the fact...

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FoPP Summer-Break 07

Hello, this is Henrik from Berlin, Germany. I just want to tell you, that I’m going to have my...

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FoPP 028 1.II.20 Weak Left Hand; Using One Hand to Teach the Other

Students who do not practice HS will always have a stronger RH than LH. This happens because the...

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FoPP 027 1.II.19 Accurate Tempo and the Metronome

Start all pieces by counting carefully, especially for beginners and youngsters. Children should...

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FoPP 026 1.II.18 Fingering

You usually won’t go wrong by using the fingering marked on the music. Or, rather, if you don’t...

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FoPP 025 1.II.17 Importance of Slow Play

Having pointed out the dangers of slow play, we now discuss why slow play is indispensable....

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FoPP 024 1.II.16 Dangers of Slow Play - Pitfalls of the Intuitive Method

Repetitive slow play can be harmful when starting a new piece. We stated in section II.1 that...

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FoPP 023 1.II.15 Post Practice Improvement (PPI)

There is only a certain amount of improvement you can expect during practice at one sitting,...

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FoPP 022 1.II.14 How to Relax

The most important thing to do as you get up to speed is to relax. Relaxing means that you use...

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FoPP 021 1.II.13 Velocity, Choice of Practice Speed

Get up to speed as quickly as possible. Remember, we are still practicing HS …...

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FoPP 020 1.II.12 Learning, Memorizing, Mental Play

There is no faster way of memorizing than to memorize when you are first learning a piece and,...

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FoPP 019 1.II.11 Parallel Sets

Now that the LH CEG chord is satisfactory, try to switch suddenly from the chord to the...

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FoPP 018 1.II.10 Gravity Drop, Chord Practice, and Relaxation

Learning to play accurate chords is the first step in applying the chord attack …...

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FoPP 017 1.II.9 The Chord Attack

Suppose that you want to play the (LH) “do-so-mi-so” quadruplet (“Alberti accompaniment”) many...

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FoPP 016 1.II.8 The Continuity Rule

When practicing one segment, always include the beginning of the following segment. This...

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FoPP 015 1.II.7 Hands Separate Practice: Acquiring Technique

Essentially 100% of technique development is accomplished by practicing hands separately (HS). Do...

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