Practice Tools

Miming

Miming, or "shadow" practice, is a silent piano technique where the pianist deliberately prevents the keys from sounding—either by lightly touching or partially depressing them—to develop finger control, internal hearing and independence between hands or voices. Chopin - Étude Op. 25, No. 1 Clementi - Sonatina in C Major, Op. 36 no. 3 (1st mvt) ... Read >>

Doubles

Doubles (or triples!) is a way of addressing challenging patterns within passages where we have a string of fast notes of like rhythmical values (e.g. semiquavers) by playing each pair of notes twice (or more). Mozart - Var. 1 From 12 Variations on "Ah vous dirai-je, maman", K. 265 Nielsen - Snurretoppen (No. 2 from Humoreske-Bagateller, Op. 11) ... Read >>

Practice Strategies & Approaches

Introductory videos on how to approach and organise your practising for more productive and rewarding sessions.... Read >>

Luxuriant Piano Playing

A Wellness Philosophy and Practice

In these excerpts from his presentation at NCKP 2021, William Westney shows that whether we are concert performers or beginners, we can all luxuriate in free-flowing, generous, comfortable, unfettered, and unforced movements that “feel great” at the piano.... Read >>

The Three S's - Introduction

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Practising for Long-Term Results

In this video, William Westney demonstrates a remarkably easy technique for mind and body to truly “digest” (and remember) what we’ve practised.... Read >>

Inventing Exercises from Your Pieces - Introduction

This set of videos will help you come up with creative ideas for inventing your own exercises within your pieces to solve problems and master challenging passages. Debussy - Arabesque No. 1 from 2 Arabesques Resources & links Open domain editions for the works featured in this video are available via the following links: Debussy 2 Arabesques ... Read >>

Looping

To make ourselves thoroughly comfortable with a tricky passage, it can be helpful to practise it “on a loop”, repeating several times. With each repetition we aim to finesse our sound, to feel loose and free in the body and to correct any unwanted accents, wobbles or dings. Chopin - Waltz in E minor, B.56 Beethoven - Sonata No. 30... Read >>

The Floating Fermata

Beethoven - Ecossaise in E-Flat (No. 4 from Six Ecossaises, WoO 83) Faure - Andanta Moderato (No. 5 from Piecès brèves, Op. 84) Beethoven - Sonata No. 8 in C Minor (‘Pathétique’, Op. 13, 1st mvt) Resources & links Open domain editions for the works featured in this video are... Read >>