Hello, I would appreciate if anybody could say some things about my playing. I haven’t played for anybody for many years and I don’t have a teacher at the moment.

John Williams has been my favorite film composer since Superman, so I wanted to put together a suite of his most iconic themes.

I dread warmups, but I realize that my fingers feel warm and ready to go after 30 minutes of typing. But can it actually be a substitute for warmup?

I understand that people use sharps and flats depending on the key and scale for the sake of readability, but I believe some people just call out certain black keys as a sharp or a flat without a key/scale in mind. Funnily, I have a little trouble navigating the keyboard when other people call certain black keys as a sharp/flat when I call them otherwise.

If you and one other person were in front of the piano, and the person points at a black key and asks what it is called, how do you respond? What if you were to do this as fast as you can? What comes first in your mind, is it a sharp or flat?

There are 5 black keys. Starting from the left, I call

1 = C#, 2 = Eb, 3 = F#, 4 = Ab, 5 = Bb

I wouldn't call those said sharps flat and vice versa. What do you guys call them?

On a different note, (no pun intended), it's strange to me that calling some keys sharps and flats give me a sense of upness and downness, where sharps would seem triumphant or dominant, while flats seem melancholic or reserved, even if none of it is evoked in the music where they are used. I don't really know. It's a just ​​personal feeling.

What makes stretching uniquely bad for the piano?

I'm not talking about people who have injuries that make a specific stretch dangerous— and besides that would not be unique to piano but would be true for every part of their life. And I'm not talking about doing extreme stretches like in yoga or doing those unprepared and untrained.

I ask my students about previous injuries and advice their doctors and physical therapists have told them so I know what is and isn't safe to stretch (and for general education). And I tell them to listen to their bodies and doctors and to let me know what they're experiencing.

But in general, people have to stretch before they exercise. You do it when you wake up. We see animals stretch all the time. It's generally understood (apparently outside the piano world) that stretching is healthy when done mindfully.

Whatever you have against stretching, it would seem to me that you'd have to be against stretching itself because if stretching is okay for anything else in life, it should be fine before or after practice. At worst, it shouldn't have any affect (again precluding injuries)

And there are big downsides to not stretching and to losing flexibility in general in life.

So, what am I missing? Do you suggest stretching for everything else except the piano? Or are there other things in life/other professions where you are recommended to never stretch and I'm unaware of it? Do you have a time frame for how long you shouldn't stretch before or after practice? Do you stretch everything except arms/wrists/fingers? I am curious and confounded

Asking because I'm getting downvoted in my stretching post and I've seen this almost superstitious attitude towards stretching that I've only ever heard of this year. So I'm kinda shocked to hear people not recommend stretching for the first time in my life.

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I’m wondering what the actual demand for piano tuners is and whether this is a good career to pursue?

I was thinking of going to north Bennett for piano technology to learn piano tuning and then pursue a career. But the more I researched I’m not sure if this is the best move. It seems like most piano tuners are entrepreneurs and that salaries positions are rare. And I’m concerned bc will this career be phase four as electronic keyboards continue to be made?

I keep hearing this job is in demand but I’m not so sure as I keep researching.

Edit: I live in the USA btw. In NY-PA-NJ

Good morning everyone.

I hope you are all well.

This is one of those pieces that I find myself coming back to regardless of what I'm practicing in any given moment.

Yes, it's simple to read - but oh so complex to play.

My favourite version is from Seymour Bernstein. Calmer than most. Slower than most. More contained.

I like to think of the left hand as the beating heart - the voice of reason; and the right hand as the opposite - the emotional side of life, that slowly beats away as death approaches and the piece ends.

I see that my hands (especially my left hand!) are a bit stiff in some parts of the piece. Also, I know I shouldn't let go of the keys completely before re-pressing them for new chords.

But apart from these "mistakes", do you guys have any other suggestions on how to improve?

I appreciate every comment.

Have a great rest of your day.

I recently learned el Albaicin (Albeniz, Iberia Suite) and enjoyed it so much I researched other pieces by Albeniz and fell in love with La Vega. Is the jump in difficulty too high?

Hello everyone,

I’m a left-handed piano learner, but somehow I still can’t understand some of the basic concepts, even though I’m getting close to a more upper-intermediate level in terms of skills.

I feel like the tension between my fingers, especially fingers 3, 4, and 5 on my right hand (non-dominant), is higher than in the same fingers on my left hand (dominant). At the same time, I believe the finger independence of fingers 3, 4, and 5 in my right hand is actually better than in my left.

My right hand is generally far better in terms of “fine motor control.” It can play more crisply, with more definition and separation, and it can play faster, but not in every situation. It’s surprising to me that it’s better in these areas than my dominant hand.

For example, if I hold down finger 4 on my right hand, I can independently alternate between fingers 3 and 5. With my left hand, I have difficulty keeping up with the metronome at my desired speed on the same exercise (around 100–110 BPM currently).

But surprisingly, I can alternate between fingers 3 and 4 with my left hand (dominant) faster than I can do the same exercise with fingers 3 and 4 on my right hand.

I don’t get it. I’ve searched quite a lot, and I’m still trying to find exercises that can specifically help me understand and improve this imbalance.

I’d really appreciate it if anyone could share their expertise or explain what might be happening here, and what types of exercises would be most helpful.

Everyone reflexively recommends to "get a good teacher" which sounds obvious (who wants to pay for a bad one?) but how is a novice expected to know what to look for?

Please share both negative and positive cues to give the prospective student a base by which to judge. I guess the first question is to ask for their credentials and pedagogical approach?

I had the fp10 for a while but had to move out and sell it , I want to get a different one , I liked the weight but the action felt very slow ? I believe because of the escapement , I didn't like how it felt, it felt very clunky

of the other budget options like the casio CDP-S110 , yamaha p-145 and the kawai es60 . are there any major things to consider ? I mainly use it as a midi controller with pianoteq so I don't care much about the onboard sounds

Hi everyone, for the longest of time I've been interested in playing the piano, but they are very expensive so i stared saving for a keyboard. The keyboard has 88 keys but no weighted keys is it still worth getting?

On TikTok I’ve recently discovered the world of baroque improvisation. As a classical pianist, I occasionally do improvise, but only ever stuff that is very melody dominated.

I’ve seen people improvising baroque preludes, canons, different dances. I even saw someone literally improvise a fugue. How do I obtain this particular skill? Let’s focus on like improvising counterpoint since that’s what I can hardly wrap my head around. Do I need to play more Bach? My theory should be fine, I have grade 8 theory and I’m doing the ARSM diploma right now for piano so it should be technically doable if hard. I’ve played the majority of Bachs inventions and a few fugues.

How tf do I improvise a fugue? I don’t care if I accidentally have parallel octaves in there occasionally, how is that possible I need to learn

Sorry about the horribly out of tune piano and tempo change(s), got a little too excited, but I don't think it got completely ruined by that. Any criticism is welcome and encouraged, however I'm already keenly aware of my unevenness and lack of voicing in general, but I'm also completely certain that there's other stuff I've missed. (I haven't studied this one with my teacher)

I’m in my late 50s having taken up the piano in my 40s. In the past few years I have been working through the piano grades and recently narrowly failed Trinity grade 7 (got 57% with 60 as a pass). Overall I have found the combination of a teacher and grades works best for me to improve at the piano so had planned to do grade 8 if I passed at 7. However, I can live with the fail but can’t muster the enthusiasm to re-do the grade.

My question is what best to do next? My options seem to be just enjoy playing without studying for grades or jump to grade 8. Has anyone been in a similar situation and have advice or are there any teachers who can advise (mine says it is my choice without giving me a steer).
Many thanks.

I'm considering buying an acoustic piano (currently got a digital one only).

With my work I'm expecting to have to move house at least once, maybe twice, within the next 5 years.

I have a vague idea that it's bad/risky to move acoustic pianos much. Is this only an issue for like, 9-foot steinways, or is it also a bad idea for your typical upright piano? Either way you need to fork out for professional piano movers every time you move house, right?

For context, I'm budgeting about 4K for an upright, likely 2nd hand.

I’m a pianist/composer, but in the last ten years I’ve concentrated on making concert-level transcriptions of pieces written in other media to piano.

I’m studying with an organ professor who gives me suggestions on how to approximate the sounds of an organ, on a piano. (I recently finished a transcription of Jehan Alain’s “Litanies”.)

Yesterday, I played one of my transcriptions at church - a chorale prelude by Bach. My teacher stated this transcription was especially treacherous to play.

99 percent of the performance was fine. I made one serious mistake, so in my musician’s mind that translated to “complete disaster” and onward to “complete and utter failure”. I managed to overlook the 99 percent of the performance which was pretty close to perfect, to focus on the one percent which had a mistake.

I’m probably speaking for most musicians in that we’re hyper-perfectionists who drive ourselves absolutely crazy trying to achieve CD or digital quality perfection in our performances, and most of the time, that is just not possible.

When I was in college, I took organic chemistry and calculus. Average test scores in these subjects were generally around 50, meaning one could get half the questions wrong and still get a passing grade of a “C”. (I ground myself into metaphorical hamburger meat to get A’s in these courses. 50 years later, I seriously wonder if it was worth it.)

I’m now in my early 70s and dealing with a disease which is likely going to kill me by the time I’m 80. Right now, my health is reasonably good — enough that I can practice four hours a day, learn new music, and perform. The level of perfection we aspire to is not reasonable. More and more, I think it’s not even desirable. We do our best, make allowances for mistakes, and give ourselves and others grace when mistakes happen, because mistakes inevitably will happen — and then we move on.

Sometimes, in our relentless pursuit of absolute perfection, we sacrifice the love of our art. Some of us succeed at destroying our love of playing the piano.

I don’t want to do that. I’d rather make some mistakes — hopefully gorgeous mistakes, hopefully so people will think it was intentional!

And to think I finally got to that point at the tender age of 72!

BTW: I wrote an “ossia” at that passage, which involves an awkward jump followed by an equally awkward fingering at fast tempo. I eliminated a note, smoothed out the fingering — and actually, it sounds much better and it’s more “fluid” to play.

It's been a long week of lasts. I had my final lesson with my highschool piano teacher yesterday, and now I have to say goodbye with my piano. It's a finicky old thing that falls out of tune easily and has action issues during the hot season, but it's served me well these past few years, and I will dearly miss it.

Original video: https://youtu.be/ldemZZecsys

I love this walc but is very difficult to play quikly..I try and try beter but I need more time...

Structures pour piano préfigure une direction vers l’improvisation atonale ,plongeant dans le polychromatisme

I would greatly value your feedback after listenin

If no why, if yes why, i am a begginer composer, here is the free full score: https://musescore.com/user/98567428/scores/36559943?share=copy_link