Piano Practicing: Breathing into phrases and blocking out passages (Mozart Sonata, example)

I've picked the first two pages of Mozart's Sonata in Bb Major, K. 281, last movement, Rondeau, Allegro to explore breathing and blocking techniques in the learning process. (These principles can be applied to practicing music from a variety of eras) Starting a composition is often taken for granted. Sometimes students will land on a…

The piano learning process at all levels of study

In spite of my having studied piano for decades, each learning experience is filled with challenges that I must approach with a glut of patience. A new composition has its own form, architecture, harmonic rhythm, fingering that requires a big reserve of self-acceptance in a deadline-free frame. To the contrary, many of my students, who…

Piano Learning and Technique: The Value of practicing in SLOW motion or behind tempo

On one of the piano forums, students, teachers, amateurs and professionals are debating the value of slow practicing in developing performance fluency. Some insist that motor movements enlisted in slow motion are different from those employed in a brisker tempo, so why bother going through a laborious phase one. I can affirm that layered learning…