Despite the many recent advancements in open music education through online platforms such as YouTube, toneBase, and MasterClass, high-quality advice on piano playing is for the most part still restricted to those lucky enough to study in a conservatory environment. Needless to say, when it comes to private teaching misinformation abounds, as there is no guarantee on the quality of information passed down to students. Anyway, regardless of the level of teaching, since piano teachers are not movement scientists, the physical aspect of piano playing is usually taught in general terms largely reliant on one’s personal bodily intuition, which can vary vastly from person to person.
In this blog post, my goal is to touch on what I feel are some important basic pillars of piano playing that may have been neglected in many students’ training, as was the case for myself until I entered music university at age 18.
Now, what sets this blog post apart from all the other well-intentioned misinformation floating around on the internet?
I’ll be using scientific sources to support my statements whenever possible, hopefully allowing piano students of all levels to make their own educated decisions to decrease wasted time, effort, and risk of injury in their piano playing journeys. References to Josef Lhevinne’s Basic Principles in Pianoforte Playing, a classic in piano pedagogy literature, when relevant will show that empirical and intuitive understandings of piano playing tend to support, rather than contradict each other!
If You Can Play it Slowly, You Can Play it Quickly
Motor Learning Strategies
If you’re a classical music student, you’ve probably seen this viral video: