The hairpin signs (crescendo and diminuendo) are often 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, therefore the 𝐫𝐡𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, than to do with the dynamics.

I was teaching this Debussy Prelude, “𝐋𝐚 𝐩𝐮𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚…

𝐋𝐨𝐮𝐢𝐬 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐮 𝐆𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐤 (1829 –1869), the first touring virtuoso pianist from America, was born #OnThisDay
He was also one of the last of the pianists who played only his own music in concerts.

One of the things he couldn’t do was 𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐚𝐯𝐞…

𝐏𝐲𝐨𝐭𝐫 𝐈𝐥𝐲𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐓𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐤𝐨𝐯𝐬𝐤𝐲
(1840-1893) was born on this day. #HappyBirthday

This is one of my favourite solo piano pieces by Tchaikovsky. “Au Village”
The melancholy of the desolate winter landscape of the opening gives way to this jolly village fair.…

Happy birthday Johannes Brahms!
I love the story about Brahms being asked 'How do you write such divine adagios?”
Brahms: “My publisher orders them that way.”

Remember this before performing… #piano

'no soloist should dare to come before the public unless he has creative energy; unless he knows how to transform the notes into so many balls of fire; unless he can inspire the accompanying players as well as his listeners, and—in fact,…

The man who invented the piano 𝐁𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨 𝐂𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐢 (1655 – 1731) was born on this day. The origin of our joy and suffering, and etc. etc.
The piano was born in around 1700. The basic concept of the piano remains unchanged in the 300 years of its development.…

A poignant story told by Joseph Deiner who one day found Mozart and his wife dancing energetically about the room.
'When asked whether Mozart was teaching his wife to dance, Mozart laughed and said, 'We are simply keeping warm, because it is freezing and we cannot afford to buy…

I absolutely believe in slow practice!
It often works to try to do the 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐞 of what you’re aiming to achieve.

- If you want to play fast, practise slowly.
- If you want to play a scale evenly, it helps to practise with uneven angular rhythms. (e.g. dotted rhythm)
-…

English conductor Sir Thomas Beecham (1879 – 1961) was born on this day.

'The function of music is to release us from the tyranny of conscious thought.”
#music

'Rachmaninoff was practicing Chopin’s étude in thirds, but at such a snail’s pace that it took me a while to recognize it because so much time elapsed between each finger stroke and the next. Fascinated, I clocked this remarkable exhibition; twenty seconds per bar was his pace…

English romantic landscape painter J. M. W. Turner (1775 – 1851) was born on this day.

He is known as 'the painter of light' and 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐲 called him '𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐫𝐭.'
Debussy looked…

The French romantic poet 𝐀𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐮𝐬 𝐁𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝 (1807 — 1841) was born on this day.

He is known as the author of '𝐆𝐚𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐝𝐞 𝐥𝐚 𝐧𝐮𝐢𝐭' his only published volume of poetry on which he worked throughout his short life. This collection of poems influenced…

'Imagine it's the last time you ever play the piece, and then you'll be run over by a bus and then we lament the loss of the young man but they say the last time he played it was so beautiful' 😆

Watching Ben Zander teach makes me feel better about being a musician.

#piano …

The great Austrian pianist Artur Schnabel (1882 – 1951) who recorded the first set of the complete Beethoven sonatas, was born on this day.

'𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬. 𝐁𝐮𝐭…

How seriously should you take composer’s metronome marks?
When the great pianist composer Leopold Godowsky was asked about his metronome mark…

“Oh, no! That’s much too slow. Never mind the metronome mark. I put it down as I composed the piece, before I learned it!”

When J.S. Bach arrived at a party, there was a musician playing a harpsichord. Upon seeing the great Bach, he sprang up and stopped playing and left a dissonant chord unresolved. Bach got agitated, went straight past the host who came to greet him, rushed to the harpsichord and…

The teaching of J.S. Bach by his pupil
Johann Kirnberger

‘The great J. Seb. Bach used to say, '𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞' and he would never hear of anything's being 'not feasible.' This has always spurred me onward to accomplish many difficult things…