Piano

How I composed ‘On Christmas Day’

Here's the piece -https://youtu.be/C3q4kGkKcEk It was early Christmas Day 2020, and I was going about doing normal things, preparing for...

Composer Cat - or should it be called 'Cat Attack'?

Haha ... no, the cat did not really compose anything! My cat, Oscar, couldn't care less about this piece, because cats are like that!...

How I compose music for the piano - complete with real examples from two of my pieces

Is it difficult to compose a piece for piano? Does it take hours, days, weeks or months? Do we have to be ‘inspired’ at the start, or can...

Why short fingernails are important for piano playing.

Even though finger nails can be useful and desirable, they're not so good if you want to be a good piano player and progress past the...

Wrong Notes - Are they good or bad? And what do we do about them?

What should we think about wrong notes, or mistakes generally? Whether we like it or not, they happen frequently when learning the piano,...

Feel free to play Ravel's Bolero now!

Do you know that famous orchestral piece by Ravel called 'Bolero'? It has a really catchy theme which repeats over and over. In fact it...

What's The Piano Good For? Rocking Riffs or Beautiful Melodies?

Well let's start by saying that 'rocking riffs' are good on the piano, because the piano can be made to sound exciting and rhythmic....

Look after your instrument!

Steinway, Bechstein, Mercedes, Audi.... These are a few names of piano and car manufacturers. And they are prestige brands! And they are...

What sort of piano or keyboard should I buy when I start piano lessons?

If you already have an upright or grand piano in good working order, then fantastic!!! Stop reading right here!!! But if you don’t have...