Photo by Any Lane Maintaining a practice routine contributes greatly to your mastery and success when playing different musical instruments. You need to take time out to consistently work on your skills to help you improve and deliver the best each time. So, finding a holistic practice routine that works for you will make it easier and more enjoyable for you. But, your piano practice routine may differ greatly from the next person, making it essential that you find a routine that fits you. Although practice routines may differ, the fundamental aspects will remain constant. These fundamentals ..read more

Measure twice, cut once. John Florio (1553–1625) A typical mistake in those of us who study piano (or, in truth, any instrument) is that when learning a new piece, we tend to read the score not as carefully as we should. Naturally, the impatience of discovering the music is greater than the need to stop and analyse what is in front of us before even attempting to play it. Yet, paradoxically, when we get more experience, we realise that most of the corrections our teachers make are because we didn't pay enough attention to some indication in the score. But, Why do we half-read? When we learn a ..read more

During the Baroque era, many magnificent pieces were written with the power to evoke deep feelings in the listener. They had an organised and logical structure. Arcangelo Corelli and Antonio Vivaldi are representative masters of this genre. Already at the end of the Baroque, the concerto form was well defined; the solo concerto and the Grosso concert. The alternation of the solo was very common: a soloist that one or more instruments could interpret with a leading role, and the tutti: a filler (ripieno) that fills and solidifies the piece, alternating in prominence with the solo part. In Germa ..read more

Welcome to this new series of articles where we will explain, in a simple but rigorous way, the formal theory proposed by William Caplin. William Caplin is an American music theorist born in 1948. He is well known for having written numerous articles and books on musical form in late 18th and early 19th century European music. In this series of articles, we will explain the book titled “Analyzing classical form”, which has generated a breakthrough in the study of classical musical form. In this first essay, we will explain the first chapter of the book, which talks about harmonic functions and ..read more

This article will try to answer the question by considering the different uses the instrument can have. It is worth noticing that the ideal situation for all types of pianos and scenarios would be to keep them in tune by continuously retouching all the notes that go out of tune. However, piano technicians' current prices and availability prevent us from doing that very often. So, how long should we wait until the next tuning in this scenario? The standard recommendation would be to tune it about every six months. It is estimated that after six months, a good piano will hold the tuning well en ..read more

Have you ever recorded yourself playing the piano? ,Foto de Mikhail Nilov A little warning! Before listing the five reasons recording yourself playing the piano is crucial, I would like to mention something: it is not easy to record yourself. There is a lot of pressure (like giving a concert) and getting the tools to do it is not always easy. However, it is an excellent experience. I believe that all musicians who want to become good at what they do should follow this practice periodically. It will also help them understand better what they want to achieve in their playing and how to do it. L ..read more

The repertoire for keyboard during the Baroque period encompasses a wide range of pieces, despite the time's diversity of instruments and styles. Music for the keyboard, during this period, was enjoyed in all the epicentres of society, and many instruments were created to express feelings in depth. Throughout Europe, during this time, we can find mainly two types of keyboards: those with plucked strings and those with the wind. Within the keyboard family of plucked strings, we find a certain group whose action of plucking strings was achieved through a mechanism. The player hits the key, and t ..read more

In this article, we will explore aspects related to the evolution of the symphony as a musical genre, its development throughout different historical moments, as well as the most prominent composers of the genre. Symphony comes from the Greek word "Symphonia", which means "agreement or concord of sounds". In the sense of sounding together, the word begins to appear in the titles of some works by 16th and 17th-century composers such as Giovanni Gabrieli's Symphoniae sacrae, liber secundus. 17Th Century During the early baroque period, the term 'symphony' was synonymous with 'canzona', 'sonata ..read more

When learning to play the piano, it can be daunting to find the right piece of music to learn. Playing the piano is a skill many of us wish we had or would ideally like our children to have. While getting lessons are great, they can be daunting as a prospect, especially if you are unfamiliar with music or want to introduce playing music to a younger child. As such, learning at home can be a good way to start to best judge whether you have the patience to learn as well as to allow you to have a good starting point to work from. As such, it can be tricky to find where to start and what music you ..read more

Have you ever heard about Carmina Burana Cantata? Did you know about its composer Carl Orff? In this article, we will go through some interesting facts behind this famous Cantata. We must say that there is some kind of mystery and even criticism behind this masterpiece. Talking about it could be considered controversial; it always leaves room for debate. But the truth is that it is one of the most successful compositions of the XX Century. Carl Orff German composer and music educator. He was born in 1895 in Munich, Germany. Son of Heinrich Maria Orff, an army officer, active in the Imperial Ge ..read more