I started this weekly newsletter 6 months ago and have been searching for the right name for it, followed by a logo. And here it is, sitting at the top of your email. PRACTICE NOTESunfiltered. It didn’t go perfectly. I knew when I landed on the name (after 48 iterations) but I originally started with a completely different design direction. It just wasn’t landing. So I scrapped it and went somewhere entirely different before arriving at the logo you see now. And as soon as I had it, I knew....
9 days ago • 1 min read
Your score tells you when to pedal down and when to release. You know what it doesn't tell you? How slow or fast to pedal. 🐢 🏃♀️ That gap is where most of your pedaling decisions are happening on autopilot and you don't even know it. In this YouTube short from the recent 50 Shades of the Damper Pedal workshop, I'm playing 24 seconds of Debussy Reflets dans l'eau. I'm describing what to watch and listen for. Watch my foot. You'll notice it doesn't always move at the same speed. Sometimes fast....
16 days ago • 1 min read
Last week I told you the score is lying to you about pedal. This week I want to show you what it sounds like when you stop following the score and start listening instead. Are you using the damper pedal the same way every time? Down to connect. Up to clear. Repeat. 🔁It keeps things smooth. It keeps things safe. And it keeps your playing from ever sounding like anything other than competent. Pedal isn't a connector. It's a color. 🎨 And the moment you hear the difference, you can't go back. In...
23 days ago • 1 min read
Last week I told you the score is lying to you about pedal. This week, I want to show you just how big that lie is. The Henle edition of Beethoven has no pedal markings at all. Schnabel adds some, but barely. That's not an oversight, it's information. Beethoven's rests carry the intensity. Pedaling through them blurs what he wrote. Chopin treated pedal like a second voice. Brahms used it to thicken the texture in ways the notation barely captured. Three composers. Three completely different...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Your music score tells you when to put the pedal down and when to lift it up. That's not help. That's a shortcut that costs you. Because when you're reading pedal like you read notes, as instructions to execute, your ear goes quiet. You're watching the page instead of listening to the room. And the score can't hear what your piano is doing in that moment. 👂YOU CAN. I made a new video titled Why Your Score Is Lying to You About Pedal, and it's worth 10 minutes of your time before you sit down...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Last week I told you about the lesson where Mrs. Moore spent an entire hour on nothing but my pedaling. I walked out thinking I was ahead. I wasn't. I was following instructions with my foot and completely ignoring what my ear was telling me. That might be exactly what you're doing. Your score notates down and up. Your ear notates everything in between. And it doesn't show up in how much you practice. It shows up in how much you hear. So I built a workshop around fixing it. 50 Shades of the...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
When I was 10, I was learning the Haydn D Major Concerto. I was already taking my piano lessons very seriously. They were the highlight of my week. During one lesson with Mrs. Moore, we worked on nothing but pedaling in the Haydn. That was it. When my mom picked me up and asked "how was your lesson?" I answered with a smile and a sense of pride: “Great. The only thing we worked on was pedal.” At the time, I thought that meant I was ahead. That my playing was so solid that we could focus on...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
We are living through crazy times. As Heather Cox Richardson said... "Have we lived through a year this week, or what?"Want a little break? Join me at your piano for 20 minutes Saturday and practice with me. Practice With Me Live | 20-Min Accountability Session🗓️ Saturday, April 11🕛 9 am PT | 12 pm ET | 6 pm CET📍 YouTube Live 🔔 Click the bell on YouTube to be notified If you don’t already have it, grab my 20-minute practice checklist. Choose one section to work on and come ready to get it...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Anytime you have to "unlearn" an unknown practice habit, it slows down your progress faster than taking a wrong turn and not realizing it for miles. Jay is a founding member of the Piano Ninja Tricksters Club, so he knows all the tricks. They even helped him perform his first public piano recital in 30 years, playing Beethoven's Waldstein, Chopin's 4th Scherzo, 2 Bach Preludes & Fugues and Brahms op 76 Fantasies. Now he's learning the Chopin 3rd Sonata and is taking his comittment to smart...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read