Juilliard alum, pianist, and founder of the Piano Ninja Tricksters Club, helping serious adult musicians develop intelligent practice strategies and perform with confidence under pressure.
🎹 🦶Have you been taught pedaling wrong?
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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 something “extra.” It took me years to realize that was not a compliment. It was a clue to something I didn't understand yet. What it actually revealed was that I wasn’t really listening. 🤦♀️ Back then, I didn’t know: This is exactly what I’m building a workshop around. It’s called 50 Shades of the Damper Pedal. More soon. |
Lisa Spector, Piano Ninja
Juilliard alum, pianist, and founder of the Piano Ninja Tricksters Club, helping serious adult musicians develop intelligent practice strategies and perform with confidence under pressure.
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...
30 years ago I was in Paris on vacation. It was fabulous, but as soon as I came back I was performing Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with orchestra, for the first time! My pianist friend Scott had a piano I could use, but he was busy teaching and only had one hour free on Tuesday. I said "great, I’ll take it." When I was finished practicing he said... "wow, you sure got a lot done in that hour." It wasn’t the hour. It was the focus. I went straight to what mattered. This Saturday, I’m bringing...
I have a talented student from a local private high school. She’s playing the 3rd movement from Beethoven Op. 10 No. 1. And she LOVES LOVES LOVES to play everything fast. 💨That works for the opening. But pretty soon her fingers can’t keep up, and all sorts of hesitations and stalls start creeping in. I’ve been working overtime to help her understand that if you want to speed up, you have to slow down first. 🙃It's basically become our mantra lately: What she’s running into is exactly what I...