Juilliard graduate helping dedicated adult pianists who love challenging repertoire practice less while learning more.
πΉ Tension has left the building
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These comments stopped me cold... Not because of the compliments. (although that was nice too π) Because tension-free playing isn't a gift. It's a decision. Specific choices made before your hands ever touch the keys. I turned those choices into a free mini-course. Tension-Free Playing. Short. Practical. It will change what you notice about your own body at the piano. It's free. Go get it here π LisaSpector.com/tension-freeβ Play On, PS Want to hear what tension-free sounds like? |
Lisa Spector, Piano Ninja
Juilliard graduate helping dedicated adult pianists who love challenging repertoire practice less while learning more.
Growing up, I swore by altered rhythms. Hours and hours of dotted-rhythms drilling my Chopin Γ©tudes. Five of them, on my debut recital at age 14. I don't practice that way anymore and haven't since high school. I posted about it on Instagram last week and it did not go over well. Most people pushed back hard. Fair enough, Instagram reels are short, I didn't have room to explain the alternative. So here it is. My real problem with altered rhythms comes down to one thing. When I'm doing a whole...
I've been playing Amy Beach's "Dreaming" at the same tempo for years. It felt like an andante tempo, as the composer wrote. Then I heard Greg Anderson play it slower. I'm talking seriously slower. π’And I stopped mid-scroll and was mesmerized, because something clicked that I didn't want to admit. My tempo wasn't wrong because it wasn't Andante. It was wrong because I'd never questioned it. Here's the thing nobody tells you about tempo: it doesn't just live in your fingers. It lives in your...
You know the moment. You're three lines out from That Passage and your stomach already knows it's coming. π³ Hands tense. Breath gets shallow. You start playing the mistake before you've even reached the measure. I used to think the fix was more reps. Drill it until the fear goes away. But no matter how many reps, it was hit or miss for years. The fear isn't about the notes. It's about what your body does when it feels it coming. Here's the first thing that changed it for me. SMILE π Tension...