Juilliard graduate helping dedicated adult pianists who love challenging repertoire practice less while learning more.
πΉπ You can't unhear this {video}
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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. π Pedal isn't a connector. It's a color. π¨ And the moment you hear the difference, you can't go back. In my new video, How to Use Piano Pedal as Color, Not Glue, I play the same passage two ways, one where the pedal is doing cleanup work, and one where it's making a decision. Your ear will know immediately which is which. That's the point. Your ear already knows. Your foot just hasn't been listening to it. βWatch it here. β¬οΈ But watching someone else pedal won't change how you pedal. That happens at your piano, in real time, with your ear making the calls. π SAVE YOUR SEAT FOR $10 β π Thursday, May 14 | Noon PT | 3 ET | 9 CET By the end of 60 minutes, you won't just understand pedaling differently, you'll immediately start learning how to make confident pedaling choices with your ear. π‘ Registration includes 50 Shades of Pedaling Reference Guide, a composer-specific resource you'll keep at your piano. π RESERVE YOUR SEAT HEREβ |
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...