Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Written by Andrew Eales
Pianodao’s popular Active Repertoire Project nudges and reminds us to develop a set of three or four pieces which we can play with confidence, fluency, and expression, for our own and others’ enjoyment, and preferably from memory.
By making this a top priority, we can:
- start our practice sessions positively, with music we enjoy
- more quickly memorise our favourite pieces
- overcome our anxiety and feel more at ease playing to others
The Autumn Repertoire Sheet is FREE to download, and includes the regular spaces to list pieces to continue enjoying, as well as space to keep track of new projects and core technical work. Click here for the download:
Using the sheet
During the Autumn, we might decide to keep fewer pieces on our Active Repertoire list, dropping those which are now tired, and focusing more attention on the new pieces we are working on. But try to store and preserve at least two or three Active Repertoire pieces for the coming months.
As well as including space for Halloween tunes, the Autumn Sheet invites you to consider and list the pieces and styles which you “never want to play”! Why not use this to mention (with good humour!) the ‘dead leaves’ that you would really like to be swept away once and for all! Enjoy the clear out…
And because the Active Repertoire Project is about developing confidence, and sharing the music we most enjoy with others, it’s well worth considering where and to whom we might play these favourite pieces in the coming months.
Autumn: time to reflect
In his illuminating book The Way of the Five Seasons (2016), the traditional acupuncturist and teacher John Kirkwood writes,
“In autumn everything is falling: the leaves, the temperature, the angle of the sun. Following the prolific expansion of summer and the warm fullness of harvest time, autumn begins the descent, the turning inwards. There is a sense of quieting. Autumn invites us to ponder the impermanence of all phenomena.”
We sometimes think about Autumn as a season of decay, of decline, in which the weather turns drab, and the nights draw in. But I prefer to see it as a time of dynamic change and possibility, the old giving way to the new.
Any gardener will tell you that plants sometimes need a good pruning, and the spectacular feast of autumn colour serves as a vivid reminder of nature’s inbuilt commitment to change, vitality and new beginnings.
- Similarly, this is a good for pianists and teachers to pause and reflect on the changes that may be needed in our practice routines
- Have we been including Active Repertoire recently. or let it slip?
- Which ‘album leaves’ in our Active Repertoire are turning yellow, and should be allowed to drop away, making space for new growth?
- Is it time to reassign the pieces we consider to be our Active Repertoire, including music we have recently enjoyed?
- Do we need to give new pieces the necessary practice push, so that we can play them with confidence, fluency, and expression?
These are questions we might well ponder as the cozy evenings of Autumn arrive.
Stay well this Autumn
In Chinese medicine, the autumn season is associated with the lungs, which in turn are linked to the emotion of sadness and loss. Beyond our musical adventures, we might want to consider some of the following at this transformative time of the year:
- Do I breathe deeply? (try these exercises).
- Where would be a good place nearby to go for a walk in the woods and enjoy the fresh air and Autumn colours?
- Is it time to reorganise my home, and give away belongings that I no longer need or use?
- What changes could I make in order to let go of habits that no longer serve me well, and dissolve negativity in my life?
Let me leave you with this quote from Derek Lin’s popular book The Tao of Joy Every Day (2011), which marvellously summarises the challenge of change, and the need to leave behind the baggage we no longer need:
“If life is a journey, then we need to consider the baggage we are bringing along. This baggage can take on many forms. It can be the material things we possess, or the emotional baggage from unresolved issues. It can even be spiritual baggage from beliefs which no longer serve us…
The more you can let them go, the more you will be able to travel light and enjoy the next leg of the journey.”
Stay well, and enjoy the Autumn!
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