Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Written by Andrew Eales
Summer is here, and as John Kirkwood puts it in his book The Way of the Five Seasons (2016):
“Following the rapid upward growth of spring, it is as if nature is now reaching outwards to fill as much space as it can.
Like a ball tossed in the air which reaches its apogee before descending, summer is the highest peak of growth when things can grow no further, and seem to hang in mid-air for a time, celebrating the fullness of expansion.”
As nature “reaches outwards to fill as much space as it can”, we too step into a larger vista, embracing the season with outdoor events, barbecues, social gatherings with family and friends, summer courses, camps and festivals.
Summer Celebration
We may not always attend to nature’s seasonal flow, but it’s fair to say that the summer months are characterised by an abundance of socialising. And in our more relaxed state, we remember who we are, and who we hope to be. We reconnect with others, family and friends, near and far. We rediscover the importance of rest, and the value of play.
The summer season provides a great opportunity for us to reconnect with our piano playing too, revising pieces we have enjoyed previously, and perhaps sharing them with friends and family in a more relaxed frame of mind.
For those in full-time education, the long summer holiday presents a unique opportunity for special projects. Rather than losing momentum during the summer slump, the season offers an opportunity to be grasped for ‘deep dive’ music projects.
Teachers might want to encourage students to use these months to catch up with their work on core skills, or to explore fresh repertoire, for example by taking on a specific challenge piece or collection. Others will favour using their summer break to embrace a creative challenge, improvising and perhaps composing a new piece.
Celebrating Repertoire
The helpful respite of a more relaxed season provides the ideal moment to reflect on, revise, and perfect our Active Repertoire, too. This is the music we can play with confidence, fluency, and expression, for our own and others’ enjoyment, and preferably from memory.
I believe that every piano player should have an Active Repertoire, and since I coined the phrase and began promoting the concept on Pianodao, I have seen others steadily adopting the idea: it’s clearly struck a chord!
Too often, we drop a piece as soon as we can play it well, our worse, give up before even reaching that point. In this competitive world, our practice focuses on overcoming the latest challenge, improving core skills, tackling new repertoire, and trying to work our way up to the next “level”, whatever we think that is.
This is all very well, but I think we need to make time to rejoice in what we can do instead of perpetually wallowing in what we can’t.
The simple idea behind Pianodao’s popular Active Repertoire Project is to catch our favourite pieces when they “reach their apogee before descending”, and allow them to “hang in mid-air for a time” as we pause to fully enjoy and “celebrate the fullness of their expansion”.
Just as, in schooling, the summer months offer a time to look back, revise, consolidate, refresh, build upon, and enjoy the fruits of our prior learning, so too as piano players we have triumphs to celebrate, effort that has brilliantly paid off, and wonderful music to champion both at home and abroad, privately by ourselves, and in the company of enthusiastic others.
And surely, chancing upon a piano in a train station, airport, friend’s home, or hotel lobby this summer, we should be able to play a few pieces without any forethought, anxiety, or special preparation.
Active Repertoire pieces are enjoying the summer phase of their lifespan. And the social, summer months can provide plenty of shared opportunity to celebrate them with others, too!
What music will you be bringing to the party this summer? The latest Active Repertoire Project sheet is FREE to download here:
For information about using this sheet, nurturing your Active Repertoire, and cultivating joy in your piano journey: find out more here!
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