Supporting Your Piano Playing Journey
Written by ANDREW EALES
The question of why we play the piano would seem to be both an obvious one to ask and an easy one to answer. And yet it rarely is.
In this article I consider four “types” of player, while recognising that many of us combine aspects of most or all of them.
Continue reading Why do we play the piano?Living Beyond the Notes
Written by ANDREW EALES
A few years back I purchased an app called Calm, which has subsequently become one of the most popular mindfulness apps available on iOS and other digital platforms. With its range of guided meditations, ambient music, soundscapes, breathwork exercises and ‘sleep stories’, Calm has grown to become a superb lifestyle resource, and a deserved success.
Interestingly though, Calm also delivers user stats after each session, with a badge showing one’s ‘streaks’ of consecutive days of practice. I’ve regarded this feature with vague amusement; it seems to owe more to the culture of the gambling arcade than to the ethos of the meditation traditions.
There’s even the opportunity to share your official streaks on social media platforms, something I recently did myself having reached the modest achievement of 100 consecutive days, and curious to see whether it would generate much discussion with friends.
But then an odd, and instructive thing happened: it must have been less than a week later that I ‘missed’ a day…
Continue reading A Streak of CalmSupporting Educators • Promoting Learning
Written by ANDREW EALES
With a single Tweet, the exam board ABRSM have in the last week provoked what they have themselves described as a “passionate debate”.
Defending their stance, ABRSM confirmed that these are the words of their Chief Examiner, John Holmes, quoted from a presentation at an event in London. In the context of his talk, Holmes will no doubt have made many other points, adding balance and nuance to his position.
That said, his view of a “virtuous circle of motivation” was surely not made up on the spot. We must accept this as his well-rehearsed position on the nature of and relationship between musical achievement, assessment and intrinsic motivation.
Discussion of these important concepts must be welcomed. As teachers it is our basic responsibility to question ideas, absorb good material, develop subject knowledge and promote better understanding. These issues are of course also of interest and importance to the parents of any child learning to sing or play a musical instrument.
Together, let’s begin to unpack some of the many positive ways that we can all celebrate our childrens’ and our own adult achievements.
Continue reading Achievement, Assessment and MotivationSupporting Your Piano Playing Journey
Written by ANDREW EALES
“Musical focus is paramount.
So many pupils are concerned with technical problems divorced from their musical raison d’être. Their focus is solely on the hurdle and its insurmountability.
But the problems virtually disappear and the road opens when they are seen within a musical context. Even the most difficult passages, given musical motivation become not only approachable but achievable.”
Norma Fisher: International Piano, Sept/Oct 2010
So often as a teacher I come across players who “learn the notes” first, only later considering the expressive intentions of the music they are studying.
“For next week, why not try to add the dynamics…”
It’s certainly an easy trap to fall into – reading the notation, working out finger patterns, discovering the music with a systematic, segregated scheme in mind, rather than trying to “run before you can walk”.
And yet I always recommend that players try to pay attention to the dynamics, articulation and other expressive details as early as possible in the learning process. Adding these as an after-thought has always seemed to me a slightly odd way to do things.
We benefit from seeing the “big picture” when starting any musical endeavour or project. Best, where possible, to first discover any piece of music sound before symbol. It is in the hearing of a piece that its message is most powerfully and memorably communicated, and unless we have some aural concept, it can prove difficulty to muster sufficient motivation to commit to learning, absorbing and mastering the detail. Learning thus becomes uninspiring.
Looking at the photo at the top of this post we so could easily, finding ourselves immersed in this scene, study the detail of the plant and insect life, without noticing the radiant, golden sun which illuminates it all with such brilliance.
In the same way, I believe that the expressive intention of a piece of music is the very thing which brings light to it, giving it meaning.
As Norma Fisher so eloquently puts it,
“…the problems virtually disappear and the road opens when they are seen within a musical context. Even the most difficult passages, given musical motivation become not only approachable but achievable.”
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Supporting Your Piano Playing Journey
Written by ANDREW EALES
Ask these questions to a hundred pianists, and there’s a good chance you will hear a hundred different answers, but common themes will likely emerge.
In this article I am going to consider the many and complex motivations we all experience in life, focussing in on the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, and how each pertains to our piano playing.
Continue reading The Pianist’s Motivations
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