Active Repertoire is the music we can play any time, any place. These are the pieces we can perform without notice, without any embarrassment, and ideally from memory.
And for the Autumn, Pianodao has a new FREE challenge to download and take part in, aimed at giving you positive, realistic piano goals that will enable you to thrive and develop confidence…
Continue reading Active Repertoire • Autumn 2023Supporting Educators • Promoting Learning
Written by ANDREW EALES
Understanding the importance of the three dimensions of musical learning, Musical Mind, Musical Body and Musical Soul, empowers us to teach, learn and practise music holistically, and make more effective and lasting progress at the piano.
Paying attention to all three dimensions in equal balance gives us a solid educational philosophy, a foundation for practice, and the insight needed to foster deeper learning. Teachers have long done exactly this, knowingly or intuitively, to deliver a well-rounded music education.
While the concept of a “three-dimensional” pianist may sound new or even exotic, it really isn’t. All successful musicians engage Musical Mind, Body and Soul in their performance. The purpose of the terminology and perspective shared here is simply to illuminate more clearly what it is that makes some more successful at the piano than others.
In this article I will consider these three dimensions of musical learning in turn, explaining how we can nurture and monitor each, and suggesting how our recognition of Musical Mind, Body, and Soul can help us develop as teachers, learners, and players.
Continue reading The Three-Dimensional PianistWelcome to the piano education website and online blog of teacher, published composer and author ANDREW EALES.
Andrew provides regular lessons and bespoke consultations at his studio in Milton Keynes. Through his Video Feedback Service he also offers affordable, personalised written advice to piano players anywhere in the world.
The Pianodao site is widely respected as a leading online resource, and includes hundreds of articles and music reviews to encourage, support and inform pianists, teachers and enthusiasts everywhere.
Supporting Your Piano Playing Journey
Written by ANDREW EALES
Those who know me well enough to have observed some of my personal struggles often urge me to stop caring what others think of my choices, opinions, beliefs and work. Many of us become trapped in the mindset of the “people-pleaser”; manipulated or bullied by others, we can easily lose sight of our own core values if we aren’t careful.
A decision not to care what others think about us can be emancipating, and can empower us to be our more authentic selves. I’m not surprised that this sentiment has become a common theme in self-help manuals.
But wait. If we stop caring about what others think, how long before we stop caring about them at all? Mutual understanding of each other’s ideas, feelings and perspectives is a crucial foundation for building empathetic, honest relationships.
We may not always agree with the opinions of others, but shutting them out ultimately isolates us. Clearly a balance is needed, along with an ability to accept the perspectives of others without feeling belittled.
As in life, so too this applies in our piano playing…
Continue reading A Fresh PerspectiveSupporting Educators • Promoting Learning
Written by ANDREW EALES
There has been an interesting and persistent debate in recent months about whether adult students can effectively teach themselves to play the piano (tapping into the growing plethora or apps, books, etc), or whether there is an essential ongoing need for a teacher’s involvement. I have addressed this in my recent article Who Needs Piano Lessons Anyway?
But while there’s no shortage of arguments for learning with a “good teacher”, many seem to struggle finding one who is sympathetic to their goals and in tune with the needs of adult learners.
In this post I will therefore share some of the strategies which have worked for me over the last three decades of teaching these enthusiastic learners.
Continue reading Teaching Adults to Play the PianoProducts featured here are selected for review by ANDREW EALES
Find out more: ABOUT PIANODAO REVIEWS
Faber Music’s latest publication is a slim book called The Essential Handbook for Musicians Who Teach.
Written by singing teacher, researcher and lecturer Dr. Kerry Boyle and Diane Widdison, formerly National Organiser for Education and Training at the MU, the book is aimed at any musician teaching in the UK, whatever the context, and offers a wealth of generic advice covering the many practical aspects of earning money from instrumental/singing teaching.
I’ll look at the content in detail, and let’s find out whether this new handbook is indeed “essential”….
Continue reading Musicians Who TeachSupporting Your Piano Playing Journey
Written by ANDREW EALES
As Chair of the European Piano Teachers’ Association, Mark Tanner seems an unlikely cheerleader for shunning expert tuition in favour of “teaching” oneself to play the piano. And yet in his new teach-yourself-book for older beginners, The Piano in Black and White (Faber Music, 2021), this is the path he advocates, enthusing:
“Learning to teach ourselves gives us the advantage of becoming masters of our own universe.”
Tanner ignores the obvious point that our own universe, without the guidance and insights of those more experienced and knowledgeable than us, might well prove to be a rather limited, small universe.
Tanner’s teach-yourself book is just the latest in a plethora of new apps, YouTube channels, books and videos claiming that beginners can learn to play the piano without the help (and expense) of a teacher. Popular though these DIY attempts seem to be, and welcome though a diversity of educational resources are, most truthfully recognise that it is beneficial to have personalised guidance from an expert.
Certainly we can cite examples of those rare geniuses who succeeded as pianists without being able to access tuition due to geography, generation, genes or genre. But within most musical traditions, historically and globally, instruction from a teacher has been and remains the norm. There are many compelling reasons for this.
The idea of “going it alone” in preference to learning from an experienced practitioner is neither heroic nor wise. This is true in any field, whether basket-weaving, developing a good golf swing, or learning to play the violin. Piano playing is no lesser a skill, no mere “button pressing”, and must not be portrayed as such.
Those of us who have learnt from good teachers will appreciate and be grateful for that privilege. We naturally support the teaching profession, having ourselves experienced the elevating qualities of a good music education, and are eager for others to enjoy the same benefits as we have.
In this post, I will explore those benefits.
Continue reading Who needs piano lessons anyway?Products featured here are selected for review by ANDREW EALES
Find out more: ABOUT PIANODAO REVIEWS
It used to be possible to joke that piano exam syllabi, like buses, arrived three at a time. But with the addition of the Music Teachers’ Board to the mix and fresh arrival of a “classical” syllabus from RSL Awards (Rockschool), students and teachers have five fully and equally accredited UK boards to choose between.
A disclaimer at the start. Eagle-eyed readers will soon spot that in the nine RSL Classical Piano books the name Andrew Eales appears as a “syllabus consultant”. While I didn’t actually contribute directly to the syllabus, I did offer a little feedback in the later stages of its conception.
On the plus side this perhaps gives me particular insight, but at the same time I will try to maintain distance, as ever avoid bias, and focus on providing the independent factual outline that you need in order to evaluate for yourself whether the syllabus might be the right fit you.
So let’s take a look…
Continue reading RSL Classical PianoProducts featured here are selected for review by ANDREW EALES
Find out more: ABOUT PIANODAO REVIEWS
Regular readers will know that I am quite a fan of Paul Harris’s Piece a Week series from Faber Music, having found that using these books within my own teaching practice has helped many of my students significantly improve in their music literacy and ability to learn independently using notation.
My main review of the series is here.
Harris has just added a new book to the series, A Piece A Week: Initial Grade, which merits a separate review to the rest of the series for a variety of reasons which I will come to presently.
My first reaction to hearing about this book was admittedly mixed, on the one hand delighted that this wonderful resource has been extended to accommodate the needs of early elementary players, but the other hand stifling a weary sigh that in a year which has seen exam boards straining to dominate the music education agenda, yet more grade material has appeared for review.
But, extraordinary fellow that he is, Harris has an unnerving and seemingly inexhaustible knack for pleasantly surprising me, indeed, hugely exceeding my expectations. And I’m happy to report that he’s done it again…
Continue reading A Piece a Week: “Initial Grade”Products featured here are selected for review by ANDREW EALES
Find out more: ABOUT PIANODAO REVIEWS
With the publication of their 2021-22 Piano Syllabus, ABRSM have given their scales requirements a significant overhaul, also publishing new scales books and resources.
In this review I will consider three main areas of this development:
