Practice

Curiosity, fascination and exploration in practice

My latest Oxford Piano Weekend took place in the middle of January and was a happy, fulfilling event. One topic we explored was the...

Stopping the mental chatter: how to focus in practice

When I am busy with a lot on my mind, it’s easy for my practice to suffer. Even with the best of intentions I can be off in the world of...

Preparation and focus: positively impacted by having our own views

A young professional came for a session recently and his main concern was preparation. He said he was very comfortable when it came to...

Practice and performance: creating the right environment

Practice time as sacred How can we best create the right environment for practice and performance? Can we allow our practice time to be a...

Practice and another take on warming up

The best way of warming up One of the most frequent questions I am asked as a teacher is ‘Can you show me a good warm up?’. When I then...

Focus in practising

Focus in practising There is so much that is involved in practicing a piece of music for a performance. I write about the nuts and bolts...

How armchair practice can impact focus in performance

It has occurred to me this month when teaching and coaching how incredibly important practice is for the performance we give at the end...

Warming up at the instrument: an alternative take

One of the most frequent questions I am asked is ‘Can you show me a good warm up?’ When I then ask them to tell me what they think is a...

Memorising music

I have worked as a chamber musician and duo partner for my entire career to date and therefore I have not needed to play from memory in...

A meditative approach to practising

There is so much that is involved in practising a piece of music for a performance. At some stage, I will write about the nuts and bolts...

Performing from the score versus memorising

I heard somewhere that seven eighths of the world’s music is not written down. I suspect then that most of the remaining eighth is filled...