tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724646980489112709.post5161906222196858528..comments2021-10-08T21:48:00.339-04:00Comments on The Piano Blog: Piano Practice Techniques that Everyone Can UseUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724646980489112709.post-23876328050615459362013-04-27T17:22:42.716-04:002013-04-27T17:22:42.716-04:00Thanks for your many good advice for practising pi...Thanks for your many good advice for practising piano!violethttp://howtoplaythepianoforbeginners.net/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724646980489112709.post-88161695186622934962012-02-22T05:24:12.471-05:002012-02-22T05:24:12.471-05:00Hi Bolochka - Good Idea! Practicing scales, chord...Hi Bolochka - Good Idea! Practicing scales, chords and arpeggios in the key of the piece is an excellent warmup and helps improve technique. I do find that practicing the scale of the piece helps students with their sightreading of the piece.Helenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14471510158250540602noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724646980489112709.post-44821422658527760262012-02-22T01:41:20.167-05:002012-02-22T01:41:20.167-05:00An important tip, which I did not see listed: PRA...An important tip, which I did not see listed: PRACTICE THE SCALE, CHORDS AND ARPEGGIOS OF THE KEY THE PIECE IS WRITTEN IN!!! I cannot emphasize enough how effective this can be. It will take your reading and execution to a new level. Good luck everyone :)Bolochkahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02399346879373349987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724646980489112709.post-20289379720921650762011-09-22T05:02:42.025-04:002011-09-22T05:02:42.025-04:00Hi Suzanne - There is really no right or wrong way...Hi Suzanne - There is really no right or wrong way to use these practice techniques. It also depends on the difficulty of the piece. Generally, hands alone practice, slow practice, and working small sections of a piece will be particularly helpful on more difficult selections. You be the judge. Good luck with your piano practice!Helenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14471510158250540602noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724646980489112709.post-31313767360061860052011-09-21T12:07:34.637-04:002011-09-21T12:07:34.637-04:00Thanks for the advice, Helene! Consistency is the ...Thanks for the advice, Helene! Consistency is the thing I do need to work on! I am hoping I can practice at least 5 days per week, if I put my mind to it. So would you say to spend half of the remaining time (after the few minutes on scales and chords) on new pieces and the other half of the time on review of songs I have already learned? Is it okay to try the old pieces with hands together first, but if I make mistakes to stop and work on the sections that have trouble with hands separately? Do you think it's ever good to try sight reading with hands together first just to see where you're at, or with a new piece would you always start hands separately?Suzannehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02992587070733405750noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724646980489112709.post-63779055923183273602011-09-18T22:45:34.590-04:002011-09-18T22:45:34.590-04:00Hi Suzanne - Glad to help! Much can be accomplish...Hi Suzanne - Glad to help! Much can be accomplished in 30 to 60 minutes per day. The most important thing about piano practice is consistency.<br /><br />You can start your piano practice with a few scales and chords. You should be able to find books on scales, chords, and elementary theory. I would spend just a few minutes on scales and chords and then spend the balance of my time on pieces.<br /><br />Learning new songs will improve your sightreading skills as well as keep up your interest.<br /><br />Certainly, relearn your old repertoire. Try some of my practice techniques. Your old songs and pieces should come back quickly. Start with some hands alone practice. Then work slowly as you put the 2 hands back together. If the piece is difficult, work on just a few bars at a time until each section is mastered. You should be up to speed within a short time of practice.Helenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14471510158250540602noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724646980489112709.post-88335465757927602972011-09-18T21:37:51.093-04:002011-09-18T21:37:51.093-04:00I should print out your practice suggestions and u...I should print out your practice suggestions and use them! I appreciate your ideas. <br /><br />I am not taking lessons currently, but would like to start learning new songs and reviewing ones I already know. I also would like to learn more about chords, as I like to write songs, and put chords with them before trying to work out an accompaniment. <br /><br />If I only have 30-60 minutes per day to practice, do you have a suggestion for how I should use the time? (Scales, chords, song review, new pieces, etc.) Should I just work on some of these things a time or two per week?<br /><br />Thanks for any help you can give me!Suzannehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02992587070733405750noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724646980489112709.post-6501205163044802132011-08-19T02:22:34.582-04:002011-08-19T02:22:34.582-04:00Hi Gowrish
I'm afraid that I am too far away ...Hi Gowrish<br /><br />I'm afraid that I am too far away here in the United States. There must be some good piano teachers in India. Try contacting a university music department.<br /><br />I was thinking about doing some coaching over the internet as I came across a voice teacher that was doing this. Something for me to look into for the future.Helenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14471510158250540602noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724646980489112709.post-4681854638169686432011-08-19T01:29:41.170-04:002011-08-19T01:29:41.170-04:00hi,i am gowrish from india.i am vry much intereste...hi,i am gowrish from india.i am vry much interested to learn classical piano in depth .can you please teach me piano.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07320070357199671108noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724646980489112709.post-38612975489706333272011-08-10T03:01:56.363-04:002011-08-10T03:01:56.363-04:00Thanks, James. I hope to add a new post very soon...Thanks, James. I hope to add a new post very soon.Helenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14471510158250540602noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724646980489112709.post-32246427266278352882011-08-09T18:02:13.984-04:002011-08-09T18:02:13.984-04:00Thank you for such a great post! This is the firs...Thank you for such a great post! This is the first time I've read your blog and it's very impressive!<br /><br />I work with a ton of piano teachers and I'd like to point them to your blog.<br /><br />Nicely done!James Hardinghttp://www.gistpianocenter.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724646980489112709.post-81972398634976005202010-12-14T03:50:56.688-05:002010-12-14T03:50:56.688-05:00Thanks. I'm glad that you find these techniqu...Thanks. I'm glad that you find these techniques helpful.Helenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14471510158250540602noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724646980489112709.post-15782772520637786942010-12-14T02:44:04.450-05:002010-12-14T02:44:04.450-05:00Practicing piano with a very effective technique i...Practicing piano with a very effective technique is good way to master playing piano. The techniques in this article are so easy to follow and I agree that it is for everyone.studying pianohttp://playpianoguide.com/articles.phpnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724646980489112709.post-88809890882473592982010-10-27T03:11:46.978-04:002010-10-27T03:11:46.978-04:00Well, perhaps Hedy had less cause and more to gain...Well, perhaps Hedy had less cause and more to gain from not giving expression to that aspect of her thought. I imagine she was greatly indignant at my resistance to and clear perception of Epailly's sham. Also, she wanted to maintain control of my thinking. Curiously simple-minded!!<br /><br />Clearly she had enough control of herself in your parents' presence.<br /><br />Brahms, an anti-semite to the core, had many Jewish friends and was du-und-du with Joachim. Prokofiev, also outspokenly anti-semitic, was closest with Oistrakh. It is trite to observe that we are ambivalent beings and brutal when it serves us and we can get away with it. <br /><br />If Hedy's Method was so effective, I wonder why only a handful of her students could really play. Sheila I imagine was at it all day and she played very well indeed. But Grace was really quite inept in spite of all that "doodling" and jabbing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724646980489112709.post-53877031901263482522010-10-27T01:25:10.674-04:002010-10-27T01:25:10.674-04:00Dear Anonymous - I first started at the Far Rockaw...Dear Anonymous - I first started at the Far Rockaway studio when my mother brought me to Miss Spielter when I was 10 in 1957. I actually enjoyed listening to the different pieces being played. I remember Clarence playing the Beethoven C Major Concerto over and over. I also remember Miss Spielter shouting in very frequently "B-flat Stupid" to the less gifted students. <br /><br />A few years later, I was enrolled in Professional Children's School so that I could go to Miss Spielter's 72nd Street studio every day after class. When school ended at 2 p.m., Tyrone, myself, and Morris would go to Miss Spielter's studio each day. Sheila was already there and practicing when we got there. I attended Professional Children's School for 8th and 9th grade. My parents were no longer able to afford private school, so I went back to the local high school when I in 10th grade. My parents arranged for me to leave school early so that I could go to the 72nd Street studio, but this wasn't to last long as Miss Spielter passed away a few months later. <br /><br />If you came to Miss Spielter after 5:30 in the evening, you probably missed me as I had to catch the 6:04 LIRR train to Valley Stream. <br /><br />I never encountered the anti-semitism that you speak of, and I'm sure that my parents would have noticed. However, she did often speak about the "stupid American parents,' but she considered my parents among the enlightened few which probably helped me.Helenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14471510158250540602noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724646980489112709.post-17173595231449790682010-10-25T02:01:07.985-04:002010-10-25T02:01:07.985-04:00I doubt if you would have known me. We lived in La...I doubt if you would have known me. We lived in Lawrence, Long Island, until '60 or so and then moved into Manhattan. I went to Spielter's Far Rockaway madhouse occassionally but found the cacophany to be very unpleasant--the different pianos playing different pieces. <br /><br />When we moved to Manhattan I went to her 72nd street apt. until her death. It was an association that last about 6 years. I came perhaps twice a week in the evenings for at that time I had begun attending Ethical Culture and after '62, Columbia.<br /><br />I remember Sheila, Grace, a woman named Giselle and Tyrone. And of course, Budovsky. I bumped into Budovsky on the street from time to time after Spielter passed away. The poor man, a lonely bachelor, probably died a virgin. Once he began to fulminate against me for bad-mouthing Epailly to Grace (who evidently reported it to him).<br /><br />There seems no further reason to belabor Spielter and further trash her. My anger is mostly directed at her forcing Epailly upon the younger, more vulnerable students and her perverse, pig-headed approach to the piano and music. And, of course, the anti-Semiticism which was my first exposure to the Old World type and which I found to be, at that impressionable age, very disturbing.<br /> Best to end with Charles Rosen's very graceful response to a presumptuous, impertinent young woman--"Yes, my dear, there are of course many ways to play the piano."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724646980489112709.post-61703743376022752182010-10-22T05:57:41.160-04:002010-10-22T05:57:41.160-04:00Dear Anonymous - I think what saved me is that my ...Dear Anonymous - I think what saved me is that my mother had studied with Miss Spielter back in the 1930s. When my mother took me to Miss Spielter when I was 10, Miss Spielter was very proud of my mother for having become a piano teacher. Actually, my mother's teaching changed for the better after we returned to Miss Spielter. Unlike Miss Spielter, my mother had a way with people and kids and was much beloved by her students. Miss Spielter was hoping that my parents would become disciples of the Spielter Method and carry this on.<br /><br />I tended to be a very dedicated student, so I adapted to the hours long practice sessions. I do remember being in fear of even stopping for a break of a minute or 2. You always expected to get yelled at.<br /><br />I do remember the accenting on every beat, but I quickly learned otherwise by studying with Miss Reisenberg. She emphasized the importance of a clear and even melodic line. This could be achieved by raising the thumb as you played a run to keep it even.<br /><br />I do remember listening to Grace practicing the Brahms D Minor Concerto. I sometimes got to practice in Grace's room while she was out and probably working. <br /><br />I wonder whether we ever crossed paths at Far Rockaway or 72nd Street. <br /><br />As to Mr. Epailly, I tried to avoid him as much as possible. I saw very little of him, after my mother had it out with Miss Spielter. I remember that he always smelled of cigars. Ugh!<br /><br />I did gain confidence with Miss Spielter and felt that she really believed in my ability. You really did learn a piece when you studied using her practice techniques which gave you confidence in performance.Helenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14471510158250540602noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724646980489112709.post-16594181499657522732010-10-22T00:53:27.593-04:002010-10-22T00:53:27.593-04:00Well, yes, your experience with Spielter appears t...Well, yes, your experience with Spielter appears to be much more positive than mine. I left her under vexed and nasty circumstances;I didn't want to "work" any more with Mr. Epailly and had my mother relate my diaffection to her. Thereupon, she began to make anti-Semitic comments to me, how having any opinion at all would mark me as a "smart-aleck" Jew.<br /><br />Epailly's interpretations were not merely subjective, they were down-right wrong!! He once crooned the opening of the Raindrop Prelude to me, giving the A flat the value of a quarter note. I pointed out that Chopin had clearly indicated A flat as having the value of a dotted half note. Of course he flew into a rage and even raised his fist to me.<br /><br />You could be sure that Epailly was not allowed to "coach" Demus or indeed, any other adult, paying student.<br /><br />I inveigh mostly against her silly "Method" and her cockermaimmy ideas about interpretation, particularly Beethoven. She thought that you had to accent the first beat of every bar in Allegro movements of Beethoven. The effect would have been that of a choo-choo train.<br /><br />My parents were middle-European Jews, educated in German and steeped in German culture. They thought she was hoi-polloi,not at all cultivated. My mother particularly didn't like her.<br /><br />I once met Grace , a devoted student of Spielter even after her death, on the street. She told me she had given a concert at Town Hall and said she had a recording of it. I was anxious to hear it and she obliged by giving one to me. The poor girl--who on Earth told her to play the Schumann Toccata? Lady!!If you can't reach a major ninth( not to say a tenth) then you don't play the Schumann Toccata. Evidently, Spielter's Method could not treat all technical problems.<br /><br />In all, Spielter was a mixed basket of virtues and vices. I have said before that her methodical approach to working out a piece was rare to find in the US at that time. But many of her other pianistic and musical ideas were tainted by her rigidity and willfulness and deeply comprised by her terrible temper.<br /> <br />Still, an interesting personality emerging from a different time and a window onto a world which ultimately was stimulating to me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724646980489112709.post-20754333709255424602010-10-21T06:12:25.128-04:002010-10-21T06:12:25.128-04:00Dear Anonymous - You seem to have a lot of negativ...Dear Anonymous - You seem to have a lot of negative feelings about Miss Spielter. I have mostly positive feelings towards Miss Spielter although she could certainly be harsh at times, and she had absolutely no patience for anyone who wasn't a "musical genius."<br /><br />As I continued my studies after the death of Miss Spielter with Morton Estrin while at Hofstra and as a graduate student after 6 years with Nadia Reisenberg, I became more aware of what I had missed. Somehow I missed all of that excellent intermediate and early advanced piano literature which I now teach such as the Schumann <i>Scenes from Childhood</i>, Chopin Waltzes and Mazurkas. <br /><br />Somehow I jumped from a few Bach Preludes and Fugues to the Beethoven c minor Concerto. While this was good for building my technique, it also could be frustrating because I wasn't quite ready for this jump. I like to advance students more gradually so that their playing always sounds clean. Miss Spielter also did not instruct me on phrasing, tone production, or voicing which I teach my students early on. I learned about this much later. <br /><br />Miss Spielter was very fond of my parents as they were piano teachers, and she hoped that they would carry on her method. My father would often take Miss Spielter to our home in Valley Stream on a Saturday night after my lesson at the Far Rockaway studio so she wouldn't have to sleep in that big chair. <br /><br />I remember the two 9 foot grands that she had in NYC. I would often get to practice on the one in the middle room. The quality of the other pianos varied. Sheila, her star student, always had the one in the living room.<br /><br />You really learned to practice at Miss Spielter's. Mr. Epailly made quite a few movies which may account for how they could afford those 2 nine foot Steinways. She may possibly have purchased them after winning the law suit. <br /><br />Miss Spielter told me that she had broken her wrist and it had not healed properly, and that was the reason she did not play anymore.Helenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14471510158250540602noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724646980489112709.post-77967550568180768622010-10-21T04:23:27.938-04:002010-10-21T04:23:27.938-04:00In this continuing qualified tribute to Hedy Spiel...In this continuing qualified tribute to Hedy Spielter, I observed on the Net a legal document from 1931 in which Hedy is the plaintiff and the North Hamburg Lloyd Steamship Company the defendant in which she evidently charged the company with neglect that ended up in injury. So that she may well have been telling the truth about her broken arm.<br /><br />I remember once, upon learning that one of her elder female students, a Mrs. Nuslick, had died, she played, on the spot, the E flat Prelude from the 2nd Book of the Well-Tempered as a tribute. It was very moving. <br /><br />I have been mostly bad-mouthing Hedy on this blog, but I wish to stress in fairness, that she lived music and, although many of her ideas were down-right wrong, music was her native language. <br /><br />I still doubt however, that she was a Myra Hess. And such stolze Dumheit from a German who should have, in view of the events of the last century, made an effort to soften such unattractive national characteristics. Her brother seemed nothing like that and my uncle, who was German as well, was not either.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724646980489112709.post-75324734487387175392010-10-20T00:20:05.306-04:002010-10-20T00:20:05.306-04:00It would be interesting to learn more of Hedy'...It would be interesting to learn more of Hedy's father, Hermann Speilter. He had an entry in an old edition of Grove's Encyclopedia and currently a very short one on Wikipedia.<br /><br />It is mentioned that he came to the States in the 1880's but that would make no sense, insofar as Hedy's sensibility was certainly German. Unless it was the case that she was sent back to Germany for schooling.<br /><br />I always wondered where she got the money for all those grand pianos in the 72nd Street apt. The 2 Steinways in the front rooms were pretty decent. She must have needed money or cashflow, though, otherwise she wouldn't have made the trek out to Far Rockaway every weekend to teach so many giftless students, sleeping in the armchair at night.<br /><br />I met her brother once. I think his name was Willi. He seemed very nice. He himself was a composer with training in counterpoint and harmony. Seemed nothing like his sister, with her Germanic stubborness.<br /><br />I imagine Hedy, with her crazy Method, was something of the black ewe of the family. IF you asked her why she didn't pursue a concert career herself, she would say that she broke her arm on a trans-Atlantic cruise sometime in the 20's. Probably pure rubbish, as were many of her fanciful stories.<br /><br />She rightfully admired Myra Hess, saying that she could outplay 99% of all men. That was true. Of course, Hess' musicianship was far beyond the comprehension of Hedy.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724646980489112709.post-16879362428744080342010-10-15T02:42:16.556-04:002010-10-15T02:42:16.556-04:00Yes, I too remember Jorge Demus' short associa...Yes, I too remember Jorge Demus' short association with Spielter. First of all, it must be stated that Demus, although a fine musician, was not really a concert pianist, but an accompanist.( He recorded the Vier Ernst Gesange with Fischer-Dieskau). His concert at Town Hall during '60 was made up of very undemanding repertoire which he didn't play particularly well.<br /><br />More importantly, he was certainly too insightful a musician to be taken in by SPielter's hocus-pocus. He simply needed a place to practice in NYC and probably a place where German was spoken.<br /><br />I remember Spielter chortling about Demus' interest in her and her method. I doubt if anything pianistic ally meaningful was exchanged between them.<br /><br />Poor Hedy went to her grave without creating one great artist which is, I think, a decisive commentary upon her limitations, not to say stupidity. <br /><br />I do think, however, that her judgment about Simon Barrare, who she considered "the greatest pianist who ever lived" was revealing and not without basis. Barrare could knock the socks off anybody--even Bachaus--and he had remarkable dramatic judgment.<br /><br />Ultimately, I must iterate, that she probably did more good than harm, although anybody with musical judgment should have left her tutelage by her/his mid-teens.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724646980489112709.post-71583252052709880302010-09-30T19:37:04.801-04:002010-09-30T19:37:04.801-04:00Dear Thomas - Sorry I took so long getting back to...Dear Thomas - Sorry I took so long getting back to you.<br /><br />One can figure out where to place each note in 2 against 3 and 3 against 4 passages, but the trick is to make it sound natural and not forced. <br /><br />I would recommend practicing one beat at a time initially. Do the right hand several times followed by the left hand several times and then hands together. When you have this to your satisfaction, move on to the next part. After working one beat at a time, you can join 2 or more beats.<br /><br />Chopin takes this one step further in many of his pieces (see the first nocturne as an example). You might have to play 11 against 3. You can decide where the notes go together, but it must flow naturally. Practice each hand of the run separately and then play hands together. Entire run should be played without accenting.Helenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14471510158250540602noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724646980489112709.post-64831121577433382142010-09-30T19:28:27.615-04:002010-09-30T19:28:27.615-04:00Dear Anonymous - I remember when Jorg Demus came t...Dear Anonymous - I remember when Jorg Demus came to visit Miss Spielter at her New York studio. She introduced us young people to him, but we later got scolded for not greeting him effusively. (I'm sure that I said hello, but I was very shy and bashful in those days.) He spent some time with Miss Spielter learning her "method." <br /><br />The doodles were exercises to build up the bridge of the hand. You applied doodles to passages where you had either a 1-5 or 1-4 skip. You stood up the first and fifth finger and raised fingers 2-3-4 (stretched them up) and then played (digging in to the keys) 1 and 5 back and forth a number of times. If you did the 1-4 doodle, you would hold down the 5th finger. <br /><br />Basically I have simplified some of Miss Spielter's exercises and techniques with equally good results (see some of the comments above). <br /><br />As to the dummy (silent) keyboards, basically people used them when you came to practice and there were no other pianos available. I hated to get stuck on the dummy, but fortunately it happened very rarely. I think that in modern times, dummy keyboards have been replaced by digital pianos which are a more rewarding practice experience for the student.Helenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14471510158250540602noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724646980489112709.post-21139838462257456972010-09-29T16:03:31.426-04:002010-09-29T16:03:31.426-04:00All comments about Hedy Spielter and her work are ...All comments about Hedy Spielter and her work are valuable and interesting to me. I remember reading of her insistance of use on the "silent" keyboard (Virgil Practice Clavier, or similar keyboard?). Jorg Demus endorsed her work very highly. But, alas, as I was studying with Mme. I.A.V.<br />at the time, I was afraid to apply anything to her teachings that Mme. did not advise.<br />PLEASE TELL ME ABOUT THE "DOODLES". How/what were they?<br /><br />Lev V.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com