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Skeleton Practice
This series of articles will describe how to deconstruct a score and use skeleton practice by way of a number of examples. New articles and examples will be added on an ongoing basis therefore please do watch this space!
Contents
Author
Graham Fitch
Graham Fitch, based in London, maintains an international career not only as a pianist, but also as a teacher, adjudicator, examiner, lecturer, writer and commentator on piano playing and musical subjects.
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Graham Fitch's tried and tested practice tools provide highly effective ways to transform your practice sessions into productive and enjoyable experiences.... Read >>
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Read Ahead - Level 4
Read Ahead is an exciting program that helps piano students to improve their sight-reading ability. This unique curriculum is based on an extensive collection of carefully ordered compositions with related exercises and quizzes that help students develop the mental and tactile skills necessary for fluent sight-reading. This section features Level 4... Read >>
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The Body - Wiser than the Mind?
When we make music we experience fascinating integration of body and mind. As essential as it is to master certain well-defined skills (just as athletes do) there can also be moments when we manage to "get out of our own way" – and everything seems to fall into place beautifully.... Read >>
Teaching & Developing Sight-Reading Skills
Sight-reading an interesting piece of music is like meeting an interesting person. We enjoy the pleasure of a new encounter, sense perhaps a mutual affinity, and look forward to a deeper acquaintance. This series of articles provides exercises and music aimed at developing confidence in playing at sight and enhancing... Read >>
Mastering Polyrhythms
A polyrhythm (sometimes referred to as a cross rhythm) is the effect produced when two conflicting rhythms are played together and can prove very challenging indeed! This series of articles will help you tackle them in various ratios, starting with the simplest: two-against-three (2:3) or three-against-two (3:2).... Read >>
Quarantine-Spots
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. If you have spots in your pieces that regularly break down you’re going to need to identify them and isolate these sections so you can do some quality, systematic practice on them. This process I call quarantining, and each extract... Read >>
Separate Practice
Learning a complex piece each hand alone before putting the hands together is a strategy favoured by the majority of piano teachers. While it is of course possible to practise a fugue hands separately, this misses the point. Rather than working hands separately, I advocate strands separately (playing each line... Read >>
Practising for Long-Term Results
In this video, William Westney demonstrates a remarkably easy technique for mind and body to truly “digest” (and remember) what we’ve practised.... Read >>
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Slow Practice
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