All Students preparing for Grade exams are recommended to use the Hofnotes on-line training pages to practise for the aural tests. 

At higher grades  you must be able to discuss with the examiner musical features such as texture, form, style, and period of a piece of music.  My own  web pages to help with these parts of the test at Grade 5+ and at GCSE are available here!

Piano technique

A good technique is not just about virtuosity for its own sake.  It covers everything from how you sit at the piano and move your body in ways that are going to keep your playing effective and pain free all your life, to how you use your ears, your understanding and your imagination to produce the sounds you want.

There are some wonderful books on the subject.  These are some favourites from my shelves:

This is a short 'course' to work through at the instrument and has profoundly changed the way many players of all levels approach their playing.  If you are carrying an injury or starting to feel playing pain it is absolutely essential reading.

                           Principles of Piano Technique and Interpretation

                            Kendall Taylor

                            A practical and perceptive guide to sound production and style,
                           particularly enlightening on Mozart's Fantasie in D minor, and Chopin's 1st Nocturne

            Great pianists on piano playing

            James Cooke's collection includes a chapter by Godowski, whose technique was absolutely legendary 

     Basic Principles in Pianoforte Playing

    Joseph Lhevinne

        Practising the Piano

                                                Franck Merrick

A Symposium for Pianists and Teachers: Strategies to develop the Mind and Body for Optimal Performance.

Seymour Fink et al.

"Published in 2002, this is the clearest and best book on piano technique I have read so far.  Very highly recommended!" Kate Millar, www.epta-uk.org
 

Last updated on: 03/01/2012