To aspiring and professional pianists who want to practice with less struggle and break through to a new level of performance:
No matter how much we love the piano or how hard we work at it, practicing and performing can be frustrating.
While we’re trying to coordinate our hands in a passage we’re practicing, all the sounds and emotions in the music are flooding our system, making it hard to focus on the details of phrasing, fingering, pedaling, and dynamics. Overwhelmed by these demands, we often push ourselves harder—repeating passages in a joyless, desperate way, forcing ourselves to play louder or faster, racking our brains to come up with the ideal shape for a phrase, or trying to rev up the kind of emotional intensity that we think the music should have.
We end up tense and less able to think clearly or play musically.
Finally, when we perform, stage fright can make us panic, destroy our confidence, and wreak havoc with the performance we’ve spent so much time preparing.
Productive practicing and true music-making happen when you’re in a state of flow—when your body and mind are working with ease.
Since 1985, I’ve helped pianists release tension and open up their playing through a step-by-step approach I developed called the Art of Practicing. This approach combines state-of-the-art piano technique with mental and sensory techniques to help you enjoy each moment of practicing and to build ease, communicative power, and confidence for performance.
You can learn this approach and experience more freedom in making music.
I wish you much joy and success with the piano. Madeline Bruser
