NOTAVUE · MUSIC & PRACTICE

Musicians, stories and practice

Explore pianists’ history and little-known stories, with ear training and short practice exercises.

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Musicians and music history

Chopin made 24 keys into 24 worlds

The 24 Preludes, Op. 28, travel through every major and minor key. Listen to two and find one word for the mood of each.

Musicians and music history

An étude can belong on the concert stage

Chopin’s Op. 10 and Op. 25 each contain 12 études, joining technique with musical expression. Find the melody even inside a difficult passage.

Musicians and music history

Mozart’s sister was a keyboard virtuoso too

Maria Anna, known as Nannerl, toured with her younger brother. The notebook their father began for her lessons also contains Wolfgang’s earliest compositions.

Musicians and music history

Young Mozart learned on the road

From 1763 to 1766, Mozart and his sister performed on a family tour that included Paris and London. Travel and performance were part of his childhood education.

Musicians and music history

Beethoven wanted tempo to be clearer

An 1817 document records Beethoven’s support for metronome markings. In practice, begin at a tempo you can sustain before moving toward your target.

Musicians and music history

Beethoven tried aids for his hearing

As Beethoven’s hearing deteriorated, he used specially made ear trumpets. Try following only the bass in a familiar piece to discover a layer you usually overlook.

Musicians and music history

Clara Schumann was a composer as well

She wrote songs, piano pieces and chamber music. Her Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 17, gives piano, violin and cello voices of their own.

Musicians and music history

Clara’s music travelled with her

Clara Schumann toured Denmark in 1842 and Russia in 1844, departing from Leipzig. A nineteenth-century pianist reached new audiences through long journeys.

Musicians and music history

Fanny Hensel made Sundays musical

Fanny’s Sunday concerts in Berlin became an important musical gathering. Sharing music does not always need a grand stage; a room can give a work an audience.

Musicians and music history

The Mendelssohn siblings exchanged ideas

Fanny and Felix studied instruments and composition together and continued sharing musical criticism. Ask a friend what catches their ear in a passage you both know.

Musicians and music history

Schumann wrote about music too

Robert Schumann was a composer and music critic, editing a music journal from 1835 to 1843. After listening to a piece, write three sentences about your own response.

Musicians and music history

Childhood memories can become piano music

Schumann composed Scenes from Childhood, Op. 15, in 1838. Which rhythm or sound in these miniatures brings a memory of your own to mind?

Musicians and music history

Maple Leaf Rag began with a real place

Scott Joplin’s performances at Sedalia’s Maple Leaf Club inspired Maple Leaf Rag in 1899. Listen for a melody that dances around the steady pulse.

Musicians and music history

Joplin encouraged new composers

Joplin opened a piano studio and encouraged younger composers such as Arthur Marshall and Scott Hayden. Try explaining one practice method you have learned to a friend.

Musicians and music history

Debussy’s moonlight has a poetic connection

Clair de lune is the third movement of Suite bergamasque and connects with Verlaine’s poem. Imagine a scene as you listen to its opening, then follow the changing tone.

Musicians and music history

New music needs its first performers

Debussy and pianist Ricardo Viñes shared the early performances of the two books of Preludes. Performers help bring unfamiliar sounds to listeners as well as keeping classics alive.

Musicians and music history

Ravel gave one hand a whole piano’s voice

The Concerto for the Left Hand was written for Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right arm. Listen for bass, harmony and melody within the solo part.

Musicians and music history

Ravel worked on two concertos together

In 1930–1931, Ravel worked on the G-major Concerto alongside the Concerto for the Left Hand. The same instrument can inhabit brilliantly contrasting worlds.

Musicians and music history

Bartók built a small musical universe

Mikrokosmos has 153 piano pieces in six progressively demanding books. Even its short pieces explore imitation, question and answer, and rhythm.

Musicians and music history

Folk music can shape a piano lesson

Folk music helped shape Bartók’s Mikrokosmos. Try finding a familiar local melody using five notes, listening for the rhythm that gives it character.

Musicians and music history

Florence Price made orchestral history

The Chicago Symphony performed her First Symphony in 1933. Price became the first African American woman whose symphony was performed by a major American orchestra.

Musicians and music history

Price’s voice reaches beyond symphonies

Florence Price was also a pianist and wrote piano music and songs. When exploring a composer, look for a short work alongside the famous large-scale pieces.

Musicians and music history

The oldest surviving piano has 54 keys

The Met’s Cristofori piano dates from 1720 and has 54 keys, fewer than a modern piano’s 88. The keyboard’s range expanded over the centuries.

Musicians and music history

The piano’s name contains soft and loud

Pianoforte combines the Italian words for soft and loud. Cristofori’s hammer action let players shape volume through touch, opening a new range of expression.

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Sing a phrase before playing it

Choose four to eight notes, hum them, then play slowly. Compare the sung phrase with your playing: which note matters most, and where does it breathe?

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Clap the rhythm first

Leave the pitches aside and clap one measure while counting gently. After two steady repetitions, add the notes at the keyboard.

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Make the difficult passage smaller

Choose the two measures that need the most work and use a comfortable slow tempo. Focus on pitch, rhythm or connection one at a time, then restore the passage.

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Earn a small tempo increase

Play a short passage three times with steady rhythm and comfortable movement. Increase the tempo a little; return to the earlier speed if clarity slips.

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Practise the join between sections

Combine the last two beats of one section with the first two beats of the next. A familiar join helps prevent hesitation at the barline.

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Build several starting points

Choose three places and play eight beats from each. Knowing the middle of a piece lets you practise the ending without always restarting from the beginning.

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Give the session one small goal

Replace “learn the piece” with “steady rhythm in measure four” or “clearer melody.” Record ten seconds afterward and listen for that specific change.

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Use a ten-second recording

Record one phrase, then listen for rhythm and balance without watching your hands. Change one thing, record the phrase again, and compare the two takes.

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Let the bass show the direction

Play the lowest notes of a passage slowly while singing or imagining the melody. The bass movement can make the harmonic direction easier to hear.

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Find the melody inside the chords

Play only the line you want a listener to remember and shape each phrase. Add the other notes while keeping the melody clear rather than giving every note equal weight.

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Let melody sing over a quieter background

In a short phrase, play the melody at a normal volume and the accompaniment softly. Swap their balance once, then restore the intended melodic lead.

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Keep counting through the silence

Do not stop counting at a rest. Clap the complete sound–silence–sound pattern before playing it, so the next attack lands in place.

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Divide the beat to steady the rhythm

For eighth notes, count “1-and, 2-and” slowly. Make the subdivisions even, then reduce the counting while keeping the main pulse steady.

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Let the metronome check steadiness

Choose a comfortable tempo and play four measures. Listen for slowing at difficult notes. Keep the pulse even at this speed before raising it.

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Use black-key groups as landmarks

Without sounding a note, locate the group of two or three black keys near your target. Learn the shape, then practise placing the hand lightly at that position.

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Let the eyes travel ahead

In an easy passage at a slow tempo, look toward the next beat while the current notes sound. Practise this gently to keep your reading moving.

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See the shape inside a broken chord

If a passage outlines a chord, identify its notes first, then play them in the written rhythm. Recognising the shape can be easier than guessing each note separately.

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See the landing before the leap

Practise moving between the starting and ending positions slowly. Keep the hand comfortable, locate the destination with your eyes, then let the hand follow.

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Listen for an even chord attack

Choose a comfortable chord and play it softly three times. Listen for the notes sounding together. Prepare the hand before playing instead of covering unevenness with force.

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Try a phrase without pedal first

In an easy melody, connect each note naturally to the next and listen for unwanted gaps. Find clear finger legato before deciding what colour the pedal adds.

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Listen when the harmony changes

Play two different chords slowly and try changing the sustain pedal just after the new chord sounds. Compare the clarity and let your ears guide the release.

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Make staccato clear, not forceful

Play five easy notes lightly with space between them. Repeat the same notes legato and listen to the different character of the two phrases.

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Try one phrase at three dynamic levels

Play a phrase softly, moderately and strongly at the same tempo. Hear how expression changes without changing rhythm, then choose the level that suits the phrase.

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Give the phrase a destination

Choose a high point in a phrase, sing toward it, then let the ending settle. Keep that direction at the piano instead of treating every note as a new beginning.

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Vary the rhythm, then restore it

For a familiar, easy run, practise long–short and short–long rhythms slowly. Return to the written even rhythm afterward and listen for clarity in every note.

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Change one thing at a time

Adjust the volume of one phrase without changing tempo. On the next pass, adjust only the connection. Fewer changes make their musical effect easier to hear.

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Remember the sound as well as the movement

Away from the keys, study one measure and describe its rhythm and melodic direction. Play it slowly afterward to check against the sound you imagined.

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End with a clear, comfortable phrase

Finish by playing a short passage you know at a comfortable tempo. Hear what you achieved today and note one small goal for the next session.

Explore how music works

Two black keys help you find C

Find a pair of black keys: the white key immediately to its left is C. Locate the same shape elsewhere and notice how note names repeat.

Explore how music works

E to F is a semitone too

A semitone is the distance between adjacent keys. There is no black key between E and F or between B and C. Play those pairs slowly and hear the smallest step.

Explore how music works

An octave brings a familiar note higher

Play a C, then the next C above it: they are twelve semitones apart. Hum the pair and notice the higher pitch with a familiar musical identity.

Explore how music works

One note can change a chord’s colour

Play C–E–G, then C–E-flat–G. Lowering only the middle note by a semitone changes a major triad into a minor one. What difference do you hear?

Explore how music works

A triad can use more than three keys

A C-major triad uses C, E and G, which can be doubled in other octaves. Play those three notes, then add a higher C and hear the same harmony with a fuller texture.

Explore how music works

The same chord can stand differently

Play C–E–G, then E–G–C slowly. The note names stay the same but the lowest note changes. This inversion can also reduce movement between chords.

Explore how music works

Does G7 to C feel like coming home?

Play G–B–D–F, followed by C–E–G. In C major, the dominant seventh moving to the tonic often sounds conclusive. Listen for the notes that seem to want to move.

Explore how music works

A melody can ask and answer

Hum four notes, pause, then answer with four more. A questioning first phrase and an answering second phrase can make eight notes feel like a conversation.

Explore how music works

A repeating pattern can hold music together

An ostinato is a repeating pattern. Play C–G gently with the left hand while choosing a few white-key notes with the right, and hear constancy supporting change.

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Five notes are enough for a melody

Use only C, D, E, G and A. Sing a short phrase, then find it on the keyboard. This pentatonic set lets you explore rhythm and shape with a small collection of notes.

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A chromatic scale takes every step

Starting on C, play each adjacent key up to the next C, including the black keys. Hear how a chromatic scale builds tension as it rises or falls.

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3/4 and 6/8 have different weight

Count 3/4 as “1, 2, 3” and a typical 6/8 as “1-la-li, 2-la-li.” Tap the main beats to feel three steps versus two groups of three smaller steps.

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A dot adds half a note’s value

A dot adds half the original value. Clap a dotted quarter followed by an eighth, counting “1-and, 2-and”; the second attack falls on “2-and.”

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A tie joins time; a slur shapes a gesture

A tie joins same-pitch notes into one sustained sound. A slur groups notes into a connected gesture. Sing one held note, then a connected phrase of different pitches.

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Keep the beat steady while rhythm moves

Tap a steady beat with one hand and clap between beats with the other. This off-beat emphasis creates a syncopated feel, familiar from ragtime.

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Some melodies begin before beat one

Sing a short note before “1,” then land the next note on “1.” A pickup carries the melody toward the first main beat, like a small breath before speaking.

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A crescendo changes volume, not speed

Play five notes slowly, gradually louder but with equal time between them. Reverse the exercise for a diminuendo, keeping dynamics and tempo independent.

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A bass note can reshape the harmony

Keep C–E–G in the right hand. Play C, then A in the left. The upper notes stay the same while the bass changes the overall harmony.

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Hear intervals as distances

Play and hum C–D, C–E and C–G slowly. Compare the nearby step, the middle distance and the wider leap, finding a word of your own for each sound.

Explore how music works

A–B–A is a departure and a return

Hum a short phrase A, follow it with a different phrase B, then return to A. This simple form gives repetition a purpose and the ending a familiar feeling.

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