Mizue's Blog
Connect dots between piano materials and piano exercises
Mizue Murakami
Some piano practitioners (especially beginners and intermediates) ask these questions frequently.
- “What other exercises should I do?”
- “Some online experts say that these exercises are dumb. But other experts say I should be doing these exercises (whatever they are)”
- “Do I have to do these exercises? They are boring.”
- “How many minutes a day should I work on these exercises?”
Piano exercises such as scales, arpeggios, inversions, strengthening exercises, etc. are all important. And they are usually incorporated in piano educational programs. However, for...
Allow space for kids to be creative in education system.
Mizue Murakami
More than 100 years or so, the education system in the world has been focusing on the hard skills (academics, memorizing facts, skills for labor force). And it has been suppressing and discouraging creativity, the soft skills. In music education, it's been the same. Very little empathy, emotions, and unique ideas and styles. Close to none. But kids are all creative inside, to begin with. There is no such kid as a non-creative kid. They were all born to be creative. It's just that some are more...
How to use your limited piano practice time effectively
Mizue Murakami
Frequently I get asked by enthusiastic adult piano practitioners, learners, and students this question. "I run out of my practice time with just doing piano exercises." Or "How can I focus on all the important things I need to do in my limited time?." It's hard for me to come up with a suitable answer for each of these people because I actually don't know how their personal and professional lives are. Each person's situation is different.
If you are serious about your piano practice and about how to use your limited time efficiently...
How to play piano loud without pressing keys too hard
Mizue Murakami
You probably noticed if your hearing is sensitive musically that some pianist sounds angry when they play loud. The piano is producing very harsh sounds when it sounds like angry. But when other great pianist plays loudly, it sounds loud but not angry.
Some beginners and piano practitioners at the early stage tend to think playing the piano loud means they need to press the keys harder. That's actually not true. Yes, you can create loud tones. But it's going to create ugly angry, harsh tones.
The difference between loud...
Hanon's Piano Exercises are not for Warming-Up
Mizue Murakami
I was noticing last decades, a lot of piano practitioners and learners use Hanon's piano exercises (The Virtuoso Pianist Vol. 1 and Vol. 2) for their warm-ups, including scales and arpeggios. But Hanon's exercises are meant to be for strengthening and developing independent movements. In fact, if you use Hanon's exercises for warming up, you may end up getting an opposite result from your initial intention: Warming up.
Imagine going to the gym to exercise. When you enter the gym, what do you do first? You warm-up. You...