Take your playing further.
For pianists who already have a strong foundation and want to build advanced repertoire, prepare to perform and become increasingly independent.
Build your way through advanced repertoire
Advanced repertoire requires us to understand not only what to practise, but how to learn it.
We work through complex and lengthy pieces, building them passage by passage and understanding that technique should always serve a musical purpose. Movement, coordination and sound are developed together, rather than treating technique as something separate from the music.
By solving these questions during practice, we have fewer things to worry about during performance, allowing us to listen, communicate and focus more freely on the music.
Prepare to perform
Performing is a different art in itself, and one that we learn by doing it.
Understanding how to guide our focus while performing a piece of music is key to a successful performance. Depending on the passage, our attention might be directed towards the melody, a specific hand, or the whole sound. Learning where to place that attention — and how to move it as the music unfolds — becomes part of preparing the performance itself.
The ability to remain focused regardless of what happens is a skill that can be practised. Through performing, we learn not only how to play a piece, but how to maintain concentration and continue communicating the music from beginning to end.
Lessons can be directed towards recitals, auditions, competitions or professional qualifications, giving this work a real purpose and an opportunity to put it into practice.
Become independent
At an advanced level, the teacher should not need to provide every answer.
The aim is to develop the tools to approach a new score independently: to recognise technical problems, understand musical structure, make informed interpretative decisions and know how to practise towards a solution.
The further you progress, the more the work becomes your own.