Setting up Your Piano Room

If you have a brand new piano, congratulations!

I have no doubt you have done your research and are well on the way to setting up a space in which your piano is the focus, will be well loved and maintained and you can breathe out every ti...

Oh...

You're shoved it in the corner of the dining room?...

...the dining table is 2 foot behind it, meaning you have to squeeze in to sit down?...

...you're keeping all your paperwork on top of the piano??

This is - I hope - an extreme example. Yet it is the perfect setup to make sure that you never enjoy practising or playing.

I respect very much the fact that we have to make compromises - houses can't always be accommodating of our dream music room, and often the piano does become a fixture in a room for which it isn't its sole purpose - such as the dining room (or even the office!).

But let's work on the assumption that every single thing is possible as I encourage you to work down the list and adjust anything you can to get the creativity flowing...

My piano on moving in day - in an empty room that was, at least, correctly carpeted and painted!

The Logistics

Before I explore the delights of the inspirational elements of setting up your music space / room, let's just check a few logistics:

Space

As we well know, you need to be able to sit at the piano at such a distance that you can fully outstretch your arms and only just be touching the fall-board. This means that it isn't enough to settle for being squashed into a corner - even if it feels only a minor inconvenience. You need to be able to move quite freely, with space behind your arms so that if you were to 'jump' off the keys neither they 'nor your elbows would not be in danger of hitting anything. If this isn't the case, this is one of the most essential changes you need to make. If you're really serious about learning piano properly, you might just need to rearrange that room to allow the piano to be moved somewhere more open.

Sound

As a general rule, upright pianos should be up against the wall and grand / baby grand pianos work best with some breathing space around the entire instrument. Whereas this is not always the easiest to apply to the home, it is worth making sure that you follow the rule at least for the upright piano (see my next point). As well as being set in a position to absorb some of the sound, it's worth pointing out that - unlike their grand counterparts which are 360 full degrees of beauty - the back of most upright pianos (even the top end ones) are seldom anything to write home about. This crosses over somewhat into the next main heading - the Inspiration - but worth a consideration.

Furthermore, it's worth choosing carefully which wall you do put your upright piano against. If you have neighbours backed onto a wall, remember it is easier to assume that they will complain - so avoid that wall in the first instance and save the need to move it somewhere else later on. Outside walls are good - internal walls are better still. Don't forget - sound interference is a two way stream! If your piano is in your living room on a busy street, are you going to be irritated by the sound of traffic constantly flowing? Or people walking past the house every couple of minutes?

If you have the wall space to spare, grand and baby grand pianos can certainly be pushed up against them to protect precious floorspace in a room, but these are instruments that really do benefit from the acoustics. If you don't have the space to make them a centrepiece it's unlikely you'll have invested in one in the first place - but if you do, make sure you respect it as a piano first. Treating it as a display table when not in use (putting over a tablecloth and displaying ornaments) is OK. Serving dinner off it...is not!

Heat

Another one that may be harder to put into practice but it is one to consider regardless;

Pianos don't like excess heat.

You certainly want to avoid backing pianos onto radiators, but you don't really want pianos near radiators if you can avoid it. Anything that gives off heat can warp the strings faster.

In addition to this, you need to be mindful of direct sunlight. Your two options that are doable by most every household are:

• put the piano against a wall that you know doesn't get any sunlight or
  

• use blinds instead of curtains and control how much sunlight is shining onto your piano (keep the blinds closed if going away for long periods of time).

The Inspiration

If you have the luxury of being able to designate a room to your piano, this is the section for you. But even if not - here are some tips to help maximise your output by keeping you inspired!

Colour Scheme

Even if you need to reconsider the colour scheme of an existing room - such as the dining room - it may be worth it. But definitely consider this as your push to think colour scheme!

You won't have chosen a piano that you don't like. So your piano will be an inspirational instrument for you to begin with. However, your room needs to be an extension of that.

For me personally, I love the idea of 'blank' canvas as this feels like something I can almost physically project my ideas onto. So wallpaper would be out of the question for me, leaving a plain painted wall - all one colour - as the way to go.

For me, keep it light! Regardless of how much natural light may be coming into the room anyway, lightness inspires! I have cream walls and a lovely, dark red carpet to contrast.

It all has to match, though. My black piano against cream walls works beautifully, however a white piano against those same walls may get a little lost. We still want to encourage light, however, so maybe a light shade of blue could be the ticket.

Anything goes, really - but it has to work for you!

Organisation

My first full size piano was actually an electric piano, and it lay in the hallway of our house where I remember chanting on many occasions phrases such as 'this is not a dumping ground!'.

This is especially true in a room that's not just designated for piano. In an office it may be tempting to leave papers on top, or you might find in a dining room that things get stored on it. Remember that as you sit at an upright piano, all of that is on an eye level with you so...if that's a mess...you get the idea (tidy desk, tidy mind etc. etc.).

Consider a more formal storage solution if you wish to keep your scores handily accessible. If you only have a few, lots of piano stools can store music. Otherwise, you can install cupboards or open units (such as Kallax) at a height above the piano (or next to if there is enough space between you and a wall to your side) so that it is easy reach but not in your face whilst playing.

If you absolutely insist on displaying things on top of the piano (such as ornaments), keep it classy by putting down a nice cloth. But bear in mind any inconveniences you may come across by doing so - no matter how small (for example, if you record a lot using the open lid, you'll have to take this display off and put it back on...every...single...time!)

Keep it Clean!

For an extension on keeping your space organised, we now discuss keeping it clean!

Who knows truly if dirt and dust is black or white? It shows up remarkably well on a black piano. It shows up remarkably well on a white piano. Either way, it's ugly. Therefore, keep your piano looking as fresh as can be with a good dusting every now and then. Once you see the shininess of a piano come back, it's amazing how much more motivating it is to play it!

Artwork and Progress

You have everything else in place now. A nice colour scheme, organisation and cleanliness. Now we can personalise.

If there is any picture art that you like that fits the aesthetic but most importantly inspires you, consider it for the wall. Imagine how it could influence your playing and your desire to play if it were the one directly facing you as you sit at the instrument!

And why stop there?

Avoiding cluttering, consider other motivational things that can go round your room to help.

Are there any pictures of you playing a special performance? Perhaps you have your latest grade certificates? In my case - directly facing me as I sit on the piano is a waveform of my first composition - 'The Butterfly' - taken from Spotify.

Investing in a piano is a big step. Heck, even accepting a free one is a big step!

But regardless of this, you can't rely on your instrument alone to bring you the maximum enjoyment. You can extend the influence into the piano room and ultimately create a circle of inspiration that is always guaranteed to capture your imagination and make you work as hard as possible towards playing piano!

Note the cream walls and Grade certificates by my side. I don't keep things on top of the piano to allow for easy opening of the lid when recording.

Behind the piano is my 'Butterfly' waveform, and notice at the top, my scores are kept out of eyeshot whilst playing, but easy reach when I need them!

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#piano #pianist #musicroom #pianoroom #pianoteacher #macclesfield #Cheshire #congleton

'Head over Heels' - Two Years Later

Today marks the two year anniversary of the release of 'Head Over Heels' - my two disc musical album that was initially an outlet for my burning desire to write something, only to develop into a project that showcased the best of local talent.

Original Cover Art, designed by Samantha Oates

Featuring no less than 22 singers from around the Macclesfield and Congleton area, I'd love to take this opportunity to share with you what it is, how it came to be and more!

The Story

There is no narrative throughout 'Head Over Heels' as an album, so to call it a concept album may be quite misleading. However, the story behind the album might be brought more into question:

Music was and always has been a passion for me, but back in the year of 2017 I wasn't particularly feeling it. The idea of writing something such as a variety album was always in the back of my mind but it would take too much commitment for me - then in full time employment - to want to do.

Over the years I had done a handful of shows with the local amateur musical society - Macclesfield Majestic Theatre Group - and in doing so I had come across a wealth of people who had voices that I just wanted to explore, but my time was taken up by either working or - if I did have time to devote to music - somebody else's project (such as musically directing pantomimes for MMTG).

Perhaps it was the eventual tiredness of music that led me to turn down their very kind offer for me to musically direct their 2018 pantomime, but I did and I felt immediate relief.

I did, however, go and support them by booking a ticket.

Ordinarily the excitement of a pantomime is the crowning glory of a lot of hard work, but because I hadn't done any hard work towards this one the excitement I felt actually became the push to do something! And what was that to be?

An album. Featuring some of them and plenty of other people I knew from the area who weren't involved in that particular production.

By now it was 2018 and what followed was a series of contacting friends and asking them to come down to the Majestic's rehearsal rooms - which they very kindly lent me keys for - to teach them a song and to record a basic piano and vocal demo. By the time I had started seeing people, all of the songs were written...

The Songs

I had opted to write lyrics that were to be publicly available for the first time in my life. I never considered myself a lyricist and approached the job from a much more tongue in cheek way than many others might have done.

'Head Over Heels' was the first brand new composition that I came up with music and lyrics for after seeing the pantomime, but many others followed and underwent several rewrites.

'A New Life' and 'The Midnight Hour' were ones I had already composed, so I just set lyrics to them.

'Dismissive' became an incredibly wordy piece as I just needed to keep adding to it to be able to resolve the narrative!

'The Man with No Identity' was written with so much abstractness that when I reread the words I had no clue what I had been writing about. And, despite this - or maybe because of it - I actually kept these lyrics!

But most of the songs were quite easy to divide between people who I already knew:

For the purpose of both original demo and final release, Eddie Melling sang 'A New Life', Sidney Smith sang 'Take a Walk', Rebecca Clulow sang 'Back to Reality', Pete Munro sang 'The Midnight Hour', Sarah Powell sang 'Head Over Heels', Nickie Simms sang 'Thank You for the Call', Alex Bingle sang 'Dreams', Luke Stevenson sang 'Notice Me', Fleur Evangeline sang 'It's True', Calum Hogan sang 'The Man with No Identity', and Tom Blackwell sang 'My Dying Day'.

Luckily, these people collectively knew lots of people, and I was pleased to be introduced to Simon Hoffman ('Rulebook'), Giles Hardwick ('One Wonder') and Emily Redwood ('I'll Be There') who demo'd and went on to record their songs on the final album.

And by being introduced to somebody completely new for whom I did not have a song - Simon Waring - his voice alone inspired a brand new song - 'Mister Illusion'.

With all of this and some provisional demos of 'More than a Word', 'Closer', 'Kids Play', 'Judgement Day' and 'Dismissive' - all performed brilliantly but by people who sadly couldn't commit to the final project - I was armed with my 20 songs!

Phase two...

The Tracks

In order to create the tracks, I used my then notation software - Myriad's 'Harmony Assistant' - to create the most basic scores to pass along to a drummer, bassist and guitarist. The drum parts consisted of mere hits and the word 'fill' when I wanted a fill. Occasionally I would notate a specific bassline (such as in 'Notice Me') or guitar part, but generally these parts were based around chord symbols and I gave free rein to the guitarists.

Have a browse through the slideshow to see some example scores that were sent to musicians:

Using an exported MIDI file from Harmony Assistant, I uploaded this into Logic Pro and was able to alter the click track to account for all rises and falls of tempo, on top of which I recorded a dummy piano part so that the instrumentalists had something to play along to that was more interesting than just the click! (I did keep bouncing updated tracks as new musicians came along).

'Head Over Heels' - final Logic Project (unmastered)

First to the table, Glenn Charles put down his drum tracks.

And then two bassists - Liv Baker-Mendoza and Chris Thompson.

Then a guitarist - Ryszard Kolendo - who put down both electric and acoustic guitar parts.

I did a little bit of orchestration and sent this off to Michael Kearley (who had provided bassoons towards the recording of 'Morella' and played flute in 'Spectroscopy') to lay down a few flute parts, and for the title track itself I scored out a very basic violin part which was recorded by Sarah Jackson. Colin Jones - another player on 'Morella' (trumpets) gave me some more trumpet tracks for a few songs on this project and even did some trombone (on the song 'Dismissive').

Whilst the orchestration was being done, I recorded piano and keyboard parts.

Recording

It was time to bring the original cast back together!

Well, most of them.

But it was OK - most of them came back and they all did a fabulous job!

Sarah Powell recording the title track - 'Head Over Heels'

But to finish the project I had to reach out again.

I was introduced to a few people - Becka Gill who would record 'Closer' alongside Kate Darlington, who I had met in 2020 (after I'd recorded initial demo), Alicia Whittaker and Danny Gilman who recorded 'Judgement Day' and Louise Colohan who recorded 'Dismissive'.

The only vocal that was recorded remotely belonged to an old schoolfriend - Joe Ryan - who recorded 'Kids Play' from Dubai!

Meanwhile, advertising had begun with little teaser snippets - such as this one featuring Alex Bingle:

Once everything was recorded, it took a while to be mixed and mastered but what followed was the release!

Showtime!

Showtime for the album was 22nd April 2022 - the official release date of 'Head Over Heels'. Initially released under West Kingston Productions - my company at the time - it proved a success.

But there had been a showtime prior to this!

On Saturday 9th April 2022, we showcased some of the songs from the show!

And what a show it was!

Whilst we did miss Sarah Powell for the title track (Louise Colohan stepped in expertly - below), the night was a resounding success and we managed to shift a few CDs prior to their official release - and give away some download codes (again prior to their official release!).

Louise Colohan sings 'Head Over Heels' in Sarah Powell's absence

Where To Get It

That's right - it's still available!

Whilst you won't find it anymore on the commercial MP3 download or streaming services, it is very much available to download from my website.

So give it a download and give it a listen - it's great fun and I know you'll love it!

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#macclesfield #congleton #headoverheels #Cheshire #music #musical #musicaltheatre #album #popmusic #rockmusic #soundtrack

Score vs. Memory - Learning and Performing

The key to a great performance on any instrument is to have utter conviction in what you are performing. Therefore, I will immediately conclude this blog post with my personal opinion as to whether or not it is better to perform with or without music:

It doesn't matter.

Unless there is a specific reason for you to not have music in front of you (an opera might be a slightly bizarre watch if all the players held a score in front of them), it is essential that you are comfortable playing and performing the music to the best of your ability whichever path you go down.

However, in this blog I would like to explore the advantages and disadvantages of using your powers of reading music against your powers of memorising music - not just in the long run for an eventual performance or recording - but for learning and practicing too.

Let's explore this in some more detail...

Using Music

Without having the score in front of you, you'd be relying on ear, instinct and prior knowledge of a piece of music alone. Therefore, you could consider a score like an actor's script. Not only does it tell you which notes to play (your words, following the metaphor), but it tells you how to play (stage directions etc.). Therefore, it stands to reason that we can use a score as an extremely strong starting point.

The Pros

• Using sheet music is the most logical way to learn a new piece of music. At your disposal, you have everything you need. Dynamics, rhythm, tempo markings, fingering, articulation etc. - fairly obvious introductory point to the pros, but one that can be overlooked by those who would rather learn by ear alone (often resulting in awkward and uncomfortable fingering, lack of expression etc.)
  

• As you begin to get more and more familiar with a piece of music, your association against what is printed improves, therefore your understanding of notation improves. This can lead to associations of rhythmic motifs, recognition of intervals you may not have commonly used previously, a stronger understanding of what note lies on what ledger line etc. - in other words, following the music is beneficial for your sight reading.
  

• In addition to improving overall sight reading, you will recognise visual cues from following the score, which allows you to continue playing even if you forget otherwise how the music goes, what you have to do etc. - it can make it easier to pick up.
  

• Your visualisation of the keyboard will improve greatly from looking ahead and only glancing down to reference hand position at times when you need to employ more drastic changes. Overall we have good understanding of the layout of a keyboard, but the more we consciously look at it when we play, the more we depend on vision to find our way around it. For many pieces, this is incidental, but for many other pieces it is crucial to have a good, deep-seated understanding so that large jumps between fingers / hands or large distance between the hands can be played with minimal effort.

The Cons

• Playing with score can often lead to a dissociation with how well you actually do know the piece of music. Is your association purely from the score? If you never plan on playing the music without it then it might seem a moot point, but even so you may find that you struggle to get through the piece fluidly with the music because there are gaps in other sensory clues (unfamiliarity with the tune, no muscle memory etc.).
  

• Performing under pressure is always difficult, and scores can be a hinderance during any kind of recital or recording. Glancing down and glancing back up to the wrong bar can create a bad association which translates during high pressure performance that may not necessarily exist otherwise. Further to this, little things like angle of the head is a contributory factor. Bear in mind that - unlike many other instrumentalists - pianists often have to play on all manner of different pianos. If I use a score and I've been practising on an upright, the sudden angle difference to performing on a grand piano (the music stands are higher) is off-putting as it skews my vision of the keyboard that little bit more. Further to this, it is worth bearing in mind that you must always practice with the score you intend to use. If you plan on using an iPad for your performance, practice always with the iPad. If you plan on sticking sheets of paper together to minimise page turns in an exam, get those copied as soon as possible and practice with the full spread.

Using Memory

It always strikes us as very impressive when we see somebody perform without a score, but could this be the more logical method of performance? It certainly takes more work to instil music into the memory to achieve the best performance, but what of the pros and cons of working this way?

The Pros

• Memory is immediately transferrable. The more engrained into your mind a piece of music is, the more adaptable it is between instruments. Moving from one piano to another (as many performing professionals do!) comes with many issues - different dynamic, different pressure on the keys, different sound, higher or lower pedals etc. - so add that extra lack of familiarity to the need to reference you score and it can be burdensome. That's not to say it's the wrong approach, mind, but consider how confident you are as a pianist that you can read and translate to a new instrument simultaneously and under pressure before choosing that road.
  

• Memory connects pathways that we don't necessarily join together when reading from music. When reading from music, we can often find ourselves still interpreting and relying on the music to the point that we hit the correct notes but fail to give them meaning. Yet we don't even realise that, necessarily, because a tunnel vision approach when reading is often more focused on playing the notes that are written rather than how you are playing them, therefore we focus on their pitch or the overall tune and go no further. When we take away the visual aid and rely solely on memory, we do actually realise the full potential of a piece of music, hearing for the first time moments where we could hold back or push forward, maybe a touch of pedal to colour a certain passage, or take the dynamic down to create a more pleasing performance (sometimes even in complete contradiction to what the score notes!). Our senses begin working together and our muscle memory and strong ear for the music are now both much more attuned to what is technically right, that our emotional side can finally be brought forward.

The Cons

• Once again we look at high pressure performances (recitals, recordings, exams etc.). Our minds can become so inwardly focused if we are in any sort of nervous disposition that we can forget to look at a piece of music as a whole. Therefore, we can maybe begin playing correctly, but because we're not necessarily thinking ahead we forget which notes to play next - like stumbling over your lines in a stage play. Were the score there, the visual aid could be a great prompt, however one single memory lapse or error can break a live performance. More often than not, this is due to the familiarity of the piece and is not reflective of a pianist's actual ability. Performing from memory needs to be developed and can't just be achieved by deciding to ditch the score one day and expecting muscle memory to do the bulk of the work (read my very next point!). Unfortunately, there is very little way to put yourself under the right amount of pressure to replicate an actual recital where you can practice playing by memory under pressure. Facebook lives are good, or even recording a video (although this isn't the best as you can stop and go back - you want to play it through once well!), therefore our memory can dessert us at inopportune moments when faced with high pressure situations.
  

• Secondary to playing from memory is the actual memorisation process. Learning to play a piece of music from memory can take as long as learning to play it well with music prior to deciding on memorisation, and the reason for that is because we need to make sure the music is well rooted. This goes beyond muscle memory. What if your hands just stop mid way through a performance and you don't know how to get back on track? Learning pieces from memory takes time as it often involves breaking down a piece into individual, manageable sections (this can sometimes be as little as 2 or 3 bars!) and creating associations beyond the 'my fingers can do it' approach. Can you visualise what the music says. Can you hear how it goes? Do you know how the left hand sounds independently to the right hand? Full memorisation is a long and, frankly, laborious - if phenomenally rewarding - process.

Memory as a Learning Tool

Further to my last point in the cons of playing from memory, I would just add that if you do have the intention of playing without music, the best time to start learning from memory is at the very beginning. Use the score to set yourself a few bars and then work with them and memorise, rather than develop the music to performance standard with the score and then committing it. This will help to cement your own associations rather than any that are purely visual aids from the score.

On that note, it stands to reason that you can use memory at any stage, and in fact I encourage it as a learning tool for many of my pupils. I frequently snatch the music off the stand and try and get them to replicate it as best they can after a couple of play throughs (always whilst reminding that mistakes are not the enemy!).

Why does this help, though?

It actually goes back to development - or utilisation - of your musical ear. If you are learning piano at whatever level, you have a musical ear. End of. But sometimes we can nourish it and encourage it to create an even stronger musician.

Beethoven's 'Ode to Joy' finds its way near the beginning of many, many piano learning workbooks thanks to its stepwise melody (a melody where each note is next to or the same as the one prior) and simple hand position (usually C position - right hand thumb on C, 2 on D, 3 on E etc.). Yet, despite its ease, every time I come to it with a pupil of any age I marvel at the fact that they focus rather intently on what's written in front of them to ensure that they play the notes exactly as written.

Cue - score is pulled off the stand after one (maybe two, if I'm feeling generous) attempt(s).

We have to learn to remember certain things cognitively - i.e. some things just have to be cemented in our minds as there is nothing to relate it to. The very starting position of a piece of music is often this, such as that 'Ode to Joy' starts on an E. So I will ask them to remember that, play the first note and then play, following the shape of the melody.

What inevitably happens?

Despite initial fear in some of my pupils at the prospect of now being 'unassisted' on the keyboard, they usually give a much more confident rendition that they do with the book. They all know how the tune goes. They know when it goes up and down and - again, cognitively - they know that, whilst not necessarily being able to recite out loud from memory the individual notes - all the notes will be the next one up or down from where they are. If they get stuck, I encourage them to sing through up to that point (singing is a fantastic way of engaging with pieces you are learning) and working it out from there, noting also where notes are the same as the one prior.

And these are beginners and the majority of people who come to me to begin learning piano are often convinced they have no musical ear. Yet this is proof that they do!

Furthermore, it reaffirms the belief that using memory is a very strong tool for learning.

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#piano #pianist #pianoteacher #pianotutor #pianolesson #pianopupil #pianopractice #sheetmusic #learnmusic #musiclesson #musicpupil