In today’s video, I discuss a very important topic for effective piano practice. I call it strategic practicing. Strategic practice solves one of the biggest mistakes piano learners make: always starting at the beginning of their music and trying to play the whole thing. Starting from the beginning, referred to …
Chris 
Lead Sheets vs. Piano Sheet Music
For today’s video, I compare two primary ways that piano learners learn to play their music: lead sheets and sheet music. Lead sheets are succinct summaries of songs. They feature a melody in the treble clef (often including the lyrics if there are any), and chord symbols above. Lead sheets …
More on Piano Noodling!
Today’s video is a continuation of last week’s introduction to piano noodling, which is a great introduction to piano improvising. In today’s exercise, as with last time, you will keep the left hand simple playing only two chords while the right hand improvises freely in C position. Here are the …
Explore Your Creativity with Piano Noodling
In today’s video I share a simple piano noodling exercise designed to show piano learners how easy it is to start improvising at the piano. You do not have to be an experienced improviser. In fact, this exercise is doable even for beginners! Here are the steps to your first …
How Adults Benefit from Taking Piano Lessons
I have talked to hundreds of adult piano learners about why they take lessons. Here are some common themes I hear over and over: Adult learners often turn to music as a creative outlet in their lives where otherwise there wouldn’t be one. In many cases, my students work in …
What I Learned from Writing “Play Piano”
Writing “Play Piano” was by no means easy. The process took about a year and half, including me editing at least six drafts printed at FedEx Kinkos down the street! I am amazed at how well it came together, not just in my opinion but as a valuable resource for …
Overcome Negative Thinking to Achieve Your Musical Dreams
Back in high school, I took classical piano lessons at the San Francisco Conservatory’s pre-college Preparatory Division. All in all, this was a rich and inspiring experience. Over two and a half years, I worked closely with two accomplished Conservatory piano teachers. At the time, the Conservatory was in a …
The Best Piano Practice Technique for Reading Precision
Piano learners are eager to gain fluency in playing and reading music. I have never found a shortcut to growing reading skills, yet over and over I see the progress learners make when using effective piano practice techniques. One such piano practice technique is counting while playing. Some years ago …
Unlock Your Creativity with Music Composition
Recently I went on a camping trip with my mom. My mom loves camping and is always appreciative of being in nature. This makes her a lot of fun to camp with. When I got home from the trip, I was inspired to compose a new piano piece dedicated to …
The Joy That Powers Piano Learning
From an early age, I found joy in making music and desired to spend my life doing it. That desire came entirely from inside of me. Similarly, one thing I love about teaching piano adults is that they too, in my experience, only take lessons for personal reasons. As I …