Hello, everybody!

This week’s video is a performance of my own composition, Clockwork Sanctuary. It’s far from a perfect performance, but I decided to post it anyway, as I’m tired of the requirement for perfection that is so prevalent when it comes to performances. I much prefer being a studio musician and teaching, and I don’t enjoy performing – these videos I make are a challenge to myself to at least develop the skill of performing a bit, as I feel that my pupils can benefit from this.

In recent times I’ve barely played anything that involves leaping around the keyboard, so had to break down my technique in great detail while working on this piece. Amongst pianists it’s common knowledge that people with smaller hands really have to learn how to use their arms and torso to support the work of their hands. That was my focus in my practice for this piece, along with making sure that my fingers were really active and not getting lazy.

I plan on working through some more pieces that involve leaping around to consolidate this skill a bit more, as I definitely haven’t mastered it. I’m generally against the idea of focusing on one thing until it’s ‘mastered’ – I much prefer to get a great improvement, then work on other skills before coming back and refining the first one.