How to Practice the Piano: Selecting Repertoire

Posted by MaryO on August 5, 2015

Great blog post! Thanks, Andrea 🙂

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🎵 Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition ~ Daily Listening Assignments
Pictures at an Exhibition is a suite of ten pieces (plus a recurring, varied Promenade) composed for the piano by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky in 1874. The suite is Mussorgsky’s most famous piano composition and has become a showpiece for virtuoso pianists.
🎵 Mozart: Turkish March ~ Daily Listening Assignments
Today we listen to the third movement Mozart’s Piano Sonata No.11 III (Turkish March) with just a bit of the first movement near the end. The Turkish influence on western music came through the Turkish military band music (Mehter), which was at the time was the only military band in Europe. It was once popular […]
🎵 Summer Camp:Into The Unknown
Disney hit “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” Available in three versions, it can be found in the new ‘Summer Camp’ category in the Library or tap the button on the main menu. Tune in each week to see which other free songs will be released in Summer Camp to keep your students sharp. And remember, […]
🎵 Sibelius: Finlandia ~ Daily Listening Assignments
Finlandia, Op. 26, is a tone poem by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. It was written in 1899 and revised in 1900. The piece was composed for the Press Celebrations of 1899, a covert protest against increasing censorship from the Russian Empire, and was the last of seven pieces performed as an accompaniment to a […]
🎵 Mozart: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik ~ Daily Listening Assignments
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (Serenade No. 13 for strings in G major), K. 525, is a 1787 composition for a chamber ensemble by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German title means “a little serenade”, though it is often rendered more literally but less accurately as “a little night music.”
🎵 Offenbach: Can-Can Daily Listening Assignments
Today’s listening assignment is Can-can from “Orpheus in the Underworld” by Jacques Offenbach. This piece is very often in early method books because of the descending C Major scale. Can you find it?
🌞 First Day of Summer
In the United States and the rest of the northern hemisphere, the first day of the summer season is the day of the year when the Sun is farthest north (on June 20th or 21st). This day is known as the Summer Solstice
🎵 Mozart: The Magic Flute ~ Daily Listening Assignments
‘The Magic Flute’ (German name: Die Zauberflöte) is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s final opera, and it contains one of the most well-known arias in music. But what is ‘The Magic Flute’ all about?
💤 Day of Rest ~ Daily Listening Assignment
Sunday, a day of rest.
🎵Beethoven: Ode to Joy ~ Daily Listening Assignments
“Ode to Joy” was written in the summer of 1785 by German poet, playwright, and historian Friedrich Schiller and published the following year in Thalia. A slightly revised version appeared in 1808, changing two lines of the first and omitting the last stanza.
🎵 Pachelbel: Canon in D ~ Daily Listening Assignments
Today’s assignment is a very popular piece by Johann Pachelbel called Canon in D. A canon is a technique that employs a melody with one or more imitations of the melody played after a given duration (e.g., quarter rest, one measure, etc.). The initial melody is called the leader, while the imitative melody, which is […]
🎵 Summer Camp is officially in session!
Disney hit “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” Available in three versions, it can be found in the new ‘Summer Camp’ category in the Library or tap the button on the main menu. Tune in each week to see which other free songs will be released in Summer Camp to keep your students sharp. And remember, […]
🎵 Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 in C-sharp minor ~ Daily Listening Assignments
Today is the anniversary of Grieg‘s Birthday in 1843 so… “In the Hall of the Mountain King” is a piece of orchestral music composed for the sixth scene of act 2 in Henrik Ibsen’s 1867 play Peer Gynt. It was originally part of Opus 23 but was later extracted as the final piece of Peer […]
🎵 Grieg: In the Hall of the Mountain King ~ Daily Listening Assignments
Today is the anniversary of Grieg‘s Birthday in 1843 so… “In the Hall of the Mountain King” is a piece of orchestral music composed for the sixth scene of act 2 in Henrik Ibsen’s 1867 play Peer Gynt. It was originally part of Opus 23 but was later extracted as the final piece of Peer […]
🎹 Piano Maestro Summer Camp is Returning Soon
How Summer Camp works: One new song will be added each week in 3 different levels for 4 weeks. A student with a 3 star performance will be randomly selected & awarded an Amazon gift card! Every 3 star performance of that week’s Summer Camp song is an entry.
🎵 Pop Goes the Weasel – Daily Listening Assignments
Today’s Daily Listening Assignment is a little different. Pop Goes the Weasel was chosen today because somehow, somewhere someone chose today as National Pop Goes the Weasel Day.
🇺🇸 Today is Flag Day!
National Flag Day is celebrated annually in the United States on June 14. This day commemorates the adoption of the United States flag on June 14, 1777. On National Flag Day, Americans show respect for the U.S. Flag and what it represents. Our independence and unity as a nation is represented by our flag. The […]
🎵 Wagner: Bridal Chorus ~ Daily Listening Assignments
The “Bridal Chorus” from the 1850 opera Lohengrin by German composer Richard Wagner is a march played for the bride’s entrance at many formal weddings throughout the Western world.
🎵 Dvorák: Largo ~ Daily Listening Assignments
Today’s piece is slow and easy-going. The name “Largo” itself means slow. Antonin Dvorák wrote this as a part of his Symphony No. 9 in E minor, also known as From the New World, Op. 95, B. 178, or just the New World Symphony.
🎵 Ravel: Bolero – Daily Listening Assignments
The other day, a student and I were looking at a piece with a l-o-n-g crescendo marking on it and she wondered how long the longest crescendo was in any piece. For those who don’t remember, crescendo means to get louder and decrescendo means to get softer. The sample below gets louder, then softer.

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How to Practice the Piano: Selecting Repertoire

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