I've been playing the piano for over 14 years now and I've learned a few things. Just a few things that help me stay focused on what is important to me when sitting down to play. Following in no particular order are three "secrets" I've discovered:

Secret #1: Only Play What you Love For those of you who don't know, I play and teach New Age piano. I don't play classical or jazz. Not because I don't like these styles, but because when I sit down at the piano, the New Age style is what is inside of me. Of course, I could play classical and jazz, but I just don't want to and neither should you if that's not the style you're interested in. If you play what you love, technique and growth will naturally follow and you will tend to spend more time at the piano than away from it.

Secret #2: Learn How to Improvise I never understood the allure of playing other peoples music via note reading. Now, don't get me wrong - some of the best music in the world was produced centuries ago. But, and here's the interesting thing, Beethoven, Mozart, and Bach were all excellent improvisers. That is, they could sit down at the keyboard, finger a chord, and produce music. Of course these great composers learned from others and could read music but I can almost guarantee you they viewed the art of improvisation to be important - not for the listening public, but for the performer so he/she could get in touch with their muse.

Secret #3: Listen

for Your Tone You know what's amazing? I'm always getting better at playing the piano by listening for my tone. Here's what I mean. I play a piano key. A note sounds. Now many times I'll play sloppily and not really hear the sound that is being produced. Tone is very important because it determines how sensitive a player you are and sensitivity is the hallmark of artistry. Any clod can sit down at the piano, hit a key and produce a sound. It takes the artist's touch to get a beautiful tone. I learned about tone by listening to my favorite piano player John Herberman. Each note is beautifully played and sensitively interpreted. If you think playing slow pieces of music is easy, try playing a very slow piece and really listen for the tone you're producing. That's a good litmus test.

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