Piano Performance
Learning a classical piano piece is surprisingly similar to building a complex software architecture. You start by understanding the high-level structure, break it down into manageable components, solve the difficult technical challenges in isolation, and finally integrate everything together into a seamless flow.
For me, the piano is an exercise in both extreme discipline and immense emotional expression. When you spend months drilling a twelve-minute piece, you internalize it completely. It stops being about hitting the right keys and becomes entirely about the sound you are trying to sculpt.
Interactive Visualization
Scroll down to see and hear the opening of Clair de Lune.
How I Learn a Piece
Discovery & Reading
Sight-reading through the piece to grasp the emotional arc and general structure. Often involves listening to 5-10 different interpretations by master pianists to see how they uniquely articulate phrases.
Structural Analysis
Mapping out the harmonic progressions, key changes, and distinct sections. Identifying recurring themes makes memorization much faster and more logical.
Technical Drilling
Isolating the hardest measures—the "dragons"—and drilling them relentlessly with a metronome at half-speed. If I can't play it perfectly slow, I can't play it fast.
Memory & Integration
Moving away from the sheet music. Playing hands separately from memory, then together. Closing my eyes to rely purely on spatial awareness and interval distances on the keyboard.
Musicality & Polish
Adding dynamic contrast, refining pedaling, and focusing on the voicing of melodies over accompaniments. This is where the piece stops feeling mechanical and starts feeling human.
Selected Repertoire
A curated selection of performances, capturing hours of structural analysis and technical drilling in a single take.
Clair de Lune
1964 Steinway Model S
Liebestraum No. 3
1964 Steinway Model S
Back To Black
1964 Steinway Model S