Rethink Technique
Groundbreaking online school for technique.
What if, instead of a chore, refining technique could be joyful and invigorating?
Mindful, holistic practice for breathtaking progress.
Dissolve difficulties through deepening self-awareness, not drills.
Portals to exquisite dynamic and rhythmic control, balance, cantabile, ornamentation, confident memorising and more.
Novelty for its own sake?
Never! Inspired by piano pioneer, Abby Whiteside (1881-1956), and featured in International Piano and Music Teacher and on BBC Radio 3, Piano Portals spotlights transformational elements of able players' techniques that are commonly overlooked.
FAQ
What exactly is it?
- Groundbreaking online school for holistic Elementary-Advanced technique
- Joyful, effective substitute for conventional exercises
- Doubles as a mindful practice for mental presence, calm and concentration
What is it NOT?
It's NOT yet a learn-from-scratch beginner tutor. It DOES empower Elementary-Advanced players to play with fluent, expressive coordination, in any repertoire.
Who is it for?
- Elementary-Intermediate players seeking to play fluently and expressively without excess tension
- Intermediate-Advanced players seeking exquisite dynamic control, rhythmic evenness, phrasing, cantabile, ornamentation, balance, expressive communication and more
- Thoughtful teachers seeking to empower all to progress and the most able also to fly
- Pianists feeling blocked, frustrated, overwhelmed or excessively tense
- Pianists seeking to perform confidently and communicatively
- Pianists seeking to practice efficiently and enjoyably
- Returners seeking a fresh approach to technique
- Pianists seeking to memorise reliably
- Visual learners seeking to play more by ear
- Pianists who've been told (or have come to believe) that they lack 'talent' but long to progress
How does it work?
The Primary Portals, Patterns and Pieces, introduced in the Transform Technique 1, 2 and 3 online courses, empower you to play fluently and expressively without excess tension in miniature musical contexts, purpose-designed for invoking connected, whole-body coordination. Deepen self-awareness and find physical freedom in these simpler, expressive environments. Then juxtapose them with your repertoire. Apply what you learn and witness technical difficulties dissolve!
Piano Portals ensures that you practise the whole-body coordination that empowers you to play, fluently and expressively
How is it different?
Piano Portals empowers you to:
- think critically about received opinion on technique
- explore fresh practice priorities for transforming technique
- celebrate what's working well in your own coordination (we're not blank slates!) and free up what's not
- become the expert on your own playing coordination through deepening self-awareness, not drills or dogma
- distill the fundamentals of technique into broad, accessible principles
- bypass the unrealistic complexity or unnecessary fixation on minutiae of some approaches
- enjoy engaging, parallel practices for dissolving all difficulties in any repertoire
- nurture your whole-body coordination and mindset at all stages of all activities
- draw on wisdom from diverse musical and non-musical fields
- understand central tenets of piano pioneer, Abby Whiteside (see below), in practical, accessible ways
- explore Elephants in the Practice Room (see below) that you may be neglecting
What are Elephants in the Practice Room?
Three big ones are:
- 'Unplugging' from what Abby Whiteside called the 'emotional rhythm' - your deep, personal connection to musical flow, coupled with your torso's corresponding response - to 'work on' technique risks leaving out the cornerstone of that technique. You risk habitually practising coordination that's all but irrelevant to real-life, joyful playing
- Playing more by ear than by sight, rote or procedural ('muscle') memory produces more direct, expressive coordination without excess tension (as able children and players in many jazz and other genres demonstrate)
- Starting at the centre (heart, ears, mindset, torso, then forearms) can transform dexterity at the periphery (hands and fingers)
Who was Abby Whiteside?
Arguably the humblest, most honest of piano pioneers, Abby Whiteside (1881-1956) woke up one day and admitted her most able piano students - those with innate facility and flow - were progressing and the others weren't. She dedicated her life to calling out blunt traditional tools and spotlighting fresh practice priorities that would empower all to progress and the most able also to fly.
Inspired by many of Whiteside's central concepts, Piano Portals has evolved over 25 years of further observations and refinements into a practical, accessible approach.
“Piano Portals has given me a new sense of connection to the music I am playing, releasing me from my head into my body, fingers and senses, so that all of my being is involved.”
Anne, Pianist
What's wrong with conventional exercises?
Exercises tend to:
- separate technique from emotional engagement and musical flow
- disrupt and dismantle rather than integrate the whole-body playing coordination
- prioritise the periphery over the centre
- offer false hope before falling short of solving advanced difficulties
But don't many swear by them?
Each player's testimony can be judged on its merits. But could some possibly be:
- coordinating their body innately from the outset?
- misrepresenting or overstating the role of exercises in developing their technique?
- unwittingly causing elements of their technique actually to deteriorate, however subtly, with exercises?
It's not impossible to thrive on conventional exercises. But are they the most efficient, enjoyable route for most players to play to their potential?
So, why have conventional exercises pervaded?
Founder, Stephen Marquiss, speculates:
"It can be fascinating to trace the history of the pedagogy of piano technique - who said what to whom originally and why. The main tenets have been passed down like a game of Whispers via a relatively small number of sources, many of whom shared similar backgrounds and even social circles. Pioneers such as Whiteside have been sidelined or subsumed into the tide of tradition, possibly in a diluted or misunderstood form - not that I believe in a Big Pedagogy conspiracy! If only 'right or wrong' could be established. Unfortunately, there's currently nothing like the science underpinning sport, for example, where research at the well-funded elite level trickles down to the grass roots. Piano pedagogy is a Wild West! Piano Portals playfully invites you to think critically about received opinion and try out fresh options, based on honest observations, with an open mind."
It can be worth questioning the roles of the following, respectfully and honestly, in influencing our beliefs about technique:
- Editors, theorists, organists (it's a different instrument!), publishers, exam boards, onlookers/students of great teachers or players: in each case, what's their motivation and expertise?
- Teachers: what's their motivation, experience, mindset, playing ability?
- Beginner tutors: are they created with fluent, expressive advanced technique in mind?
- Pianists: How do they do what they do? For how long? Forever, or have they learnt over time? How much attention have they paid to tuition received? Can they appraise their own journey without bias?
What about musical études?
They require fluent, expressive technique, but are they the most effective means for most players to cultivate it? How useful musical études are to you may depend on your practice priorities. Piano Portals offers fresh, holistic points of focus which empower you to play any music fluently and expressively, including études.
Piano Portals prioritises deepening self-awareness. It's harder to deepen awareness in complex études at first. The notes simply demand too much attention! It's more efficient and enjoyable to explore fresh Tools in a simpler, purpose-designed context first. You can then transfer what you experience and embody to more complex contexts.
The 7 Secrets are 'secret' only in that they're often overlooked. They're observable elements of able players' techniques, so not really secret at all...
Please, not more Secrets to this or that...!
The 7 Secrets underpinning Piano Portals are multifaceted, profound gateways for exploration, as Founder, Stephen Marquiss, explains:
"They're secrets only in the sense that these elements were almost entirely absent from my whole experience of formal pedagogy. They're often neglected in resources I encounter today, or at least afforded nothing like the transformational significance I've come to believe they deserve.
In another sense, they're not secret at all. They're Elephants in the Practice Room to which Abby Whiteside first drew my attention and which I've refined over the years into failsafe, inspirational troves of technical treasure!"
Watch Founder, Stephen Marquiss, play: he credits Piano Portals with his midlife journey from frustration to facility...
How do I access the Piano Portals school?
Piano Portals online courses are hosted on Teachable, a professional platform for online courses. They're easy to access via the Courses page on this site and work brilliantly in the Teachable app for iOS and the Chrome and Firefox browsers. They're packed with videos, e-books, PDF downloads and audio and come with unrestricted access to all content plus interactive comments sections and an open-minded, respectful discussion forum. Most course videos are also downloadable.
When you enrol in your first course, you'll create a Teachable login for the Piano Portals School - and off you go! If you already have a Teachable account, you can connect it to the Piano Portals School. Links to help articles are included as a PDF download with every course.