Rethink Technique
Piano Portals is a groundbreaking, accessible framework for technique.
It restores oft-neglected, central elements of able players' techniques to pole position in your practice.
Experience joyful, efficient progress!
Play fluently and expressively through deepening self-awareness, not drudgery.
Master dynamic control, rhythmic evenness, balance, cantabile, ornamentation, memorising and more.
Novelty for its own sake?
Never! Inspired by piano pioneer, Abby Whiteside (1881-1956), Piano Portals spotlights observable elements of 'gifted' players techniques that are often sorely neglected in pedagogy. It empowers you to prioritise these to transform technique.
FAQ
What exactly is it?
- Groundbreaking, truly holistic approach to technique from Elementary to Advanced
- Joyful, effective substitute for conventional exercises
- Mindful practice for mental focus and presence
- Empowering online courses with optional 1-2-1 feedback
What is it NOT?
It's NOT yet a learn-from-scratch beginner tutor. It DOES empower Elementary to Advanced players to play with fluent, expressive coordination, in any repertoire.
What's the crux?
Piano Portals is inspired by Abby Whiteside's audacious claims regarding what's important and what's not in technique. These stemmed from a lifetime's humble, tireless observations. Underpinned by an authentic, adult journey from frustration to facility, Piano Portals spotlights Elephants in the Practice Room - central elements of 'gifted' players' techniques that are often overlooked or undervalued in pedagogy. It offers fresh points of focus that leave the fingers requiring little special attention and empower all to progress joyfully and efficiently.
Piano Portals ensures that you practise the whole-body coordination that empowers you to play, fluently and expressively
What's special about it?
Piano Portals:
- is born of an honest adult journey from frustration to facility - from 'can't' to 'can'
- encourages critical thinking about 'received wisdom' on technique
- spotlights central elements of able players' techniques that are often overlooked in pedagogy
- is an engaging, holistic substitute for e. g. Dozen a Day, Tankard, Beringer, Czerny, Hanon, etc.
- calls out conventional exercises for distmantling all but the most innate whole-body coordination
- provides a comprehensive, parallel framework to repertoire for dissolving all difficulties
- empowers you to be the expert on your own playing coordination through deepening self-awareness, not dogma
- nurtures your whole-body playing coordination and mindset at every stage
- meets you where you are - celebrating what's already working well and freeing up and integrating what's not
- distills the fundamentals of technique into broad, accessible principles, avoiding unnecessary complexity or fixation on minutiae
- draws on wisdom from diverse fields e. g. other arts, sport, all musical genres and common sense
What IS important in technique?
- Your deep, personal connection to musical flow, in the moment, along with your torso's corresponding response is what Abby Whiteside called the 'emotional rhythm'. It's the cornerstone of fluent, expressive coordination. 'Unplugging' from this to 'work on' technique risks practising coordination that's all but irrelevant to real-life playing. Piano Portals provides a joyful framework for exploring technique through deepening self-awareness within a 'connected' state
- Playing primarily by ear produces more direct, expressive coordination than playing primarily by sight, rote or procedural ('muscle') memory, as jazz players know. Piano Portals empowers even the most visual learners to lift sounds 'off the page', leading to confident, aurally-driven playing, even with the score
- Prioritising the centre (torso) over the periphery (fingers) can transform facility. 'Gifted' players, especially children, sense this instinctively. But pedagogy can neglect this fundamental connection. The Piano Portals Tools integrate the periphery with the centre, meaning the hands and fingers require little training or special attention
“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
Who is it for?
- Elementary to Intermediate players seeking to play fluently and expressively without excess tension
- Intermediate to Advanced players seeking the 'holy grails' of exquisite dynamic control, rhythmic evenness, phrasing, cantabile, ornamentation, balance, communicating narrative line and more
- Thoughtful teachers seeking to empower all students - not just the most 'gifted' - with engaging tools for technique
- Pianists feeling blocked, frustrated, overwhelmed or excessively tense
- Pianists seeking enjoyment, connection and communication in practice and/or performance
- 'Returners' seeking a fresh approach
- Pianists committed to technical advancement but suspicious of mechanical exercises
- Pianists seeking to perform assuredly and joyfully
- Pianists seeking to memorise reliably
- Visual pianists seeking to play by ear for pleasure and fluent technique
- Pianists who've been told (or believe themselves) that they lack 'talent' but want to progress
The 7 Secrets are 'secrets' only in that they're often neglected in pedagogy. They're observable elements of 'gifted' players' techniques, so are not really secret at all...
How can 'big' elements be commonly neglected?
Good question. It's worth considering:
- Are beginner tutor methods created with advanced technique in mind? Do they cultivate or disrupt flowing whole-body coordination?
- Have holistic pioneers such as Abby Whiteside (1881 - 1956) been sidelined or subsumed into the mainstream in a diluted or misunderstood form?
- Could the original context of common advice on technique be lost over time? Who originally said what to whom and why?
- How many pianists have thrived in spite, not because, of technical exercises? Could their innate coordination override any adverse effects?
- Who influences our practice priorities most strongly? Editors, academics, theorists, publishers, exam boards, organists (it's a different instrument!), innately coordinated pianists? Or honest, critically thinking teachers?
- How readily do we attribute difficulties to a lack of 'talent'? Are all possible solutions always explored?
Are there precedents for Piano Portals?
Piano Portals owes its inspiration to the pioneering genius of Abby Whiteside (1881-1956), especially her concept of the 'emotional rhythm' combined with the roles of the ears, torso, sitting bones and forearms. Piano Portals has evolved over 25 years into an independent, accessible, practical approach
Is Piano Portals based on science?
Great question. The simple answer is no, but neither is most widespread advice on technique. Founder, Stephen Marquiss, is beginning the long process of seeking to undertake postgraduate research in this area. Musical pedagogy suffers from a lack of investment compared with e. g. elite sport, whose science trickles down to a grassroots level. Piano Portals issues a playful invitation to reflect critically on the Wild West of contradictory approaches to technique. It proposes fresh, commonsense possibilities inspired by over a century of honest observations - if you count Stephen's American teacher, Sophia Rosoff (1924-2017) and Abby Whiteside herself.
The Patterns are authentic, miniature musical expressions, explored in a myriad creative ways in the Transform Technique 2: The Patterns online course (coming soon)
What's wrong with conventional exercises?
Exercises tend to:
- separate technique from musical flow
- break up rather than integrate your whole-body playing coordination
- prioritise the periphery of your playing coordination over the centre
- give the initial impression of improving technique in particular ways, before failing to solve advanced difficulties
But don't many swear by exercises?
It's always worth considering the broader context. Could some players be:
- coordinating their body innately in balanced, integrated ways, remaining relatively undisrupted by exercises?
- misrepresenting or overstating the role of exercises in cultivating their technique?
- unwittingly causing elements of their technique to deteriorate, however subtly, with exercises?
It's not impossible to thrive on conventional exercises. But are they the most efficient, enjoyable way for most players to play to their potential?
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 depends on your practice priorities and points of focus. 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 of your attention! It's more efficient and enjoyable to explore fresh tools in a simpler, purpose-designed context, such as the Piano Portals 1-Minute Workouts, Patterns and Pieces. You can then transfer what you experience and embody to more complex contexts.
Watch Founder, Stephen Marquiss, play - he credits Piano Portals with his midlife journey from frustration to facility...
How do I access Piano Portals courses?
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. They're packed with videos, e-books, downloads and audio and come with unrestricted access to all content.
When you enrol in your first course, you'll log in to the Piano Portals School - and off you go!
If you already have a Teachable account, you can connect your Teachable account to the Piano Portals School. Easy instructions are included as a PDF download with every course.