What Are Your Go-To Tools for Technique?
Are they cultivating the whole-body coordination you need for real-life fluent, expressive playing?
I 'worked on' my technique for years at music school. I did my scales and studies. At 18, I emerged dissatisfied, plagued by recurring injury and low self-esteem.
A ceiling remained on the 'holy grails' of exquisite dynamic control, rhythmic evenness, balance, ornamentation, cantabile, brilliant chords and octaves, not to mention confident performing, memorising and just playing simple music beautifully and 'effortlessly'.
Inspired by pioneering American pedagogue, Abby Whiteside (1881-1956), and refined over 25 years of my own honest investigations, Transform Technique 1 introduces a unique, comprehensive, joyful framework for technique.
Be empowered to think critically about received opinion that could be holding you back. Become the expert yourself through deepening self-awareness, not drills or dogma.
Learn effective, engaging substitutes for conventional technical exercises which serve as pathways to expert control and finesse for Elementary-Advanced players.
PLEASE NOTE:
This course is the essential entry-point for all levels of experience. The Transform Technique 2 and 3 courses assume detailed knowledge of the concepts and concepts explained in this course.
Please note also that this is a course about technique, not the rudiments of playing for beginners.
Course Contents
- Essential Context: engaging introductory videos explaining Portals and the Piano Portals philosophy
- 60-page PDF Coursebook: bedtime reading on Piano Portals, at-a-glance summaries of the Primary Portals and journalling space for evaluating your current approach
- The 7 Secrets of Piano Playing: lively tutorials on the principles that underpin all Piano Portals resources
- The Primary Portals: quick demos and detailed walk-throughs of these profound tools for transforming technique
- Piano Piece Demos: excerpts from piano repertoire that the Primary Portals could facilitate
- Learning Demos: excerpts from live recorded 1-2-1 sessions featuring the Primary Portals in real learning contexts
- Partner Portals: a glance at other activities like improvising and transposing which can be also be effective portals for fluent, expressive technique
- Pattern Demo: how the Patterns from Transform Technique 2 can continue your journey towards fluent, expressive technique
- Interactive Comments sections
- Discussion Forum: membership to the online school and access to the respectful, open-minded discussion forum
- Unlimited, unrestricted access to course contents
- Downloadable tutorial videos
Example Curriculum
- Primary Portal #1 - Type With 2 Fingers (12:07)
- Primary Portal #2 - Thread the Needle (4:25)
- Primary Portal #3 - Slow-Mo Chop (11:12)
- Interlude: Piano Piece and Live Demos 1 (15:42)
- Primary Portal #4 - Milk the Cow (4:06)
- Primary Portal #5 - Chopping Wood (7:32)
- Primary Portal #6 - Knock in the Pegs (3:25)
- Primary Portal #7 - Slow-Mo Yesss (3:22)
- Primary Portal #8 - The Eagle Flies (5:03)
- Interlude: Piano Piece and Live Demos 2 (7:50)
Meet Founder, Stephen Marquiss
MA (Cantab.)
Piano Portals Founder, Stephen Marquiss, journeyed from frustration to facility in playing in his 30s and 40s.
In the late 1990s, he left music school frustrated by recurring injury and a ceiling on technique.
Stephen spent 25 years refining a groundbreaking, holistic approach to piano technique that empowers Elementary to Advanced pianists to play to their potential.
Inspired by Abby Whiteside (1881-1956), Piano Portals is an accessible, joyful online school for technique and radical substitute for conventional exercises.
Stephen is an experienced pianist, tutor and speaker. He's been a piano tutor for the prestigious Jackdaws Music Education Trust since 2017 and twice a speaker at the UK Music and Drama Education Expo. His work has been featured in International Piano and Music Teacher Magazines and on BBC Radio 3.
@pianoportals on YouTube for free tutorials
@stephenmarquisspiano on YouTube for playing videos
