Practicing the Piano: The Russian Tradition Revisited

This text is a representation of the piano practice techniques utilized by the late 19th and early 20th Century pianists. Two examples of this tradition are the late Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) and Sviatoslav Richter (1915-1997). Today, many excellent books for piano deal with what to practice; however, they do not address how to practice. This text fills in some of those gaps. Although there are other great pianistic traditions, this text only deals with the Russian school. These pages offer modifications which enable teachers to adapt these techniques for the beginner as well as for the more advanced piano student.