From the bench

Prof. Brent Hugh (Missouri Western State College of Music) maintains a rather extensive page on piano practice principles and methods. Throughout he sprinkles observations from the psychology of learning to clarify and justify the principles. I’d be happier if he provided some references for these “psychologists say” comments, because it is easy to mis-generalize research findings (or give too much weight to findings with little empirical support). But the practice principles seem sensible, and the methods standard. The big plus is that he offers explanations on why different methods “work”, and what their advantages and disadvantages are.