Piano practise – The London Piano Institute

The Circle of Fifths and How to Use It in Your Piano Practise

Reuben — Tue, 13 May 2025 10:38:32 +0000

The Circle of Fifths is one of the most powerful tools in music theory, and when applied to piano practise, it can sharpen your skills, deepen your understanding of music, and make learning pieces a much simpler and faster process.

Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced player, mastering the Circle of Fifths can transform your practise sessions from routine to revolutionary.

Below I will explain what the Circle of Fifths is, and exactly how you can use it to level up your piano playing.

What Is the Circle of Fifths?

The Circle of Fifths is a diagram showing the relationships between the 12 major keys and their relative minor keys.

Starting from C major at the top (which has no sharps or flats), each step clockwise moves up a perfect fifth — to G major (1 sharp), D major (2 sharps), and so on.

Moving anti-clockwise, you descend by perfect fifths (or, seen another way, up by perfect fourths into the flat keys: F major (1 flat), B♭ major (2 flats), etc.).

The Circle also shows relative minor keys, which share the same key signature as their major counterparts (for example, A minor is the relative minor of C major).

Visually and conceptually, the Circle of Fifths organises all the key signatures, helping musicians understand how keys are related, how chords move naturally, and how to navigate modulations (key changes).

Why the Circle of Fifths Matters for Pianists

As a pianist, you encounter music in all keys, and are often at the mercy of other instruments such as wind instruments that favour flat keys, or vocalists who are capable of choosing any key at random.

Piano is also the principle harmonic instrument in music, and so it is on us to be the most adept harmonists.

Because of this, the Circle of Fifths is an incredible tool for us in being able to understand the relationship between different chords and keys, and knowing the popular transition shapes in chord progressions.

How to Use the Circle of Fifths in Your Piano Practise

Firstly, practise scales and arpeggios in Circle order.

Instead of practising all major scales in alphabetical order like many often do, try practising them around the Circle.

Start with C major, then move clockwise to G major (one sharp), then D major (two sharps), and so on.

Once you complete the sharp keys, go back to the top of the Circle and start moving anticlockwise through F major (one flat), Bb major (two flats), etc.

This builds a deep familiarity with the pattern of added sharps or flats and helps your brain internalise key signatures naturally.

You can also practise the relative minors immediately after each major scale to reinforce both.

Having completed this, you can then work on strengthening your chord knowledge.

Use the Circle of Fifths to practise building triads and seventh chords in every key.

Develop this by playing the I (tonic), IV (subdominant), and V (dominant) chords in each key.

Try simple progressions like I-IV-V-I around the Circle.

This is especially powerful for chart-reading, accompanying, and improvising, because these chords are often used in sequence with each other in western music.

Once you have worked through all of this (which will likely take some time), quiz yourself using the Circle.

Pick a random point on the Circle, name the key and its key signature (number of sharps or flats), and identify the relative minor.

Doing this regularly cements key signatures into long-term memory, and gives you critical fluency in all keys, which will free up your ability to play through chord sequences endlessly.

Many common chord progressions (like II–V–I or I–VI–IV–V) can be practised through the Circle of Fifths.

Start by playing a II–V–I progression in C major (Dm–G–C).

Move clockwise to G major (Am–D–G), and so forth. Practising this way will make your hands and ears comfortable with functional harmony, so when you encounter these patterns in real pieces, you’ll recognise them instantly.

The skills you develop by doing these exercises will be especially useful if you want to compose, arrange music, or improvise fluently.

The Circle of Fifths is much more than a theoretical diagram — it’s a practical, dynamic tool that can supercharge your piano practise.

By systematically applying it to your scales, chords, progressions, and even improvisation, you build not just technical skill, but deep musical understanding and fluency.

The more you use the Circle, the more natural all keys and harmonies will feel under your fingers and in your ears.

The improvements in your playing from using the Circle of Fifths should be apparent very quickly, but understanding the Circle completely and fluently will take months of practise.

Because of this, make sure you incorporate it in every practise, and watch your playing skyrocket!

What No One Tells You About Learning Piano

Arwen — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 07:56:56 +0000

“Piano is one of the easiest instruments to learn.”

Every pianist has heard this before.Even though piano is a beginner friendly instrument, the more you advance the more you realise how difficult it really is.

Most people will only tell you about the easy things, yet are reluctant to talk about the hard parts.

The phrase implies that piano is not a hard instrument to tackle, but could not be farther from the truth for more advanced pianists.

What the phrase actually means is that learning piano is easier than other instruments due to the fact that when you press a key, it makes a sound.

Whereas other instruments, specifically wind instruments, there is a specific way in which you create a sound.

Let’s take a violin for example, there is a special technique for finger placement and how to use the bow to produce a desired sound.

If not done correctly, it creates a harsh and jarring cacophony. Which is not the same with a piano, but this is where most get it wrong.

There is a technique to pressing down keys to create a better sound, yet not many know this.

This article will uncover things about learning the piano that no one tells you about.

What Makes Learning Piano Difficult?

Do not let the piano fool you with its enthralling beauty and sound. Here are some of the top things that make learning the piano challenging.

Individual Finger Dexterity and Control

Challenge: Individual finger dexterity and control refers to the ability to move each finger independently and with precision, allowing for fine motor control and coordination.

It enables a pianist to play each note smoothly and accurately, with each being of the same duration. The pianist should be in control of each finger independently, being able to execute fast and complex movements without error.

Why it’s difficult: The difficulty lies in each finger not being as strong or competent equally. Weaker fingers, such as the pinkie and ring finger, do not have the same strength or agility to keep up with the other fingers.

It can lead to faulty playing and some notes having different durations than others. It also makes it harder to progress to more challenging pieces because of the lack of basic skills.

How to overcome it: Regularly do finger exercises that focus on strengthening each finger individually. Incorporate staccato finger exercises to your practise to make it more challenging.

Reading Sheet Music

Challenge: The ability to read and perform music from sheet music, without preparation is called sight reading. The challenge is to do so but without fault or error, while still maintaining emotion and expression while playing.

Why it’s difficult: You already have to focus on playing different things for each hand, now there is another element to focus on; sight reading.

Sight reading requires a good hand to eye coordination where you must quickly be able to read the music while also playing it. You cannot rely on memory to help you and it is difficult to focus on all the musical notations that accompany it.

How to overcome it: Sight reading is something you have to do as often as possible, as consistently as possible. Just like any skill, the more you do it, the more you will improve. Start slowly with easy sheet music, forcing yourself to keep a steady flow throughout the piece.

As you advance, you can add speed and take on more complex pieces. It is important to know that you should not compromise good playing just for the sake of being able to play more challenging pieces, since it can lead to creating bad habits.

Hand Coordination

Challenge: It refers to the synchronising of both hands to play complex music simultaneously while maintaining accuracy, fluidity and control.

Each hand has a different role to play. In most cases, the right hand plays the melody while the left one plays the accompaniment. Hand coordination requires both hands to play different things at the same time.

Why it’s difficult: Playing both hands together while each is playing something different requires a lot of mental focus, which can be quite tiresome. It can be hard to learn hand independence since most people’s hands are naturally dependent on each other.

Strain and tension can arise in the wrists and hands, preventing smooth and fluid notes. All these hurdles and obstacles can be discouraging, making it harder to find the motivation and discipline needed to continue.

How to overcome it: Start by practising slowly, focusing on getting everything right before adding speed. Use a metronome to help set a rhythm and speed to ensure the timing stays the same throughout the whole piece.

If one hand is particularly struggling, practise each hand separately.

Cultivating a Solid Sense of Rhythm and Timing

Challenge: To develop the ability to perceive and execute rhythmic patterns flawlessly, keeping a steady tempo throughout.

Why it’s difficult: To some people, rhythm does not come naturally and is a skill they need to learn. Some music pieces have complex rhythms and unnatural beats which makes it hard for the pianist to keep up and stay consistent.

How to overcome it: Practise with a metronome to focus on the beat, gradually increasing the speed as you become better and more comfortable. Break up complex phrases into smaller parts, practising the challenging segments over and over until you get it right.

Conclusion

Piano is one of the easiest instruments to learn, but it does not stay easy the more you advance.

This article should not scare you away, but rather enlighten you that there is a cost to wanting to be good at piano.

Just like there is a cost to everything good in life.

Learning something new is always challenging and improving on something is even harder, but sometimes the reward is worth all the pain.

What challenges are you choosing?

How to practise the piano – tips to help you become better at practising the piano

Stefan Joubert — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 01:04:18 +0000

Practise in a distraction free environment dedicated to practising the piano.

It is absolutely vital that you practice in the best environment possible.

It is also important to realise that you are responsible for your environment!

I suggest practising in a clutter-free environment where you can simply focus on practising the piano and nothing else.

Another tip – make sure you have a dedicated REAL metronome. Such as this one – AMAZON.

Avoid using your mobile phone or iPad as a metronome.

Otherwise, you will definitely get distracted with text messages and social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others.

A distraction-free environment – dedicated 100% to your practice session is the first key to success.

For each hour you practice, you want to make sure that your time is well spent.

You want to get a return on the time that you’ve put into your piano practice. (ROI)

Make sure that friends and family know that you are not to be disturbed during your piano practice sessions unless it is of the utmost importance.

Even a simple question can actually throw you off for 15 minutes or more. To avoid conversations during your practise session.

In order to make amazing progress, you simply cannot afford to have anything less than optimal.

Schedule your piano practice times

Scheduling your practice times is absolutely vital.

If you do not schedule dedicated piano practice times, you will end up practising far less than you planned.

I cannot emphasise this enough – you simply have to schedule SET daily practice sessions.

Remember in addition to having excellent quality piano lessons also need to schedule dedicated piano practice times.

If you do this you will become successful much quicker than not doing it.

If you feel frustrated with your piano playing, it is probably due to your piano practice schedule and discipline to stick to those times.

So join the elite stick to a dedicated schedule.

Stick to your piano practice times and be consistent in your approach

This is a bit of repetition of the previous point, but it is EXTREMELY vital!

If you can consistently practice on a dedicated time, you will see tremendous results piano playing.

My best piano students practice on a regular basis at a set time and day… MOST of the time.

In fact, if you want to achieve anything in any subject in life, being consistent and disciplined is key.

You need to be consistent in your approach and practice at the same time each and every day.

It is a well-known fact that practising every day for 30 minutes beats practising for hours on the weekend.

You simply cannot beat daily consistency.

Make sure that you incorporate this into your practice schedule.

Malcolm Gladwell in his hugely popular book – ‘Outliers’ introduced many of us to the (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26384712 ) 10,000-hour principle.

I firmly believe you can practice far fewer hours than the 10K number and still become an expert on the condition that you are consistent and practise in a disciplined manner.

About 4000 hours will usually REALLY set you apart from the rest… As long as you’ve practised in a consistent manner and practised for at least 5 years! (Yes the years also count… to become an outstanding pianist)

Always warm up before proceeding to do ‘HEAVY-DUTY’ piano practise

Franz Liszt made virtuoso piano popular in the 19^th century!

We now have many schools of virtuoso piano playing.

Developing tremendous technique when your instrument is a wonderful goal, but make sure that you always warm up properly before you proceed to heavy-duty piano practice!

The last thing you want to do is to hurt yourself or to overdo it.

There are countless stories of musicians were to stop playing due to injury.

According to BAPAM (British Association for Performing Arts Medicine) it is absolutely vital to warm up properly.

You can download a PDF document from BAPAM’s website here (IT IS WONDERFUL): http://www.bapam.org.uk/documents/A4DontCrampYourStyleWarmUps_BAPAMFactsheet.pdf

They advise musicians to take regular breaks and to even cool down after playing!

Never proceed to play scales at lighting speed without warming up.

Make sure you start out slowly…

Take great care of your fingers – you need them to play the piano!

Have specific goals for your piano practice schedule

According to success giant Brian Tracy, only 3% of adults of clear, written, measurable and specific goals and according to him, they achieve 10 times as much as people with no goals at all!

That is an incredible fact!

Think about it for a while – if you have specific, time-bound, written goals your piano playing and you stick to them you will achieve 10 times more than you ever did before!

Due to this fact, YOU MUST set specific – measurable – time-bound goals for each and every practice session and routine.

If you are slack in this area, you have to accept that your results will be less than optimal.

Be a creature of habit and do the same thing in every practice session

Prof. Josias van der Merwe (Head of Culture & Arts of Technicon Pretoria and examinator and professor at UNISA), who is an absolute (WORLD CLASS) master at teaching and playing the piano always follows the same habits during his lessons and practice.

In my private piano lessons with master instructor Josias Van Der Merwe, lasting three hours in total at a time, the first 90 minutes was dedicated to technique and the rest dedicated to the music.

We followed the same structure again and again… DAY IN DAY OUT!

Successful people always do the same thing day in and day out.

Dinu Lipatti, the amazing Romanian pianist practise each and every day… consistently including on Christmas. He stands head and shoulders above ANY of today’s concert pianists!

Practising the piano is not about being creative – is about becoming better at the art of playing the piano.

You, therefore, need to practice the piano in a consistent and reliable way to become the best that you can!

Only practice piano on the days that you eat!

This is quite a funny quote – but it is really true.

In order for you to become the pianists that you’ve always wanted to become, you need to practice on a daily basis.

You need to put in the effort daily and you will see the results.

Little by little your piano playing skills will grow and you will become the pianist you’ve always wanted to become.

So practise… practise… practise… and reap the rewards!

Learn how to work on the most important tasks first.

Whenever you practice a piece of music, it is CRUCIAL that you do not always start right at the beginning.

At times you need to work the piece from the middle. At other times you need to work on the ending bit.

In fact, you need to keep track of the difficult parts and work on them first.

You need to conquer difficulties and find solutions to problems.

So when you start working on your piano examination piece – make absolutely sure that you work on the difficult parts first.

It will pay.

Be disciplined

Being disciplined means not having excuses.

Only a small percentage of people actually have discipline.

If you truly want to become wonderful at playing the piano, you will need to take courage and become a disciplined individual.

You will need to join the 3% of piano students make exceptional progress on a weekly basis.

You will need to give up television and even a night out in order to become the best!

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying you should not have any fun, I absolutely believe in having a good time, but you do need to follow your schedule and structure.

So don’t let anything hold you back – decided today that you are going to be disciplined and disciplined for life.

Decide today that you going to take your piano playing to the stars!

Decide today that you are going to put in the time required to achieve your goals.

You will be very glad you did!

Practising is investing into your musical future

An investor or an allocator of capital lays out sums today for a better return in the future.

He or she will usually do a lot of due diligence and look for a company far below its intrinsic value in a sector that is not glorious, but reliable such as Nestlé!

A good investor always insist on safety of principal and an adequate return.

In the same manner, you need to invest in your musical future.

In order to get an adequate return, you need to create dedicated piano practice times and sessions.

You need to go the extra mile and do what is necessary to achieve your goal.

You need to be one of the 3% of adults who have, specific, time-bound goals who achieve 10 times more than others.

You need to be the person who is willing to put in the full amount of effort required to achieve.

At times it may feel frustrating, and at times it may feel hard, but you’re paying a price – NO actually you are paying a privilege…

You’re paying a wonderful privilege to become an excellent pianist…

So pay the privilege and pay it in full.

Enjoy the fruits of your labour and make your BOLDEST piano dreams reality!

How to get rid of performance related anxieties – learn the art of performing the piano

Stefan Joubert — Tue, 11 Aug 2015 23:54:55 +0000

Let’s be honest, performing the piano in front of a live audience can be daunting.

It takes courage and a fighting spirit to perform especially if you perform a difficult piano composition.

The truth is that performing the piano in front of an audience is as much a skill as learning the piano.

Just as you learn how to play the piano by taking lessons, you need to learn how to perform the piano in front of an audience by performing regularly.

The more regularly you perform, the easier performing will become for you.

The key is performing in front of an audience. You need to step out TAKE MASSIVE action and make yourself uncomfortable. (At least initially).

Playing the piano requires extraordinary discipline. Practising your scales, arpeggios, sight-reading and developing your aural skill takes tremendous time and effort.

Often times one forgets that performing live is as much an art as the very act of playing the piano itself.

This is the reason why many people suffer when performing live. They forget it takes practise and repetition just like their piano playing!

The fact is performance is an art and a science. It’s an art as no two performance are ever the same and a science as there is a definite methodology to walking to the piano, sitting down, composing yourself and finally performing the piece. There are numerous techniques that one have to acquire in order to perform at your best. That is the scientific part!

When performing live, you are literally putting yourself under a tremendous amount of pressure, therefore:

-> You need to learn how to shut the audience out and focus on your instrument and the music.

-> You need to learn how to focus under pressure.

-> You need to learn to continue even when you make a few mistakes.

-> You need to excel on the stage!

In due time if you are faithful, you will reap the rewards of your hard work and eventually become less concerned about performing live.

It will take time for you to become the performer you want to become, but with dedication you will most certainly achieve your goals!

There is also an inner game going on inside of yourself, and you need to learn to let go of your critical voice and just focus on performing without judging yourself.

You will then perform in the zone!

Make sure you spend some time thinking about all the aspects of performance before performing again!

Here are a few tips for helping you perform better:

– Work on your psychology more than anything else – i.e. speak to yourself using positive affirmations. Listen to audio clips from Anthony Robbins or Brian Tracy!

– Make sure you REALLY know your material. If you know the score extremely well – you will be more confident. In fact to the degree that you DO NOT KNOW the score to that degree you will probably suffer on stage! Competence builds confidence…

– Dress for the occasion. If you are dressed up you will definitely perform better.

– Make sure you do a ‘dress rehearsal’ in front of a friendly audience before performing in front of the REAL life audience!

– You can perform live at pianos throughout London. We recommend the pianos at St Pancras International station. There you can perform your piece in front of a very friendly audience. (See: http://streetpianos.com/london2012/pianos/st-pancras-station/)

Also lastly, do not be too hard on yourself if you make mistakes.

You will make some for sure and it is a learning process.

Playing the piano is a journey not a destination… The secret is enjoying the journey!

Remember once again performing is as much an art as playing and it needs to be studied!

Ask your instructor to help you with tips and techniques to become a better performer.

In due time if you do not give up but persist, you will become the performer that you have always wanted to become.

Now is the time to take the first step and at least perform at that dress rehearsal!

May you succeed greatly in your piano performance.

If you work at it – SUCCESS IS YOURS!

I have never played before should I be concerned about learning the piano as a beginner?

Stefan Joubert — Mon, 25 May 2015 15:53:34 +0000

That is an excellent question, and I understand why you are asking it.

It ‘s okay to be concerned, especially when learning how to play the piano as an adult beginner.

Along with all the false myths and beliefs, adults are prone to self-doubt and unrealistic fears.

The truth is that you will definitely be able to play the piano.

You will definitely be able to make all your dreams come true.

But it will require a willingness to study and practice consistently on a daily basis.

We always recommend beginners to practice at least 15 minutes a day for six days a week. Success comes when you do something consistently day after day.

Learning to play the piano is not always an easy task as an adult, but it is certainly doable.

Please do not get me wrong, it can be enjoyable, but it requires dedication and a willingness to work.

There is no quick method of learning to play the piano.

A lot of online courses on the Internet promises success after only a few days of study, both you and I know that when it sounds too good to be true it probably is.

So you do not need to be concerned about whether you can learn how to play the piano.

The truth is you can.

A better question would be: “Am I willing to put in the work required to learn how to play the piano?”.

At the London Piano Institute, we do everything in our power to make learning as fun as possible.

We organise events; we host concerts; we organise student get-togethers.

We try our best to help you get past the initial stages of learning.

We also realise that it is not always easy to learn how to play the piano as an adult beginner when you also have a full-time career to look after.

The good news is we have lots of success stories from adults who despite having a seriously busy work life, became highly proficient in their piano playing and continue to set new records.

So please do not be concerned, simply get started with high-quality piano education and practise diligently.

If you do that, you will become successful in your piano playing!