Photography tip for the piano

There are many things I wish I could do, and photography is one of them. So, while flying home last night, I took the time to read an article about how to take better pictures.

The simple tip that the author emphasized was to focus on what is important and try to eliminate everything else. If you are shooting a flower for example, remove anything from the area that will distract from the flower in the picture. Or in some cases, you can blur out a distracting background.

I was struck by how profound that advice was as I looked at the example photos in the article. Very often, an object that we take for granted comes alive with interesting detail when you photograph it in this way.

The same concept applies to piano. As I am doing final preparations for recording this week, one of the things I find myself doing is stripping out unnecessary notes from the arrangements. Those extra notes often add technical interest to the arrangements but they get in the way of the melody. The melody should be strong enough to carry a song by itself.  Don’t fall into the trap of hiding it with flashy stuff.

So that is my simple tip. If you want to make your music come alive, focus on the melody and let other things fade to the background or eliminate them completely.

Less is more. When you understand that concept and apply it to your music, you will be well on the road to improvement.