Young Musicians Concert 2022: An adventure of DoRéMi

In two weeks' time, our young musicians will showcase what they have learnt on the stage. On 3 December 2022, 1:30pm, Carol Ng's Music will present the Young Musicians Concert 2022: An adventure of DoRéMi. It will take place at Cynthia Poulton Hall, St Peter's Cathedral. Eighteen young and teenage students will showcase their musical talents and play their favorite music. Besides famous tunes of classical music, movie songs, for instance, Harry Potter, and duos will be performed. Get your tickets at Eventbrite.

CNM Won the 4 Prestigious Prizes in South Australia! CNM榮獲2020年南澳洲四大獎項

5 tips on how to stay focused during practice

Struggling with procrastination? Here's our professional advice on how to stay focused during practise.

As a pianist, one of the biggest challenges you will come across is your ability to stay focused and to keep your eyes on the prize. In a world where procrastination has stolen many a person's dreams, we refuse to let you lose sight of what you're working towards.

So, here are Pianist's 5 key tips on how to stay focused during practice. 

Scoring 101: How to make your sheet music more readable

The ultimate guide to a neat and tidy piece of sheet music.

If you are currently composing or arranging a piece of music, you will know that tidying up your score before completion is a challenge! Our quest for perfection can drive us to tweak, change and edit more than we need to, with no real system in place.

The checklist below is going to be absolutely invaluable for when you are approaching the finishing stages of your compositional process. Work your way through each point at your own pace, and you’ll finish up with a beautifully neat and tidy score.

Struggling to structure your piano practice? Here’s our advice

Our top tips on what to include in your practice, how long to practise for, and how to maximise your time spent at the piano

By the time you have finished reading this article, you are going to walk away with a practice structure all set-out and ready for your next session. You will know:

• what you are going to practise
• how long you’ll practise for
• how to maximise that time spent at the piano

What is the best age to start learning the piano?

RCM graduate Alec Coles-Aldridge argues that starting early may be your best bet

In 2013, the Beijing Normal University released the results of a study which concluded that individuals who started learning the piano before the age of seven benefited from advanced cognitive skills later in life. The benefits remained even for those who stopped practising in their teenage years. 

On the contrary, Linda Lorenzo - Director for Learning and Engagement with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra - is a believer that there is no real ideal age. Instead, she advises that the physical nature and interests of the child should be considered. A child who is physically strong might suit a brass instrument. A child with large hands might suit the piano. A child who enjoys the sound of the double bass should begin on the cello before progressing to the double bass when their physique can cope with such a large instrument. 

On the other hand, the Peterson Family Foundation provides a comprehensive list for which instruments suit specific age ranges. The piano is deemed an instrument suitable for the earliest of children; age three-four is considered a good time to begin these lessons. With such diverse and contradicting answers from studies, teachers and education experts, what really is the best age for learning the piano? Does age even matter? 

There are two important topics need to be considered...

5 tips on maximising efficiency in your piano practice

Pianist and writer Frank Huang dishes out his advice on how to streamline the practice process

Many of you will have asked yourself: How am I supposed to practise? How can I maximize my time and efficiency on my own? How can I make practice fun and enjoyable? How can I track the progress that I have made throughout the week?

It can be a huge challenge trying to figure out how to practise efficiently and effectively at the same time. Take a look at our 5 tips to streamlining your practice process below…

It's never too late to learn...everyone's a winner!

Classical pianist & columnist Daniel Johnson suggests ways of learning piano later in life

Coming to the piano later in life or picking it back up after a break, there will always be a sense of what you want to achieve, and the sudden realisation that it is going to be a long journey. But, with the right experiences and lead from your teacher, you will soon find that it’s the sheer enjoyment that is the most important part of all.

Mozart’s Diary Where He Composed His Final Masterpieces Is Now Digitized and Available Online

We have a tendency to regard Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's music as having emerged fully formed into the world, not least because we hear it performed almost exclusively in a highly polished state of near-perfection. That makes any glimpse into the process of its creation all the more valuable, and the British Library has now provided us with much more than such a glimpse: at its site you can now read Mozart's own thirty-page musical diary, a record of "his compositions in the last seven years of his life" and thus "a uniquely important document" in the history of classical music.

How ‘America’s Got Talent’ contestant Kodi Lee shattered stereotypes about disability

If you haven’t seen Kodi Lee’s May 28 performance on “America’s Got Talent,” it’s worth a watch.


The 22-year-old Lee is blind and has autism. His rendition of Leon Russell’s “A Song for You” brought the crowd to its feet – and thrilled viewers at home.


“Loved this moment so much! Stood up and cheered in my living room!” Oprah tweeted.


Much of the media coverage portrayed Lee as someone who, in developing his musical ability to such a high level, overcame all odds – a common though sometimes troublesome trope used to describe people with disabilities who achieve any measure of success.


Lee is certainly an exciting talent. But as someone who teaches a course on the intersection of disability and music, I was moved by other aspects of Lee’s performance as well.