London Contemporary School of Piano

🎹 Left Hand Pattern You Must Learn!

Want to make your piano chords sound bigger, richer, and more expressive?

One of the simplest ways to transform your chord playing is through arpeggiation. In this short, Tom demonstrates a powerful left-hand pattern that allows you to reach beautiful 9ths and 10ths without needing a huge hand stretch.

Many piano players rely on simple arpeggiated octaves in the left hand. While effective, adding 9ths and 10ths creates a much more three-dimensional sound, bringing greater depth, colour, and richness to your chords — even when the left hand is playing on its own.

This is a powerful technique that works with virtually any chord progression and can instantly make your playing sound more musical.

Add this pattern to your practice routine and start exploring how much colour and movement your left hand can create. 🎶

How to get good at improvisation? 🎹

One of the biggest secrets of piano improvisation is this: never stop!

Wrong note? Keep going.
Lost your way? Keep going.
Unexpected sound? Turn it into music and keep moving.

The moment you stop, the musical flow disappears. Real improvisation is not about perfection — it’s about listening, reacting, and staying present in the moment.

The more you continue through mistakes, the stronger your musical instincts become 🎶

Is sight reading necessary to play piano? 🎹

Not at all.

Some musicians learn best through listening, patterns, improvisation, or playing by ear rather than reading music fluently. Your musical journey depends on your learning strategies, learning type, and the kind of music you want to play.

Great piano playing is not limited to one path! 🎶

Exercise for agility and speed 🎹⚡️

Want faster, freer piano technique?

Tom Donald demonstrates a powerful piano exercise that builds agility and speed by combining circular wrist movement with body coordination while playing arpeggios within one octave.

Instead of forcing everything through the fingers alone, this approach helps you use the natural movement of the wrist, arm, and body to create smoother technique, better control, and more effortless speed at the piano.

A simple exercise that can completely change the way your hands feel at the keyboard 🎶

How Elton John makes simple chords sound HUGE 🎹🔥

In this short, Tom Donald from London Contemporary School of Piano demonstrates one of Elton John’s most effective piano tricks — transforming ordinary triads into rich, powerful full octave triads by adding just one extra note.

What makes this technique so powerful is that Elton uses it not only in root position chords, but also in inversions, creating that massive, full-bodied piano sound that defines so much of Elton John style piano playing.

A tiny adjustment… but a massive difference in sound.

Save this for your next piano practice session 🎹

Learn Elton John’s signature sound! 🎹🔥

Tom Donald breaks down the suspended 2nd chord technique that gives Elton John’s piano playing its unmistakable sound. A simple concept that instantly adds your chords character!

If you love pop piano, songwriting, or classic Elton John harmony, this is a technique worth stealing 🎶

Want to sound like Elton John on piano? 🎹✨

Tom Donald reveals one of the first secrets behind the iconic Elton John piano sound : suspended 2nd and suspended 4th chords.

But the magic is not just the chords themselves… it’s how you voice, move, and stylize them that creates that rich, emotional Elton John vibe.

A small harmonic change can completely transform the character of your piano playing. 🎶

Save this for your next practice session and start bringing more colour into your chords.

A theory book will never teach you this 🎹

Real musical growth happens when you sit at the piano and explore sound for yourself. Listening deeply, experimenting freely, and developing your ear is what turns notes into music.

Musical imagination and active listening are absolutely essential for improvisation, composition, and expressive piano playing.

The best musicians don’t just learn music.
They discover it. 🎶