Jenny Soh Music School

🎹😂 FTCL PIANO: WHEN LA CAMPANELLA DECIDES YOUR TWO HANDS ARE NOT ENOUGH

People often ask why Liszt’s La Campanella is considered such a monster at advanced diploma level. My answer after playing the ending?

Because apparently Liszt looked at the piano, saw 88 keys, and decided, “Yes. Please use ALL of them. At the same time. At maximum speed.” 🤣🤣🤣
The final passage is especially terrifying because you are dealing with huge chords, enormous jumps, full speed and probably the loudest and most exciting part of the entire piece. Your hands are basically flying from one end of the keyboard to another while your brain is screaming:

LEFT! RIGHT! JUMP! CHORD! NEXT CHORD! DON’T MISS!!! 😱🎹💨
And if one chord lands in the wrong place… congratulations, you have just composed La Campanella Variation No. 2. 😂

The secret for me is that these big chords cannot be played like I am trying to permanently glue my hands onto the piano. They need to be short, crisp and staccato, with a springing and rebounding effect. The moment I play one chord, I need to release immediately and fly to the next position. There is simply no time to sit comfortably on each chord and admire the scenery. 🤣

And because this is the climax, I need a HUGE sound. But if I try to produce everything by attacking the piano with my fingers and hands, I will probably survive about three seconds before my arms submit their resignation letter. 😂

So much of the energy comes from the larger body — particularly the back, shoulders and arms — while the hands remain free enough to move quickly. The idea is to create a powerful, brilliant sound without becoming stiff and stuck inside the keys.

Then comes another small problem… THE SCORE.

At this speed, do you really think I have time to look at the score, look at my left hand, look at my right hand, look back at the score and calmly think, “Hmmmm… what note comes next?” 🤓

NO CHANCE. 😂😂😂 My eyes need to watch where my hands are landing because the jumps are so large. That means the entire passage has to be extremely securely memorised. And this is where MUSIC THEORY suddenly becomes your best friend. ❤️🎼

Instead of memorising hundreds of individual notes like: “C… E… G… something… something… HELP ME…” 😵‍💫 I memorise the chords, harmony and chord progressions.

Once I understand what the harmony is doing and how one chord progresses to the next, the passage becomes a logical musical structure rather than a terrifying collection of random black dots. That allows me to play without staring at the score and concentrate my eyes on the keyboard. So this is why I always tell students that piano technique, music theory and memorisation are NOT three completely separate things. Theory helps you understand the harmony. Understanding the harmony helps you memorise. Memorisation frees your eyes to watch the jumps. Watching the jumps helps your hands land in the correct place.

And landing in the correct place means…

WE SURVIVE LA CAMPANELLA. 🤣🎹🏆 So where does FTCL fit into all this madness?

FTCL — Fellowship of Trinity College London — is Trinity’s highest classical Performance Diploma level, above ATCL and LTCL. Trinity describes ATCL as comparable in standard to a first-year undergraduate recital, LTCL to a final-year undergraduate recital, and FTCL to a postgraduate course recital at a conservatoire or university. In other words, by FTCL level, “I practised very hard” is wonderful…

…but the piano still wants more. 😂

The current FTCL Performance Diploma requires approximately a 42–48 minute recital, and candidates must demonstrate extremely advanced technical command, musical maturity, stylistic understanding and artistic communication. Candidates also prepare detailed programme notes of around 1,200–1,600 words, showing their understanding of the musical and historical context, structure, form and important musical features of their repertoire. So after practising all those frightening notes, gigantic jumps and monster chords, you are not finished.

SURPRISE! NOW PLEASE WRITE AN ESSAY. 🤣🤣🤣📚🎹

That is why FTCL is so much more than simply choosing the hardest pieces you can find and playing them as fast and loudly as possible. At this level, the pianist needs technical reliability, mature musicianship, understanding of the score and the ability to sustain an advanced recital at a standard Trinity compares with postgraduate conservatoire or university performance.

In my FTCL Diploma piano lessons in Singapore, I work with advanced pianists on much more than getting the notes correct. We look closely at large leaps, chord technique, speed, voicing, tone production, physical coordination, memorisation, harmonic understanding and performance security. Because when La Campanella sends your hands flying across the entire keyboard at full speed, there is unfortunately no time to stop halfway and tell the audience:

“Sorry ah… can I check my score first?” 😂😂😂

At this level, every movement needs a purpose. The better you understand the music, the less the passage feels like 500 frightening notes attacking you simultaneously. And THAT is how I deal with the final passage of La Campanella:

Short chords. Springing action. Big sound supported by the body. Secure memorisation. Harmonic understanding. Then… LOOK AT THE HANDS, AIM CAREFULLY, AND PRAY TO LISZT. 🙏🤣🎹🔥

🎹 FTCL PIANO DIPLOMA– LISZT LA CAMPANELLA: CONQUERING THE MOST DIFFICULT PASSAGE 🎹 FTCL PIANO – LISZT LA CAMPANELLA: CONQUERING THE MOST DIFFICULT P...

🎹 Come and watch what happens when someone is blessed with... BIG HANDS! 😂✋Looking for ATCL diploma piano pieces, LTCL repertoire, ARSM or DipLCM performance ideas? Before your fingers start negotiating with your brain to choose "easy pieces", someone has challenged the virtuoso repertoires.

Congratulations to our student Jayden Lim Qi Yuan for achieving an impressive 88/100 in the DipLCM Piano Performance (Concert) examination awarded by the London College of Music Examinations (LCME), University of West London. His programme combines Baroque brilliance, Classical elegance and Romantic virtuosity, making it an excellent reference for students preparing for diploma piano examinations.

The programme includes Scarlatti Sonata in D major K.491, Glinka/Balakirev's The Lark, Beethoven Pathétique Sonata Op.13 (2nd Movement) and Scarlatti Sonata in D minor K.32. These are all wonderful examples of challenging ATCL, LTCL, ARSM and DipLCM repertoire that require not only solid technique, but also musical maturity and artistic interpretation.

Scarlatti K.491 is packed with wide arpeggios and lightning-fast jumps across the keyboard. The Lark is full of enormous Romantic chords and stretches that seem to ask, "Excuse me... do you happen to own XXL hands?" 😆 Beethoven's beautiful Pathétique Sonata requires careful balancing of melody, inner voices and bass simultaneously, while Scarlatti K.32 demands elegant Baroque phrasing and refined musical control.

Fortunately for Jayden... Mother Nature decided to be extra generous. 😂 His naturally large hands comfortably cover wide chords, huge intervals and rapid leaps from one end of the keyboard to the other. Of course, before anyone starts shopping online for larger hands, remember that big hands alone do not earn high marks! 😄 A diploma examiner still looks for beautiful tone, musical understanding, stylistic awareness, secure technique and a confident performance. The hands may help... but the hours of disciplined practice do the real work!

🎉👏 Wishing all diploma candidates the very best in your own musical journey. Perhaps you don't need hands as big as Jayden's... but a big determination and a big love for music will definitely help! 😄🎹

ARSM Piano. 3 Challenging ARSM Piano Repertoire | Distinction Diploma Sample Recording Jayden Lim Preparing for the ARSM Piano Diploma? If you are searching for ARSM...

Every time I see this AMusTCL Pop Music question, I imagine the examiner sitting quietly in the corner thinking, “Let’s hide all the chromatic chords so well that nobody can find them.” Mission accomplished.

Many students can identify a C7 chord, a D7 chord, or even an augmented chord, but when the examiner secretly connects everything together with hidden chromatic lines, suddenly everyone’s harmony knowledge packs up and goes on holiday.

This question is like playing musical detective. You stare at the score. The score stares back at you. Twenty minutes later… you are still staring at each other.

The funniest part is that the chromatic melody is hiding in plain sight. Once you discover it, you’ll wonder why you never noticed it before. It’s a bit like those “Where’s Wally?” books… except Wally has disguised himself as a chromatic chord.

In this Members Only lesson, I’ll show you exactly how to hunt down every hidden chromatic chord, spot the secret semitone movements, arrange the voices naturally, and write an answer that actually sounds like the original composer instead of a musical accident.

If you’ve reached Grade 6 Music Theory or above, here’s my challenge. Pause the video before watching the solution and see whether you can find every hidden chromatic chord yourself. If you can solve everything correctly, congratulations! You deserve a detective badge from the Harmony Investigation Department. If not, don’t worry. Even Sherlock Holmes would probably ask for the marking scheme.

Join my YouTube Membership if you’d like access to the complete step-by-step solution, together with many more AMusTCL Diploma Music Theory tutorials, Bach Chorales, Pop Music Writing, Orchestration and advanced harmony lessons designed to help you score higher marks in the examination.

Solve The Mysterious Chromatic Harmony Puzzle in Pop Music (2015C) | AMusTCL Diploma Music Theory Have you completed Grade 6 Music Theory or above? Then here is a ch...

Have you heard of the Russian School of Piano Playing? Or maybe you’re secretly learning the German School? 😆 Wait… are there actually different “schools” of piano playing? Of course there are!

Just like Chinese martial arts have Shaolin, Wudang, Wing Chun and Tai Chi, piano playing also has different traditions, each with its own philosophy and “secret techniques.” No, we don’t fight with swords… we fight with arpeggios! 😂

Recently, while recording Chopin’s Étude Op.25 No.1 (Aeolian Harp), many friends asked me, “Teacher Jenny, your hands are quite small. How on earth do you reach all those gigantic stretches?” Actually… I don’t. 😎 I “cheat.”

Before anyone reports me to Chopin, let me explain… Many people think the secret is having giant hands. No. The real secret is learning the correct school of kung fu… I mean… piano technique! 🤣

This Chopin Étude is full of huge arpeggios and broken chords that imitate the sound of a harp. If I stubbornly tried to stretch every interval with my fingers, my hand would probably wave the white flag halfway through the first page. 🏳️ Instead, I quietly use the technique to “fly” to the next position with free fall of arm, and let the sustain pedal glue everything together so it still sounds beautifully legato. To the audience it sounds magical. To my fingers… it feels like survival. 😂

The interesting part is that this approach comes largely from the Russian School of Piano Playing, which I encountered during my postgraduate music studies in Germany. The Russian school doesn’t believe your fingers should do all the hard work. Instead, your wrist rotates, your arm moves freely, gravity helps you, your hand shifts naturally, and the whole body works together. In other words… instead of wrestling with the piano… you dance with it.

I always joke that this is the piano version of Tai Chi. Everything looks slow, relaxed and graceful… but underneath, every movement is carefully calculated!

My own students will probably find this funny because during lessons I have spent years talking about the German School of Piano Playing. If the Russian school is like Tai Chi, then the German school is probably Shaolin Kung Fu! 😆 Everything is solid: finger touch, weight transfer, tone production, rich singing sound, beautiful fingerings, and layer upon layer of tone colour. Every note has structure and purpose.

Then comes the French School of Piano Playing… Ah… now we’ve entered another martial arts movie altogether! 😂 Suddenly everyone becomes obsessed with pedalling, half-pedalling, una corda, sostenuto pedal, tone colours and atmosphere. Sometimes we spend more time discussing the pedals than the actual notes!

So which school is the best? Honestly… none… and all of them. A mature pianist doesn’t belong to only one school. The best pianists borrow wisdom from all of them: Russian freedom, German solidity and French colours. Mix them together… hopefully without accidentally inventing a brand new martial art. 😂

That’s one reason I love teaching diploma students. We’re not just learning the notes—we’re learning how great pianists from different traditions think. Every school gives us another way of solving the same musical problem.

So if you have small hands like me, don’t panic. You don’t need hands the size of a basketball player. Sometimes you just need to learn a different style of “kung fu.” 😄

🎹 This Chopin Étude is one of the pieces that beautifully demonstrates how the right technique can overcome physical limitations. Who knows… maybe in my next post I’ll reveal another “secret martial art” hidden inside the piano. 😄

Would like to dedicate this piece to Ms. Hau Ping Ping, the first piano teacher who truly believed in me. Thirty years ago, this was one of the pieces I played for my entrance audition to music college.
Thank you, Ms. Hau, for believing in me when I was just a daydreamer.



https://youtu.be/ekVNyU6ginc?is=0xKVHgBSglvhIXJu

Piano Diploma LTCL/ LLCM Recital by Jenny Soh. Can Small Hands Play Big Piano Works? Chopin Etude Op.25 No.1 “Aeolian Harp” | Small Hands Play BIG Piano...

🚨 DON'T tell me Bach's music bores you to death!! 😴
Bach heard that...... and quietly went home, sharpened his feather pen 🪶, rubbed his hands together 😈, and said, "Challenge accepted." A few hundred years later... he left us THIS modulation. 🤯
If you've learned Grade 6 Music Theory or above, I officially challenge you to survive what may be one of the most devilishly clever pivot chord puzzles in a Bach Chorale.
Don't worry... 😊
For the first 30 seconds, everybody feels like a musical genius.
"Easy! I've found the pivot chord!" 😎Then...
Bach slowly peeks over your shoulder... 👀
smiles politely... 😏crosses out your answer... ✏️
writes "Nice try." 🤣🤣🤣
Then you confidently try Plan B.
Bach says, "Also wrong."
You try Plan C. Bach smiles even wider.
You try Plan D.
Bach has already gone home for afternoon tea while you're still arguing with the modulation. ☕😂
The funniest part?
Every "obvious" pivot chord seems perfectly correct...
until Bach suddenly pulls out a harmonic trick that makes you question everything you learned about modulation. 🤯This isn't just another Bach Chorale.
It's basically an escape room designed by Bach. 🧩
The door only opens if you find the correct pivot chord!
🎹 In this video you'll discover:
✅ Why all the obvious pivot chords FAIL
✅ The secret chromatic chord that unlocks the puzzle
✅ Passing 6/4 formulas
✅ Multi-key modulation in just a few bars
✅ How to avoid parallel 5ths and 8ves
✅ The exact harmonic thinking that helps students score high marks in AMusTCL Diploma Music Theory
⚠️ WARNING
Possible side effects include:
😂 Talking to your score.
😂 Arguing with Bach.
😂 Erasing your harmony homework 17 times.
😂 Suddenly respecting Bach far more than you did yesterday.
👇 Before watching the answer...
I dare you to solve it first! Write your answer in the comments:
🧩 Which pivot chord would YOU choose?
Let's find out..🥊 Who wins today... You... or Bach? 😈🎼🤣

Challenge Hardest AMusTCL Bach Chorale Modulation This Century? Solve Ultimate Pivot Chord Puzzle! Dont tell me Bach's music bore you to death!!! 😴 Bach heard that......

🤣🎹 Funny Piano Teacher’s Diary: Grade 8 Music Theory… or Cupid’s love Classroom? 💘

Last Sunday I attended the wedding of Mr. & Mrs. Fang, and I suddenly discovered something interesting …

My Grade 8 Music Theory lessons can produce married couples! 🤣🤣🤣

The funniest part?
When they first joined my face-to-face group theory class, they sat at the far left and far right corners of the classroom! 😳

One was analysing Bach. The other was struggling with harmony.

Both were so quiet that I thought they were only interested in passing Grade 8 Theory!

Then COVID came, and everyone continued lessons online.
A few years later… 💍 “Teacher Jenny, we’re getting married.”

WHAT??? 🤯🤣 Excuse me… HOW??

You sat at opposite ends of the classroom… then opposite corners of Zoom… 🤣

Were you two communicating through… musical frequencies? 🎶📡

I’ve been thinking about this all day…
Did they have a secret music code?
🎼 Teacher turns around to write on the whiteboard…
Girl: “Crotchet… crotchet… minim…”
Boy: “Quaver… quaver… semibreve…”
Translation:�“Coffee after class?” ☕🤣

Or perhaps…
Cadential 6/4 telepathy?
Perfect cadence attraction?
Dominant-to-tonic chemistry? 😂😂😂

This is actually not the first couple who met through my music theory lessons!

⚠️ Before everyone starts signing up…
I don’t offer Matchmaking services through music Theory! 😆

Apparently, they arrange themselves while I’m busy explaining diminished sevenths and voice leading. 🤣

Congratulations, Mr. & Mrs. Fang! ❤️

May your marriage always stay in perfect harmony, never have any unresolved dissonances, and always end with a Perfect Cadence! 🎹💕

🎹 Funny Piano Teacher’s Diary 🤣

On 20th May, Wednesday early in the morning, I was urgently
awakened by a phone call. (A piano teacher’s version of an emergency! 😆)

It was my piano agent, Fiona.

“Jenny! Jenny! I received several private Facebook enquiries for diploma piano lessons!”

Naturally, I thought, “Wow, some hardworking youngsters preparing for their exams?”

But guess who they were?

My long-lost friends from more than 20 years ago! 😱

These were the same three friends who used to spend school holidays jamming pop songs with me on the piano, laughing away and dreaming about life. Later, we all went our separate ways. They pursued university studies and respectable professions, while I was the stubborn one who gave up A Levels and continued with music.

Back then, they all tried very hard to persuade me:

“Jenny, don’t give up your academics!”

Of course, I didn’t listen. 🤣

I followed my heart instead.

Fast forward twenty-plus years later…

Who would have imagined that we would meet again?

And this time, instead of asking me to return to academics, they said:

“Jenny… maybe you made the right choice after all.”

After years of working as accountants and professionals, they confessed that although they had successful careers, they never truly found joy in what they were doing.

Now that they are old enough to make their own decisions (without their parents chasing them with report cards anymore 😆), they decided to come back and pursue the dream they had quietly kept in their hearts all these years — diploma piano.

Out of curiosity, I asked them:

“If we could travel back in time to 20 years ago, would you choose full-time music education instead?”

Ironically…

The answer was still NO! 🤣🤣🤣

Because even today, a music career is still uncertain and unpredictable. Most parents still prefer their children to focus on academic studies first.

And honestly, I understand.

⸻

❤️ But perhaps life isn’t really about asking:

“Did I choose the perfect path?”

Maybe the better question is:

“Did I continue to keep music alive in my heart?”

Because dreams don’t always expire at age 18.

Sometimes they take a coffee break for 20 years…

And then suddenly come knocking on your piano studio door with reading glasses, office bags, bad backs, and enough savings to finally pay for the lessons they always wanted. 😂

Looking at these smiles in the photos, I realise something.

We may have aged.

Some of us have become accountants, engineers, teachers, mothers and fathers.

Our hairlines may have moved backwards and our eyesight may require stronger spectacles… 🤣

But the joy of making music together?

That part never grew old.

Twenty years ago, we played piano for fun.

Twenty years later, we are still doing exactly the same thing.

Maybe that is what success really means.

Not fame.

Not money.

Not certificates.

But having something you still love after all these years.

And judging from the smiles in these photos…

I think all of us have graduated in something far more important than a diploma.

❤️ We graduated in not giving up on our dreams.

🎹✨

“Piano keys may turn yellow with age, but thankfully, musical dreams don’t.” 😆❤️

🎹💕

Most people in their late 50s are thinking about retirement plans.

My student Ms. Susie Phua decided to learn Ravel instead.

After successfully passing her Grade 8 piano exam, she is now continuing her musical journey with diploma-level repertoire and honestly… her musical interpretations sometimes surprise ME as the teacher.

I first met Susie through Pianover events many years ago. One thing I immediately noticed was her elegant stage presence and confidence. She never walks to the piano looking terrified as though the instrument is preparing to wrestle her publicly.

Meanwhile many younger piano students panic after one wrong note and immediately look like they want to disappear into another dimension.

What I enjoy most about teaching mature adult pianists is that they often bring deep life experiences into music. Sometimes Susie would suddenly play a soft “subito piano” during a climax and I would think:

“Wait… why does this actually sound so artistic?”

These are the moments that make piano lessons exciting.

Currently she is working on Ravel’s “Pavane for a Dead Princess,” a beautiful and atmospheric work full of rich harmonies, warm colours, and emotional depth. Honestly, she has very good taste in repertoire. Some people buy luxury handbags during midlife. Piano people buy Henle scores and discuss pedal markings for 45 minutes.

As a teacher specialising in ARSM diploma piano lessons and DipLCM diploma piano lessons in Singapore, I genuinely believe adult learners and mature pianists often develop unique musical voices that younger students may not naturally discover yet.

Diploma piano studies are not only about passing exams.

They are about discovering your artistic identity, imagination, and emotional storytelling through music.

And honestly… piano lessons become much more interesting when the student occasionally surprises the teacher too.

Diploma Piano Course for Senior Citizens, ARSM & DipLCM Diploma Piano Lessons. Perform By Susie Phua Many people think piano dreams expire after adulthood.Apparently my student Soo Ngern did not receive that memo.After successfully passing her Grade 8 piano ...

🎹 DIPLOMA PIANO EXAM CANDIDATES PLEASE… I BEG YOU… 😂

Some students preparing for DipLCM & ARSM diploma exams play Beethoven beautifully…

…but dress like they are going to:
❌ sleep
❌ gym
❌ buy chicken rice downstairs

One examiner basically gave this energy:
“Is this a diploma recital… or somebody sat at the piano after waking up from nap?” 😭

I have REALLY seen:
💀 Pajamas vibes
💀 T-shirt + jeans combo
💀 “Just came back from jogging” fashion
💀 Mini skirt so short even the examiner nervous to watch pedal work 😂

And then AFTER finishing a beautiful emotional Chopin piece…

Candidate immediately:
FLIP SCORE
“NEXT PIECE LET’S GO!!!” 🏃💨💨💨

Excuse me…
The examiner’s soul still floating in Paris with Debussy and suddenly got slapped into Prokofiev in 2 seconds. 😂😂😂

PLEASE.

Diploma piano exam is NOT:
❌ Amazing Race
❌ TikTok live
❌ Pajama home concert

At least let the last note die peacefully before murdering the next piece. 😭🎹

Moral of the story:
Sometimes wrong outfit and panic page-turning more memorable than the actual performance. 😂

What to wear - Piano Exam Recording? 2 Diploma Piano Exam Presentation Mistakes That Affect Results Top 2 Diploma Piano Exam Presentation Mistakes That Can Affect Your DipLCM & ARSM ResultsWhat Diploma Examiners Really Notice Beyond Just Wrong NotesMany pia...

🎼 Why Learn Fugue After Grade 8 Theory? Because Bach Is Not Done Torturing Us Yet 😂

Many students finish Grade 8 Theory and say:

“YES! I am finally free!”

Then AMusTCL appears and says:

“Hello. Please analyse Bach’s fugue.” 😃

And suddenly everyone realises… Grade 8 Theory was just the appetizer. The real main course is Bach serving subject, answer, countersubject, episode, stretto, augmentation, inversion… all on one musical plate.

But honestly, this fugue from Bach’s Partita No. 6 (Toccata–Fugue) is SUPER interesting.

Why?

Because fugue is basically musical gossip.

One voice starts talking:

“E–F #–G–A…”

Then another voice replies:

“Excuse me, I also want to say something.”

Then another voice interrupts.

Then they chase each other.

Then they overlap.

Then they all talk at the same time.

That is called stretto.

In normal life, we call it “family dinner conversation.”
In Bach, we call it “advanced contrapuntal craftsmanship.” 😂

What makes this fugue so fun is that Bach takes one tiny 4-note idea and uses it like a magician:

✨ turn it upside down = inversion
✨ make it longer = augmentation
✨ move it to different keys = modulation
✨ break it into fragments = episode
✨ make voices interrupt each other = stretto

Bach basically says:

“I only need 4 notes to create a whole universe.”

This is why diploma music theory after Grade 8 is so important.

Grade 8 teaches students what chords and cadences are.
Diploma theory teaches students how great composers think.

At diploma level, students learn to:
🎓 understand musical structure deeply
🎓 explain why a passage sounds exciting
🎓 analyse polyphonic writing
🎓 write mature exam answers
🎓 appreciate Bach instead of being traumatised by him

And for piano teachers, this knowledge is priceless. Once you understand fugue, you don’t just teach notes anymore — you teach musical intelligence.

So yes… Bach may look scary at first.

But once you understand him, fugue becomes like a detective game:

“Who entered first?”
“Who answered?”
“Who copied whom?”
“Who interrupted the conversation?”
“Why is everyone suddenly in B minor?” 😂

That is why I love teaching Bach Partita No. 6.

It makes students laugh, suffer slightly, and then suddenly say:

“Teacher… actually Bach is quite interesting.”

Mission accomplished. 😄

🎼 AMusTCL Bach Partita No. 6 Toccata–Fugue Analysis
Part 1 & Part 2 available in my members-only lessons.
Learn the fugue properly — before Bach starts chasing you in your dreams.

Jenny Soh 2 likes. "AMusTCL Bach Partita No.6 Analysis | Toccata–Fugue Explained + 8 Exam Questions You Must Know"