Alvin Zhu on why you should learn a new piece before you play a note
Three steps for learning new music from the Tianjin Juilliard professor: explore, divide and conquer, reevaluate.
Alvin Zhu is a Steinway Artist and Fulbright Scholar who earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate at Juilliard, where he studied with Yoheved Kaplinsky and Julian Martin. He teaches piano and music history on the resident faculty of the Tianjin Juilliard School.
Here are nine of his best tips, from his Star Talk conversation with Brian Lin on Piano League.
1. Don’t just read note by note
One of the most dangerous things anybody could do is to just plunge into the music and read note by note by note.
Alvin Zhu
2. Treat the score as a map
We’re going to uncharted territory, and luckily we have a map, which is the score.
Alvin Zhu
3. Interpretation starts where notation ends
Interpretation starts where notation ends. Because it’s not a perfect system, it leaves so much room for our interpretations.
Alvin Zhu
4. Know the style before the notes
If I was playing a sarabande and I was playing a waltz, there are completely different styles without me even looking at the notes.
Alvin Zhu
5. Divide it into digestible pieces
Take the piece into digestible pieces: measure to measure, phrase to phrase, section to section.
Alvin Zhu
6. Don’t try to think of everything at once
My mind is certainly not a computer. There’s just way too much to think of all at once.
Alvin Zhu
7. One good phrase beats a mediocre section
I’d rather get one phrase very, very good as part of this day’s goal than have a whole section kind of mediocre.
Alvin Zhu
8. Be your own critic
Reevaluate is being your own critic. Did what I do match up to what I want?
Alvin Zhu
9. Listen before you speak
You have to be willing to listen before you can speak.
Alvin Zhu
Quotes are lightly edited for length and clarity. They come from Alvin Zhu’s 2020 Star Talk conversation with Brian Lin. You can watch the full conversation on the Piano League YouTube channel.
Quick question
Which tip will you try first?
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