Quick note: The next Butler Piano Camp will take place June 15–19, 2026. We’re exploring the possibility of adding a small, in-person adult learner track to this camp. It will take place on Butler’s campus in Indianapolis, Indiana. If that’s of interest to you, please take 2–3 minutes to complete this short form so we can gauge the viability of offering this adult track alongside the pre-college track.

Dear Friends,

This past Tuesday, I performed all of Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel’s Das Jahr in a solo faculty recital here at Butler University.

(BTW if you missed it and are curious to hear me play, I'll be performing Das Jahr four more times in early 2026):

• February 17, 7:30 pm: Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove, PA
• February 18, 7:30 pm: Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, PA
• March 12, 7:00 pm: Bellarmine University, Louisville, KY
• April 26, 3:00 pm: Pleyel Piano Series, Scarab Club, Detroit, MI

Preparing a solo recital is its own kind of project: you are focusing on creating one arc throughout the evening, and so questions of concentration and pacing become paramount.

In last week's email, as I was preparing for this recital, I wrote about the importance of making sure the beginning of your piece is rock-solid.

In response to that email, a reader wrote to me with this thoughtful follow-up:

While I understood her point, I will admit I was a little skeptical of this advice at first. Well, not really skeptical, but I thought to myself, "Well, once the piece has been started, it's not really that hard to end it, is it?"

Then I played the full Das Jahr this week, and I felt this exact thing happen in real time! 🤯

Around the middle of "November," my concentration started to flag. My brain started to get tired, and I was noticing how close I was getting to the end. That lapse in focus is exactly what my reader was pointing out! She was right!

So here is this week’s practice tip: as you prepare for a performance, treat the endings with the same respect you give your beginnings.

This is something you can absolutely practice; you do not need to leave this to chance!

Here are a few practice suggestions to help make your endings as bulletproof as your beginnings in performance. These strategies can help you learn to keep your concentration all the way through the last note of your performance:

1. Introduce short meditation sessions to your practicing. I have a good friend who meditates for one minute at the beginning of every practice session. Meditation is an excellent way to improve concentration and mental stamina, because it helps you learn to focus on the present moment and continuously bring your attention back to the task at hand.
2. Practice visualization. You can mentally rehearse the closing section in great detail: the sound, the feeling in your hands, the timing, the character, until it is exactly the way you’d like it.
3. Do “run-throughs” starting 3/4 of the way through the piece, in order to give the ending your freshest attention.
4. Practice the last pages when you’re mentally tired at the end of a long day or practice session, so you are able to practice focusing even when you’re experience fatigue.
5. Practice implementing a cue word at a specific spot in the final section that you think about every time you get there that helps you refocus. (Examples of these are: relax jaw, focus, breathe.)

Begin with authority. Finish with confidence! Both the beginning and the end of your performance are important moments that need special attention in the practice room.

I wish you strong beginnings, and even stronger endings this week!

Happy practicing! 👋

Kate

🎥 YouTube:
​After a bit of a hiatus, I'm back to publishing YouTube videos. My latest video has the rather dramatic title: Your Thumb is Sabotaging Your Technique! Here's How to Fix It!

It's about why your thumb sometimes feels clumsy and tight, and what to do about it.

I talk about the underlying anatomy of the thumb and a common misunderstanding that can lead to thumb tension, and then I give some exercises for how to practice with a looser thumb.

👉 Watch it here.

Want to be notified when a new video comes out? Click here and I will send you a quick email the day I publish a new video.

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