🎙 Episode 56 – Leaving Evidence

G’day, and welcome back to Piano, Finally, where each week I share the detours, lessons, and progress from learning piano later in life. This week’s episode was written from the foyer of the Bell Shakespeare Company’s theatre, ahead of a performance of Coriolanus—more on that at the end.

🎭 Term’s over, holidays have begun, and with piano lessons on break too, I’m gearing up for more time at the keys. Devi’s set a new goal for next term: get off the page and start improvising. She’s also locked in the date for this year’s piano showcase—Saturday, 21 September.

📺 YouTube Feature – Improvising Like the Masters
A timely find: Tom Donald from the London Contemporary School of Piano improvises well-known melodies in the styles of Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Rachmaninov, Messiaen, and more. It’s not a polished performance video—he talks through what he’s doing and leaves the rough bits in. It’s thoughtful, human, and inspiring. Watch it here and also check out his companion video.
LCSP Website

📝 Essay – Leaving Evidence
Thinking about history, The Rest Is History podcast, and how future historians figure out what happened… led me to wonder: how are we documenting our piano journeys? With modern phones, recording your playing is easier than ever—and worth doing. It helps you see progress, keeps motivation up, and creates a record of how far you’ve come. It doesn’t need to be public—YouTube and Instagram both offer private uploads—but it should exist. Leave yourself some evidence.
The Rest Is History Live Tour

🎹 Nord Stage 4 Review – The Synthesiser Section
This week, I explore the Nord Stage 4’s synthesisers. With three independent synth engines—subtractive, FM, and sample-based—you can combine sounds in endless ways. I’m currently learning sound design through Syntorial, and the Nord keeps up beautifully. Waveform visualisation on the Stage 4’s second display has been a huge help. A full FM section review is coming soon.
Want to try your own custom setups? Marc Larochelle of My Keys To Music has some brilliant ones, including a Riders on the Storm setup with thunderstorm samples. I’m working on it… but it’s not quite ready for public ears yet.

🎼 Progress
Just one piece this week: Wild Chase by Wynn-Anne Rossi. I’m through the first eight bars and working on the next. It’s one of those pieces where both hands have to be involved from the start. Still too slow, but hey—“As fast as you can” is relative.
Played on the Kawai NV10 with the Claire Fazioli f308 virtual piano by Native Instruments. Claire Bundl

Send me a text message.

You can contact me:

• via email at david@pianofinally.show; this is probably the best option
• the show website, www.pianofinally.show
• Instagram and Threads @pianofinally
• and on YouTube
• all the podcast directories - list
• here's the RSS feed

Some of the links to books and other items mentioned in the podcast are affiliate links for Amazon or other providers. If you use one of these links, a commission may be paid to me at no additional cost to you. Thank you if you use a link.
All reviews of products, websites and services are unpaid, and no sponsorship has been received for any content on this podcast.