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PRACTICE NOTES?
Letters from the bench for adults who came back to the piano.
One idea worth sitting with, and where to take it next.
No spam. No AI slop.
No generic piano teacher nonsense.
Piano as a practice for presence, creativity, and a clearer mind.
The Piano Wellness Project
You loved the piano. You hated the lessons. So you stopped.
Repetitive motion with the goal of perfection has a way of draining the joy. The Piano Wellness Project offers a different way to relate to your practice. Here it becomes a daily vehicle for self-expression.
Piano as a practice for presence, creativity, and a clearer mind.
The Piano Wellness Project
You loved the piano. You hated the lessons. So you stopped.
Repetitive motion with the goal of perfection has a way of draining the joy. The Piano Wellness Project offers a different way to relate to your practice. Here it becomes a daily vehicle for self-expression.
You're in the right place if...
You took piano lessons as a kid. Some of it stuck. Most of it didn't.
You remember the metronome, the recitals, the pressure to play it right. And at some point you stopped.
Now there's more room in your life, and the piano keeps turning up in the back of your mind. Not to perform, but as a creative outlet that's yours.
The Piano Wellness Method is for you.
You're in the right place if...
You took piano lessons as a kid. Some of it stuck. Most of it didn't.
You remember the metronome, the recitals, the pressure to play it right. And at some point you stopped.
Now there's more room in your life, and the piano keeps turning up in the back of your mind. Not to perform, but as a creative outlet that's yours.
The Piano Wellness Method is for you.
The Method
A structured, improvisation-based practice that uses the piano to build presence, emotional regulation, and creative vitality. It's not piano lessons with meditation bolted on. The music and the wellness are the same act.
Three elements. Each one grows a piano skill and a wellness skill at the same time.
CROWN
Spare material starts to sound whole; notation becomes a way to record what you found, not orders to follow. One the keys: expression. In you: integration - watching yourself play with steady, kind attention instead of the inner critic.
TRUNK
The cycle of fourths - how music actually moves, building tension and release. One the keys and in you: holding tension without rushing to resolve it. Sitting in the unresolved chord. Allowing the unresolved moment.
ROOTS
Posture, breath, and your first moves into improvisation. On the keys: fluency across the major and minor triads, both hands. In you: presence, and learning to treat mistakes as discoveries.
The Method
A structured, improvisation-based practice that uses the piano to build presence, emotional regulation, and creative vitality. It's not piano lessons with meditation bolted on. The music and the wellness are the same act.
Three elements. Each one grows a piano skill and a wellness skill at the same time.
CROWN
Spare material starts to sound whole; notation becomes a way to record what you found, not orders to follow. One the keys: expression. In you: integration - watching yourself play with steady, kind attention instead of the inner critic.
TRUNK
The cycle of fourths - how music actually moves, building tension and release. One the keys and in you: holding tension without rushing to resolve it. Sitting in the unresolved chord. Allowing the unresolved moment.
ROOTS
Posture, breath, and your first moves into improvisation. On the keys: fluency across the major and minor triads, both hands. In you: presence, and learning to treat mistakes as discoveries.
CREATING SPACE
Before you play, you build a space in your mind. A microcosm of your life with one difference: there's no fear in it.
Andy calls it a safe harbor. A shield. A bunker nobody can get into.
Inside it, there are no wrong notes, only experiments. No mistakes, only discoveries. You decide what you like and what you don't. You play from what you feel.
Here's the shift: you're not practicing piano. You're practicing presence, and letting your own creativity well up. With repetition, the practice space stops being somewhere you go. It becomes a state you can reach, on the bench or off it.
about andy
Four decades sharing the keys
Andy Rael has been teaching piano since he was fourteen. Four decades later he's still at it: jazz pianist, studio musician, teacher. He's toured internationally, recorded in and around New York, and held a residency in Eilat, Israel. He trained under jazz mentors including Armen Donelian and Marc Copland, and holds a degree in cognitive psychology.
He built the Piano Wellness Method around a question that wouldn't leave him alone: what is piano practice actually for? This project is his answer.
about andy
Four decades sharing the keys
Andy Rael has been teaching piano since he was fourteen. Four decades later he's still at it: jazz pianist, studio musician, teacher. He's toured internationally, recorded in and around New York, and held a residency in Eilat, Israel. He trained under jazz mentors including Armen Donelian and Marc Copland, and holds a degree in cognitive psychology.
He built the Piano Wellness Method around a question that wouldn't leave him alone: what is piano practice actually for? This project is his answer.
Get started
The way in is the Foundations session: a 30-minute guided practice.
You'll set your posture, find your own tempo, and play.
$7. No sheet music. No theory. Lifetime replay.
what they say ...
Happy Players
From Andrea:
“Andy is so talented, not only in his playing, but his ability to communicate on everyone’s different levels and styles no matter where they were in the process. It made the whole experience just delightful.”
from dave:
“Andrew was fantastic, he is so easy to work with. He provided me with everything I needed to help me improve what I wanted to work on.”
FROM LARRY:
"Andy is an exceptional musician who has a strong background and training in jazz piano, music theory and jazz theory. He is also an exceptional teacher. He provides a comprehensive instruction that goes beyond mere technical proficiency."
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