A tour of my piano space!

You can tell a lot about a person’s musical goals and values by what they choose to keep at their piano. The way a person maintains their space, and the music or trinkets they keep around, can reveal their personality and influence their mindset when they play. I find it so interesting to see how each persons’ piano layout is different. Today, I thought it could be fun to give you a tour of my own piano setup. You might get a bit of insight into my psychology, but more importantly I hope this serves as a point of comparison and reflection for your own piano layout. By exploring what I keep around my instrument and why, it might help you reflect on your setup and consider if there are any changes you’d like to make to propel you closer towards your true musical goals.

If that sounds good to you, then let’s take a look!

Music that sparks joy

The most important thing that I keep at my piano is one or two pieces of music that sparks joy. These pieces have to be totally connected to my bliss. In my case, it’s almost always Chopin! I have a book of his nocturnes here, I also have waltzes. I always keep something really inspiring to me visible on my music stand so that every time I look at my piano it is sparking joy.

I find that by keeping a select piece of music here, it invites me to take advantage of the extra 5 or 10 minutes I might have to play, because it’s all ready for me. If I had no music out, or if I had a big disorganized pile of books to wade through, I probably wouldn’t take those moments because the piano wouldn’t be as inviting to me that way. But with one or two pieces of music here that I energetically connect to, I find I capture those moments a lot more.

I switch up my music anytime I feel my energy toward that music change. Every time I look at my piano, I evaluate how I feel about the piece that’s sitting there. In this video, I had Chopin’s Nocturnes and Waltzes out. I discerned that I was still totally feeling the Nocturnes, so I left it there, but I was feeling the Waltzes that today, so I put it back on my bookshelf. I only keep what sparks joy!

Composition book

If you’ve watched my videos in the past, you might have noticed that I keep a little black book on my music stand. This is a composition book. A composition book has musical staff lines in it and you can write your own treble clef, bass clef, and notes in it. If I’m experimenting at my piano and I like the sound of something I play, I’ll write a little note down. I’ll use notation to mark specific notes or I’ll write down my electric piano’s sound settings if I want to remember them.

The joy I get out of writing in my composition book is a big reason why I’m such a fan of teaching people how to write musical notation. When you can easily jot your ideas down, they’re little snapshots of your life, little windows of insight into what you were creating and thinking and feeling at the time. So my composition book lives on my music stand!

My current composition book is the Moleskine brand. It’s good quality with ivory pages and I like it. But after I fill this book, I plan on switching to the Leuchtturm brand because they include page numbers at the bottom of each page, which I like for easy reference and collection of ideas later. (I don’t mention it in the video, but you can also get letter-size composition sheets as well, with holes punched so you can fit them in a binder.)

Piano pencil :)

Of course you can’t write in a piano book without a piano-themed pencil! I always keep a musically decorated pencil at my piano. I just think having piano themed pencils just keeps the excitement going. They’re just special to have, a music themed pencil that is only meant for musical purposes — writing music and writing notes in my music!

I bought a bunch of these online, and I sometimes share them with my students as well if they live within a vicinity where I can mail a little holiday package to them. It’s an easy way to invite a little extra fun in your practice :)

Visual timer

When I’m playing piano, it is very easy for me to lose track of time. I can play for hours before I realize any time has passed at all! It can be fun losing track of time like that — some people call it being in the zone or getting into flow. But it can also be very stressful for me to lose track of time if I have other things I want to do that day, like teaching or working on other projects. Worrying about losing time can actually prevent me from sitting down to play if I don’t have a way to prevent it from happening.

I tried using the timer on my phone to help me keep track of myself, but I didn’t like being startled by the alarm. I also didn’t like how I needed to tap the phone to see how many minutes I have left, because that broke my flow!

Using a visual timer has been awesome for me. A visual timer works just like a kitchen timer but has an added visual dimension so I can see easily how much time is left without needing to peer at a clock hand. I set it and keep it off to the side of my music. I love it because it’s quiet, unobtrusive, and at a glance I can see how much time I have left.

Headphones

I always play with headphones rather than speakers because I find it to be a more immersive experience. I use a kind of headphone called monitor headphones. Monitor headphones are mainly used in recording studios for mixing audio, so they prioritize having an accurate sound rather than an enjoyable sound, if that makes sense. Other portable headphones (made more for music enjoyment) are designed to self-adjust the sound and pump up the bass. I don’t like that adjustment for the kind of classical piano I tend to play. I prefer a flatter sound where I can hear more accurately what my playing sounds like. So the monitors work better for me.

MIDI cord

From time to time, I like to record things into my computer. To make the recording process as streamlined as possible, I keep my MIDI cord plugged into my keyboard, and I wrap the other end around the corner of my music stand. Then if I want to record, I just plug in the open end into my computer. I admit that keeping my MIDI cord on my music stand does add a little visual clutter. But I’d rather have it there than put it away and need to hunt it down when I have an idea to record something. Besides, just seeing it tucked there behind my music reminds me I have the option to record if I want it. That feels creatively good as well :)

Did you gain any insight?

Thanks for joining me on my piano tour!

Earlier I said that you can learn a lot about a person’s musical goal and values by what they keep at their piano. I’m curious, do you think you’ve learned about me and my values and goals based on what I keep at my piano? If you think you gained some insight, please leave me a comment on my YouTube video and let me know what you learned! (Link opens in a new tab.)

If I had to guess what I think my setup says about me, I think it shares that I value creativity and that I’m always trying to stay excited about piano. But what do you think?

I’d also love to hear about your piano setup. What do you keep at your instrument, and what do you think that shares about your musical goals and values? Let me know by leaving me a comment here!

Can’t wait to hear about it! Take care.