New Digital Download

The 4-Stage Framework for Piano Exam Success by Melody Deng

Give your students a clear path from learning the notes to performing with confidence. This free 4-stage guide is designed for piano teachers and includes practical strategies for building secure foundations, developing technical control, shaping musical expression and preparing students for the exam environment. You’ll also receive a handy teacher checklist to help you track each stage of preparation. Fill out the form below to download your free copy.

Practical teaching strategies: simple ideas for rhythm, technique, phrasing, memorisation and performance preparation.

Ready-to-use teacher checklist: track progress at each stage and see when a student is ready to move forward.

Support beyond exam day: encourage healthy technique and confident playing that continues to benefit students long after the exam is over.

What's inside the guide

The Piano Teacher’s Framework for Exam Success is designed to help teachers break exam preparation into four clear and manageable stages: Foundation, Control, Expression and Performance. Rather than trying to address everything at once, the framework helps you focus on the right priorities at the right time. You’ll also receive a practical teacher checklist for each stage, making it easy to assess progress and identify areas that still require attention. The aim is not simply to help students achieve a good exam result, but to build skills, confidence and healthy playing habits that continue to support their musical development long after exam day.

Meet Dr. Rae de Lisle

Dr Rae de Lisle is one of New Zealand’s leading piano pedagogues and a pioneer in healthy, sustainable piano technique. As Associate Professor of Piano at the University of Auckland, she has taught many of the country’s finest pianists, including John Chen, the youngest-ever winner of the Sydney International Piano Competition. Rae’s own journey from concert pianist to researcher shaped her passion for injury prevention and natural movement at the piano. Her groundbreaking PhD on focal dystonia has received international acclaim, and her teaching has influenced pianists around the world. Through her multimedia publication Fit 4 Piano, Rae shares the principles of effortless, coordinated piano playing that have transformed generations of students.

Meet Melody Deng

Melody Deng is a pianist, piano educator, lecturer and adjudicator with a Master of Music in Studio Pedagogy. Her teaching and research have focused extensively on piano technique, musical expression and the ways thoughtful pedagogy can help students become confident, expressive musicians. She has presented at national and international piano pedagogy conferences and lectured on piano teaching at the University of Auckland and the University of Waikato. Melody works closely with Dr Rae de Lisle at Fit 4 Piano, where she is the editor of the Fit 4 Piano books, model for the exercises and demonstrations, and contributes to the development of teaching resources for pianists and teachers.

Fit 4 Piano Testimonials

Experience the transformative power of Fit 4 Piano resources through inspiring testimonials

”

This is a wonderful new resource for pianists and piano teachers around the world. As a holistic guide to piano teaching at all levels it can’t be bettered – this will become a hugely influential course, with practical solutions and applications for every stage of teaching.

Stephen De Pledge

NZ Concert Pianist

”

For the longest time. I'd been trying to figure out what I was missing in my technique... It wasn't until I watched your course that everything started to make so much sense. ...I wasn't able to play fast passages without my hands and fingers seizing up. Now, I can do that with so much freedom, with no pain, and I can even control the shaping and dynamics! It's like magic.

Customer Review

Exploring Piano Technique Online Course

”

Thank you Rae for producing such a wonderful course. The fact that it was online enabled me to go back to view different topics once I had completed the course. Also I could proceed at my own rate and convenience. As I was going through the course I applied some of the technique that was demonstrated, and the students involved noticed an improvement almost immediately. I just don’t have enough words to express how invaluable the course is. Thank you to all who made it possible.

Ellen

Pianist and teacher

”

I am having a wonderful time trying out these ideas on everybody from my youngest beginners to my University students and adult students. Already seeing some wonderful results in terms of freer and more natural movement and better sound quality. What a wonderful resource.

Emma Sayers, Wellington

Pianist and lecturer

”