Many students practise a piece fixed on a single reference recording, playing the notes identically, yet the whole performance has no life. ABRSM candidates especially tend to copy the standard reference directly, overlooking the rich variety music naturally holds. In fact, listening to different recordings of the same piece is a crucial step in learning. This article looks at the value in it.
1. Break the Fixed Template — Don't Just Copy a Recording
For the same score, the notes, rhythm and key don't change, but each performer handles it very differently: some play gently and unhurried, some crisp and brisk; some stretch a phrase to set a mood, some pick up the pace for vigour.
Listening to only one version, it's easy to decide “this is the only correct way.” Hearing different performers and teachers, you realise: the score is a basic framework, not a rigid constraint — as long as it fits the piece's intent, reasonable personal handling is fine.
2. Read the Piece's Inner Life — Tell Apart Technique and Feeling
A score can only mark basic speed and dynamics; it cannot spell out all the emotion a composer hides within. For the same piece, sadness can be spoken softly or borne heavily; joy can bound brightly or smile gently.
Comparing several versions, you more easily tell apart which playing merely shows off technique and which is full of genuine feeling. Grasping the story a piece means to tell, you no longer just mechanically play notes.
3. Refine Your Own Playing — Build a Personal Style
Imitating the reference at the start is to build fundamentals; but over the long run, one must grow one's own character. After comparing versions, take the best of each — borrow one person's gentle touch, absorb another's natural ebb and flow of dynamics — and combine a way of playing that suits you, rather than sounding the same as everyone. To go further in interpretation, you are welcome to explore it through a one-to-one piano consultation.
4. Steadier in Exams and Performance, With Warmer Interpretation
ABRSM examiners hear a great many candidates over the years, and much of it is uniform, copied from reference recordings; examiners genuinely look forward to seeing more students interpret with rich, varied emotion.
Having built up a wide sense of different versions in daily practice, you don't have to rigidly memorise a recording in the exam room — you can naturally adjust speed and dynamics to the moment, and play more calmly. Thoughtful, warm interpretation moves people more than copying notes.
In Closing: Hold the Score, and Grow Your Own Voice
The score is a piece's skeleton; personal interpretation is the music's soul. I encourage everyone to listen to different versions and refine a personal style, but also not to overlook the score itself: the key, texture, harmony, background and playing directions a composer marks are equally the core of playing a piece well.
Learning is not a one-to-one copy of a recording. Listen widely, compare, and hold to the score's details, and adults and children alike can play a moving performance that is their own.
Further Reading
How to Memorise Piano Music Effectively: Don't Rely on Finger Muscle Memory Alone
A Systematic Practice Self-Check for Pieces: From Setting the Style to the Pedal
Beyond “Passing the Exam”: Why I Care More That Students Can Truly Play
Frequently Asked Questions
Why not listen to just one reference recording?
Listening to only one version tends to fix the idea that “this is the only correct way,” and the playing easily becomes mechanical. Hearing different performers shows that the score is a framework, not a constraint, and reasonable personal interpretation has room.
Won't listening to many versions leave a student unsure what to do?
No. The point of comparing versions is to understand a piece's possibilities and feeling, then take the best of each to build one's own style — not to copy everything. Holding to the score's details remains the foundation.
Is listening to different versions suitable for exam candidates too?
Yes. Examiners look forward to playing with personal interpretation and warmth. Building a sense of different versions in daily practice lets a candidate interpret more naturally in the exam, rather than memorising a recording.
Won't listening to versions mean overlooking the score itself?
It shouldn't. Listening widely and holding to the score are not in conflict — the key, harmony, texture and playing directions a composer marks are equally core to playing a piece well; both matter.
Ms. Kannaz Kwok
30+ years of piano teaching experience. Holder of internationally recognised qualifications from the Royal Academy of Music and Trinity Laban Conservatoire.