Pencil first, always

Good annotation is a conversation with your future self. The player you'll be in a fortnight — or in six months, when the piece returns for an exam or a concert — needs to understand at a glance what you meant. That is why the most useful rule is also the simplest: use a pencil, never a pen. A pen commits you to a fingering you may abandon by Tuesday, and ink on printed music is very difficult to remove without damaging the paper. A pencil lets the score evolve alongside your playing, which is exactly how learning a piece works.

Choose a pencil that is soft enough to read easily but hard enough not to smudge: an HB or a B is usually ideal. Keep a soft plastic rubber in your case and erase by lifting rather than scrubbing. If you're working on a piece seriously, make a photocopy and mark that copy freely — your original stays clean for future use.

Write fingerings above the notes

Fingering is where most players make their first and biggest mess, usually by writing in three different styles across one page. Settle on a system and stay with it. For right-hand passages, write the numbers above the stave. For left-hand passages, write them below. Where the hands share a stave, keep right-hand numbers above and left-hand numbers below, even if it means a little crowding.

• Write the number directly above or below the note head it applies to, not floating in the middle of the bar.
• Use a small circle or bracket round a fingering you are still deciding on, then erase the circle once it has settled.
• Mark only the fingerings you actually need — the awkward shifts, the repeated notes, the passage where you keep slipping. Fingering every single note makes the page noisy and slows your reading.

Make repeats and jumps unmissable

The structures that catch people out are rarely the notes; they are the navigation. Pencilled brackets around a repeated section are far more visible than the printer's small repeat signs. Circle bar numbers at the start of each section and draw a bold bracket from the repeat sign back to the opening of the passage.

For pieces with a Da Capo, Dal Segno, coda or Fine, write the route in the margin as a short list: for example, "bars 1–16, 17–32, D.C. to bar 5, coda." It looks fussy. It saves a memorised performance from falling apart.

Page turns deserve the same treatment. If a turn falls in the middle of a busy passage, either photocopy and tape the pages so the turn lands somewhere quieter, or write TURN in the margin with the first two notes of the next page written in pencil at the foot of the page you're leaving. A quick hand-written reminder is worth more than a prayer.

Keep dynamics and articulation consistent

Printed dynamics are easy to overlook, so many players circle them — and then circle something slightly different each week. Pick one way of drawing attention to a marking and use it everywhere. If you circle the p at bar 12, circle it at bar 48 too. Where the same phrase returns, it should carry the same reminder, otherwise you'll unconsciously play it differently for no musical reason.

Useful habits include:

• One colour of pencil for everything. Two colours can help — one for fingering, one for dynamics — but only if you stick to the rule for the whole piece.
• Consistent shorthand. Write "cresc.", "dim.", "rit." and "accel." in the same abbreviated form each time, and use the same wedge shape for a crescendo. A private key at the top of the first page is sensible for a longer work.
• Mark the pulse, not the plot. A small metronome number at the start, and a pencil arrow where the tempo changes, tells you far more than a paragraph of words.

Protect the original and keep the page calm

A score should be usable, not crowded. If a page has become a thicket of notes, take a fresh photocopy and mark it again with only what you now know you need. Layering markings on top of markings makes you read your own confusion instead of the music. Keep the copy flat in a folder rather than folded into a pocket, don't leave it on the music desk in a sunny window, and wash your hands before playing — paper picks up oils and grime far faster than you would think.

Care from the page to the piano

All of this sits within a wider habit of care. A pencil, a rubber and a tidy copy help you practise more efficiently; the same principle applies to the instrument. Keep the piano away from radiators, draughty doors and direct sunlight, since sudden changes in temperature and humidity are what push tuning out most quickly. Most instruments benefit from tuning twice a year, ideally as the seasons shift, and a little attention to a sticky key or a squeaky pedal at the first sign is far cheaper than waiting.

Light marking, thoughtful maintenance and steady practice all point the same way: less time fighting the page or the piano, and more time making music. If you would like help deciding what to mark and what to leave alone, or working out when your piano is next due a tuning, do get in touch — we are always glad to help local players get the most from their instrument.