Music Education
In the UK, the biennial BBC Young Musician of the Year returned this year with a difference. The Category Finals, broadcast in May, were recorded before social distancing came into place but the Semi Final and Grand Final have been postponed until later in the year. Thinking back to previous
Music Education
All of us have spent the last several weeks adapting to the reality of a world where the COVID-19 pandemic has acutely changed nearly every part of our lives. For many piano teachers, it has been a time of sink-or-swim adaptation. Our teaching spaces are now more like broadcast studios
Music Education
When your child starts to learn an instrument it can be really exciting – for both of you. As a parent you will want to do all you can to support your child’s musical development. It’s well-known that practice between lessons is essential for a child to progress. But
Music Education
For many of our students, the works of Chopin present the first occasions where carefully planned and executed pedalling is required. The Inventions and Sonatinas they’ve studied before earning their first Chopin Waltz make few if any demands for the pedal. A brand-new sound world is offered to them
Music Education
Last summer I was in Quebec City, and one day as I happened along the Grand Allée Ouest I came upon an old church with the doors open and a Big Mama Thornton record wailing away at high volume. Intrigued, I went in for a closer look and discovered that
Music Education
Daily I am reminded of the numerous things that should be taught in lessons to develop knowledgeable and proficient pianists. Certainly in a 30 or even 60-minute lesson, priorities must be established for what will be included and what will be left for another day. In my early years of
Music Education
The Resident Conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of India, Mikel Toms, takes a moment out of rehearsals to consider the point of it all, as he asks and answers an important question: why do we rehearse at all? For years, I have been fascinated by the etymology of the word
Music Education
TACTICS FOR THE SIGHT READER I have already discussed in Part 1 how to build a slow but sure improvement in sight reading skills over time. That article also advised on the main problems and reasons for poor sight reading. To recap: * Sight reading every day is vital * A weekly
Music Education
Pedalling is essential to creating the magical sounds called for in the piano music of Debussy. The moods, atmospheres, and far-off lands he conjured cannot be evoked without skilful use of both the sustaining and the una corda pedals. In my experience students respond very positively to this music once
Music Education
Did you know that the word “patter” comes from the Catholic “Pater Noster,” which was apparently recited as fast as possible by the congregation? Equal in hilarity to the image of a monotone group of Catholics speeding through holy texts out of sheer rote/boredom are all the “patter songs”
Music Education
GROWING THE SKILL So often relegated to the “too difficult” category, feared and loathed as part of the exam syllabus, wistfully envied in the “naturally talented” … sight reading seldom excites optimism or enthusiasm. Yet it would make no sense to ignore it in building the full set of Useful Pianist
Music Education
Stringed instruments and their printed scores had been in existence for centuries before the piano was invented. When music started being written expressly for the piano many of the notational conventions of string music were carried over. Slurs and staccatos are found in the early works for piano by J.
