Tag Archives: piano technique

Piano Technique: When scale notes go off the radar screen

Posted on March 1, 2013 by arioso7: Shirley Kirsten

One of my Skype students is practicing the D Major scale in contrary motion. (Her thumbs at Middle D) We start slow triplets to 16ths, to 32nds (Legato/Staccato/Forte/piano) The snag occurs at the third and final octave out, where most … Continue reading →

Posted in D major scale, piano lessons, Shirley Kirsten, Shirley Smith Kirsten, wordpress.com, you tube.com | Tagged Berkeley piano studio, classissima, classissima.com, D major scale, D major scale in contrary motion, El Cerrito piano studio, piano addict, piano lesson, piano lessons by Skype, piano street, piano technique, Piano World, Shirley Kirsten, Shirley Smith Kirsten, Word Press, wordpress.com, You Tube, you tube.com | Leave a comment

Piano Technique: Are arpeggios “boring?” I don’t think so!

Posted on February 22, 2013 by arioso7: Shirley Kirsten

Arpeggios don’t deserve a bad rap! Continue reading →

Posted in Chopin, Chopin Waltz in A minor no. 19, classissima, classissima.com, Frederic Chopin, piano addict, piano technique, practicing arpeggios, you tube.com | Tagged arpeggios, Chopin, chopin Waltz in A minor No. 19, classissima, classsissima.com, piano, piano addict, piano instruction, piano lessons by Skype, piano street, piano teaching, piano technique, Piano World, piano worldwide, Shirley Kirsten, Shirley Smith Kirsten, teaching arpeggios, Wordpress, wordpress.com, You Tube, youtube.com | Leave a comment

The C Major Scale universe: metric and muscle memory; shaping and tapering

Posted on January 25, 2013 by arioso7: Shirley Kirsten

The C Major scale is more than meets the “I,” if you’re the one practicing it! Continue reading →

Posted in C Major Scale, C major scale at the piano, classissima, classissima.com, Journal of a Piano Teacher from New York to California, piano instruction, piano instruction by Skype, piano lessons, piano lessons for adults, piano lessons in Berkeley California, piano lessons in El Cerrito California, piano teachers, piano teaching, piano technique, Piano World, pianoaddict.com, playing staccato at the piano, playing the piano, playing the piano with a singing tone, POWHOW, POWHOW instruction, Shirley Kirsten, Shirley Kirsten blog, shirley s kirsten, Shirley Smith Kirsten, shirley smith kirsten blog, skype piano lesson, Skype piano lessons, skyped piano lessons, Skyping piano lessons, teaching piano online, teaching piano to adults, the breath and phrasing in piano playing, whole body listening, whole body music listening, word press, word press.com, wordpress, wordpress.com, you tube, you tube video, you tube.com, yout tube, youtube.com | Tagged Berkeley piano studio, classissima, classissima.com, El Cerrito piano studio, Journal of a Piano Teacher from New York to California, metric memory at the piano, muscle memory at the piano, online webcam piano lessons, pianist, piano, piano addict, piano instruction, piano lessons, piano lessons by Skype, piano street, piano teaching, piano technique, Piano World, practicing a C Major scale at the piano, Shirley Kirsten, Shirley Smith Kirsten, skyping piano lessons | Leave a comment

No Skimming the surface in piano warm-ups and a Chopin exchange with a sixth-grader

Posted on January 24, 2013 by arioso7: Shirley Kirsten

Lucy started piano about four years ago in El Cerrito, a short Bart ride from Berkeley, my current residence. A transfer student, she’d been immersed in Bastien primers and hand-outs of various patriotic pieces. Note-reading skills were minimal. Over time, … Continue reading →

Posted in Journal of a Piano Teacher from New York to California, piano, piano instruction, piano lessons, piano lessons in Berkeley California, piano lessons in El Cerrito California, word press, word press.com, wordpress, wordpress.com, you tube, you tube video, you tube.com, yout tube, youtube.com | Tagged Berkeley piano studio, Chopin, chopin Waltz in A minor No. 19, classissima, classissima.com, E Major arpeggio, El Cerrito piano studio, pianist, piano, piano addict, piano instruction, piano lesson, piano street, piano teacher, piano technique, Piano World, Shirley Kirsten, Shirley Smith Kirsten, Word Press, wordpress.com, You Tube | Leave a comment

Two Adult Piano Students explore an undulating wrist motion (Videos)

Posted on January 22, 2013 by arioso7: Shirley Kirsten

In the first video, I introduce C Major, 4-note arpeggios rolling through positions or “inversions” in preparation for my lesson with an adult student in El Cerrito, California. C E G C—E G C E—G C E G– C E … Continue reading →

Posted in C Major arpeggio, piano instruction, piano lessons, piano technique, The supple wrist in piano playing, the undulating wrist, whole body listening, whole body music listening, word press, word press.com, wordpress, wordpress.com, you tube, you tube.com, yout tube, youtube.com | Tagged Berkeley piano studio, C Major arpeggio, classissima, classissima.com, El Cerrito piano studio, Journal of a Piano Teacher from New York to California, piano addict, piano instruction, piano lessons, piano teaching, piano technique, Piano World, playing 4 note arpeggios at the piano, Shirley Kirsten, Shirley Smith Kirsten, the supple wrist in piano playing, the undulating wrist, Word Press, wordpress.com, You Tube, you tube.com | Leave a comment

Piano Technique: Sports analogies weave in and out of Five-Finger positions (Videos)

Posted on January 20, 2013 by arioso7: Shirley Kirsten

Piano warm-ups are filled with vibrant, athletic energy! Continue reading →

Posted in classissima, classissima.com, five-finger warm-ups at the piano, Journal of a Piano Teacher from New York to California, piano instruction, piano technique, Shirley Kirsten, Shirley Smith Kirsten, word press.com, wordpress, wordpress.com, you tube, you tube.com, yout tube, youtube.com | Tagged Berkeley piano studio, classissima, classissima.com, El Cerrito piano studio, five-finger warm-ups at the piano, Journal of a Piano Teacher from New York to California, piano addict, piano instruction, piano lessons, piano lessons by Skype, Piano lessons by Skype with Shirley Kirsten, piano street, piano technique, Piano World, piano worldwide, playing five-finger positions in legato, playing staccato at the piano, Shirley Kirsten, Shirley Smith Kirsten, You Tube, youtube.com | Leave a comment

A Skype piano lesson-in-progress bundled with technique and Romantic era phrasing

Posted on January 10, 2013 by arioso7: Shirley Kirsten

Despite the imperfection of the media environment, there’s intrinsic musical and pedagogical value in web-cam-driven piano lessons. Continue reading →

Posted in classissima, classissima.com, piano instruction, piano lessons by Skype, word press, word press.com, wordpress, wordpress.com, you tube, you tube video, yout tube, youtube.com | Tagged Berkeley piano studio, Chopin Waltz in A minor No.19 Op. Posthumous, classissima, classissima.com, D Major arpeggio, El Cerrito piano studio, piano addict, piano instruction, piano lessons by Skype, piano lessons in cyber, piano street, piano technique, Piano World, POWHOW, POWHOW.com, Romantic era music, Shirley Kirsten, Shirley Smith Kirsten, Word Press, wordpress.com, You Tube | Leave a comment

Piano Technique: Perfecting Staccato–playing basketball and ping pong ball (Video)

Posted on October 18, 2012 by arioso7: Shirley Kirsten

A piano student in Greece uses mental imagery to improve his staccato playing Continue reading →

Posted in finger staccato, forearm staccato, piano, piano lessons, piano technique, playing piano, Shirley Kirsten, Shirley Smith Kirsten, Skype, skype piano lesson, Skype piano lesson to Greece, sports metaphors in piano teaching, staccato, word press, word press.com, wordpress.com, you tube video, you tube.com, yout tube, youtube.com | Tagged Berkeley piano studio, El Cerrito piano studio, finger staccato, forearm staccato, pianist, piano, piano lesson, piano technique, playing piano, playing staccato at the piano, Shirley Kirsten, Shirley Smith Kirsten, Skype, Skype piano lesson, skype piano lesson to Greece, skype piano lessons, sports metaphors in piano teaching | Leave a comment

Old World piano playing (1949) with a pronounced wrist break

Posted on September 29, 2012 by arioso7: Shirley Kirsten

The supple wrist amounts to a “wrist break” that is discouraged among partisans of the Taubman approach. In the main, they adhere to a forearm-driven piano technique along with rotation, and relaxation . The videos embedded, however, contradict such rigid thinking about the wrist, as demonstrated by the performance of a Polish pianist (1949) A Chopin Mazurka is energized by redundant wrist breaks without incurred injury. As one colleague related in reference to Taubman/Golandsky, “how could decades of Russian teaching so easily be tossed aside.” Continue reading →

Posted in Chopin, Chopin Mazurka, Chopin Mazurka Op. 63 No.3, Chopin Mazurka Op. 68 No. 2, classissima, classissima.com, Frederic Chopin, Halina Czerny-Stefanska, Irina Morozova, piano playing, piano technique, Romantic era music, supple wrist in piano playing, you tube, you tube video, you tube.com, yout tube, youtube.com | Tagged Bella Davidovitch, Chopin, Chopin Mazurka Op. 63 No. 3, Chopin Mazurka Op. 68 No. 2, classissima, classissima.com, Frederic Chopin, Halina Czerny-Stefanska, Irina Morozova, piano technique, Romantic era music, Shirley Kirsten, Shirley Smith Kirsten, supple wrist in piano playing, Word Press, You Tube, you tube.com | Leave a comment

Teaching “Clowns” by Kabalevsky from the Op. 39 Children’s Pieces (Video)

Posted on August 31, 2012 by arioso7: Shirley Kirsten

Kabalevsky’s ebullient miniature teaches technique while it satisfies a student’s musical appetite. Continue reading →

Posted in El Cerrito piano studio | Tagged Dimitry Kabalevsky, Kabalevsky Clowns, Op. 39 Chldren's Pieces, piano, piano instruction, piano technique, playing piano, Shirley Kirsten, Shirley Smith Kirsten | Leave a comment

Tag Archives: piano technique

Piano Technique: When scale notes go off the radar screen

Piano Technique: Are arpeggios “boring?” I don’t think so!

The C Major Scale universe: metric and muscle memory; shaping and tapering

No Skimming the surface in piano warm-ups and a Chopin exchange with a sixth-grader

Two Adult Piano Students explore an undulating wrist motion (Videos)

Piano Technique: Sports analogies weave in and out of Five-Finger positions (Videos)

A Skype piano lesson-in-progress bundled with technique and Romantic era phrasing

Piano Technique: Perfecting Staccato–playing basketball and ping pong ball (Video)

Old World piano playing (1949) with a pronounced wrist break

Teaching “Clowns” by Kabalevsky from the Op. 39 Children’s Pieces (Video)

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