Marianna Prjevalskaya, an international personality, with roots in Spain; mentored in her formative years by her Russian mother, is a conspicuously accomplished pianist. As she journeys from one competition to another, she's racking up prizes in every venue imaginable. But what's most noteworthy are her profound gifts of communication: The pianist's phrase-loving playing has drawn… Continue reading Prjevalskaya soars as a world-wide pianist!
Month: August 2014
From Chemo to Carnegie Hall, a Local Pianist makes her New York Debut
This is a heart-wrenching story that reads like a movie script. A gifted musician in the throes of her teaching career is stricken with cancer, endures bouts of energy-draining chemotherapy, but clings to the piano as her lifeline. In the final scene, she's not on her death bed, but on the stage of Carnegie to… Continue reading From Chemo to Carnegie Hall, a Local Pianist makes her New York Debut
Piano Technique: A Legato to staccato arpeggio with “rolls and snips”
When playing a three-note (root, third, fifth) arpeggio over a spread of 3-4 octaves, the ROLLING motion that permeates a Legato rendering in triplets, can nicely snip into a buoyant staccato, if the arm, wrist and fingers are unimpeded by tension. I've found the wrist, in particular, to be pivotal in sculpting a satisfying legato… Continue reading Piano Technique: A Legato to staccato arpeggio with “rolls and snips”
Schubert Impromptu No. 2 in Eb, Op. 90: Looping and Grouping notes
"Looping" and "grouping" provide prompts for practicing relentless triplets in the opening section of Schubert's Eb Impromptu. Myriads of scale-like passages meander in unpredictable directions at times, often inserting half-steps under principle notes that carry a thread of melody that peaks with a sequence of secondary dominants to climax. But of poignant beauty is an… Continue reading Schubert Impromptu No. 2 in Eb, Op. 90: Looping and Grouping notes
J.S. Bach Invention No. 13 in A minor: Early learning phase Deep Key Connection
Many piano students tiptoe through a parceled voice reading of a new composition instead of choosing a relaxed, behind tempo approach that allows a deep, dead weight COMMITTED connection into the keys. Thinking that the notes are strange and unfamiliar they distance themselves from phrase shaping, and tend to breeze quickly through a score in… Continue reading J.S. Bach Invention No. 13 in A minor: Early learning phase Deep Key Connection
Adult Piano Instruction: Exploring weight transfer and supple wrist motions for improved phrase shaping
A new adult student is working on Beethoven's Sonatina in F, one of the composer's less played works, but nevertheless quite a musical gem. While the composition has a Mozartean flavor, the abrupt shift in dynamics in the opening theme, for example, offers a glimpse into Beethoven's later development of his larger Sonata form, where… Continue reading Adult Piano Instruction: Exploring weight transfer and supple wrist motions for improved phrase shaping
