Having been submerged for 48 hours in mega-science minded theories of playing the piano, I managed to E-merge as the piano teacher I knew before the deluge–refusing to believe that my fingers are throwing hammers at the strings, or obeying the irrefutable laws of Physics.
Notwithstanding what Emanuel Ax, and Cedarville University *ProfessorJohn Mortensen are propagating in cyber, I’ve stayed virtually grounded, embracing the ART of playing the piano, with its magical, illusionary, SPIRITUAL dimension.
But in truth, it’s not rocket science to craft beautiful phrases and shape contoured lines. I proved it to myself and a dedicated Sunday morning Skype student during our singing tone model journey through J.S. Bach’s Courante. (French Suite No. 5 in G, BWV 816)
And here’s how it played out with not an iota of reference to accelerated hammer speeds.
International Online Piano Teacher, blogger, recording artist, composer, piano finder, freelance writer, film maker, story teller: Grad of the NYC H.S. of Performing Arts, Oberlin Conservatory, NYU (Master of Arts) Studies with Lillian Freundlich and Ena Bronstein; Master classes with Murray Perahia and Oxana Yablonskaya. Studios in BERKELEY, California; Member, Music Teachers Assoc. of California, MTAC; Distance learning by Skype and Face Time with supplementary videos: SKYPE ID: shirley kirsten
Contact me at: shirley_kirsten@yahoo.com OR http://www.youtube.com/arioso7 or at FACEBOOK: Shirley Smith Kirsten, http://facebook.com /shirley.kirsten; https://www.facebook.com/skirs.7/ TWITTER: http://twitter.com/arioso7
Wordpress Blog: https://arioso7.wordpress.com
Private fundraising for non-profits as pianist--Public Speaking re: piano teaching and creative approaches
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2 thoughts on “Playing J.S. Bach: Sing, Shape, and Phrase—it’s not rocket science”
I recently upgraded my IMAC to Yosemite and tech. support had to restore my RSS feeds including yours. I don’t think I am getting any new posts by email and don’t want to miss any. I will try subscribing again…email rather than RSS is fine. I save them all. Yours is my favourite piano blog. Thanks for writing!!!!
Thanks for your note.. I didn’t upgrade to Yosemite for fear of mishaps, like I had with Mavericks which inactivated my Logitech C16 webs.. so I had to purchase new ones. Hopefully, things will smooth out, and thanks for following my blog. SK
I recently upgraded my IMAC to Yosemite and tech. support had to restore my RSS feeds including yours. I don’t think I am getting any new posts by email and don’t want to miss any. I will try subscribing again…email rather than RSS is fine. I save them all. Yours is my favourite piano blog. Thanks for writing!!!!
Thanks for your note.. I didn’t upgrade to Yosemite for fear of mishaps, like I had with Mavericks which inactivated my Logitech C16 webs.. so I had to purchase new ones. Hopefully, things will smooth out, and thanks for following my blog. SK