http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0SfJSgp71U About twenty years ago, before I was enlightened about the risk of injuries when I practiced and how to avoid them, I sustained a ligament tear of my ring finger, right hand. It was while playing the Schumann Carnaval, and just before it happened, I had held my hand in a rigid arched position… Continue reading Piano Instruction: Avoiding Injuries, using “Butterfly” by Edvard Grieg as a slow practicing example (Videos)
Category: classissima
More ideas about Piano Technique and Mental Imagery (Playing into a Bowl of Molasses)
Continuing my practice of videotaping my Thursday evening lesson, I reviewed the footage and discovered some catch words that helped me clarify ideas about technique and fluency. While it may sound a bit outlandish to think of the piano as a "bowl of molasses," the image alone helped my adult student approach the keys with… Continue reading More ideas about Piano Technique and Mental Imagery (Playing into a Bowl of Molasses)
My Anna Magdalena Bach Notebook favorites, and why it’s best to play the real deal (Video)
I was thinking about an adult student I currently teach in the Bay area who thumbed through her Faber Older Beginner Adult Accelerated Piano Adventures Method Book, and was instantly drawn to "Musette,"one of the many pieces contained in Anna Magdalena's Notebook. Transcribed to "G Position" by Randall Faber and reduced to a fraction of… Continue reading My Anna Magdalena Bach Notebook favorites, and why it’s best to play the real deal (Video)
One of my students performs J.S. Bach’s Fugue in C minor, BWV 847, Regional Finalist, Baroque Festival
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b9p5z9XbEI Staci played both the Prelude and Fugue in C minor, BWV847 for the Central Valley Baroque Festival. All Regional finalists received Medals and an appearance at the Honors Recital The recording conditions were not the best.
Practicing “Flight of the Bumblebee” in slow tempo (Rachmaninoff Arrangement of Rimsky-Korsakov)-Video
"Flight of the Bumblebee" was originally composed for orchestra. It was the Interlude of the opera, Legend of the Tsar Sultan (1900) by Rimsky-Korsakov. According to the plot, a prince becomes a bee and stings his villainous relatives. The piece has been arranged many times over for various instruments including the piano. The edition that… Continue reading Practicing “Flight of the Bumblebee” in slow tempo (Rachmaninoff Arrangement of Rimsky-Korsakov)-Video
Piano Instruction: Working on the flexible wrist with a hair band (Videos)
I videotaped Nayelli, age 10, practicing the use of a flexible wrist. I also integrated the hair band (demonstrated by Irina Gorin) into the lesson for the purpose of teaching the dead weight drop into notes with a dipping wrist. All advance the singing tone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmBrKEuk3bo Nayelli plays Faber's "Scarf Dance" (Lesson Book 1, Piano… Continue reading Piano Instruction: Working on the flexible wrist with a hair band (Videos)
Piano Instruction: Learning from our colleagues (Videos)
Since we are very isolated as piano teachers, nurturing one-to-one relationships with our students for months and years at a time, we sometimes forget that there are other teaching universes beyond our own with repositories of ideas that may enrich the learning environment. One example, is the cosmos of Irina Gorin's studio in Indiana. I've… Continue reading Piano Instruction: Learning from our colleagues (Videos)
Digital Piano Review continued: On Location at Best Buy in Fresno CA (6 videos)
This was such a smooth experience. Matthew Wheeler was found playing drums and keyboard in Best Buy's atrium, for want of a better name, and he stopped what he was doing to film me sampling digitals. These were console models: Roland F110, Casio 830, and Yamaha Arius YDP 141. There are six videos, including a… Continue reading Digital Piano Review continued: On Location at Best Buy in Fresno CA (6 videos)
Practicing on a Digital Piano (Video) PROS and CONS
My Casio PX 110 sits on the second floor of my townhouse because there's no room for it anywhere else. Haddy Haddorff stole the space that Cassy formerly inhabited. In truth, the digital is not on the high priority activity list of instruments here but it has a role in technique-based toning and conditioning In… Continue reading Practicing on a Digital Piano (Video) PROS and CONS
J.S. Bach Prelude in C minor, BWV 847 from the Well-Tempered Clavier (Two Videos)–exploring the Chordal outline/harmonic rhythm
In summary, there is so much harmonic rhythm to think about here that mapping the chordal outline helps keep the composition from degenerating into non-stop, punctuated 16ths, at least in the opening section marked Allegro Moderato. A compelling melody is woven through the harmonic fabric and must always be fleshed out. The Adagio interlude is… Continue reading J.S. Bach Prelude in C minor, BWV 847 from the Well-Tempered Clavier (Two Videos)–exploring the Chordal outline/harmonic rhythm
