This pupil demonstrates patient, behind tempo practicing: http://youtu.be/xQzGrSCfBLU My play through (with flexible forward wrist motions to help sculpt phrases) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbzKAmz2r_A LINK: https://arioso7.wordpress.com/2013/06/20/piano-warm-up-routines-with-an-adult-student/
Category: Frederic Chopin
Piano lesson: Chopin B minor Waltz, Op. 69, no 2. (bouncing phrases back and forth)
Teaching affords the greatest opportunity to listen objectively to students serving up their menu of pieces. It allows ideas to spring forward and bounce back. Today, my Greek student resurrected his Chopin B Minor Waltz in preparation for a forthcoming concert, and he sorted through some of my epiphanies that were born of his playing.… Continue reading Piano lesson: Chopin B minor Waltz, Op. 69, no 2. (bouncing phrases back and forth)
The polishing stage of learning can be dessert for a piano teacher and student
I relish time spent with a student who's baby-stepped a musical journey with patience and self-acceptance. The polishing stage is icing on the cake, a dessert following the main course. In this case, an adult pupil kept to a regimen of scales and arpeggios in A minor, as her tip-toe adventure into a Chopin Waltz… Continue reading The polishing stage of learning can be dessert for a piano teacher and student
Piano Technique: Are arpeggios “boring?” I don’t think so!
Arpeggios don't deserve a bad rap!
A Love Story Woven on a Chopin Canvas
A few years ago, I received a telling message through my Authors Den website. John Bidwell, a spirited short story writer and poet, shared more than a literary connection with me. He waxed poetic about his late mother and father, Eleanor and David, who were pianists and 1950's classmates at Oberlin. (my alma mater) A… Continue reading A Love Story Woven on a Chopin Canvas
Play the piano like it’s a violin (Thoughts on practicing Chopin’s Prelude in E minor, Op. 28 no. 4)
If pianists would think of the string or vocal model when playing, their phrases would be sculpted and shaped nicely.
The joy of working on Chopin’s phrasing with an adult student (Waltz in A minor, No. 19, Op. Posth.) Videos
A teacher/student musical collaboration is a uniquely poetic experience..
Old World piano playing (1949) with a pronounced wrist break
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."
Where harmonies shape phrases: Chopin’s Prelude in E minor, Op. 28, No. 4
Chopin cloaked one of his most memorable preludes in lush harmonies that reveal the beauty of a simple melody.
Harmonic Rhythm, melodic twists, and emotional shifts in Chopin’s B Minor Waltz, Op. 69, No. 2 (Video)
The harmonic flow of a piece is one ingredient of phrase shaping, along with melodic contouring that springs from the human voice and its natural breath. All have emotional consequence as music pours out of the heart and soul of a performer. So getting below the surface of a piece of music, means delving into… Continue reading Harmonic Rhythm, melodic twists, and emotional shifts in Chopin’s B Minor Waltz, Op. 69, No. 2 (Video)
