Without a doubt, Chopin's Prelude in G, Op. 28, No.3, requires a deft Left Hand that can meet the challenge of playing 16th notes in Vivace framing. (extremely quickly) The question is, can most students apply their slow practicing model to the mega-speed zone. In this connection, I often wonder, if there's an inborn disposition… Continue reading Chopin Prelude No. 3 in G Major, Op. 28: Is the ultimate tempo within reach?
Category: Piano Street
Parceling out voices in Chopin’s Nocturne in F Major, Op. 15
Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass scoring in Chopin's hauntingly beautiful F Major Nocturne (opening section) begs for an artistic examination through voice parceling. One cannot just paste the left hand onto the right, deferring entirely to the soprano. (soloist) Meandering chromatics weave through the alto, tenor, and bass, creating unexpected harmonic events that influence melodic shaping,… Continue reading Parceling out voices in Chopin’s Nocturne in F Major, Op. 15
My first day learning a new piece and what was accomplished (Video)
In keeping with my resolution to learn new music quickly but thoroughly, I've set out today's first experience with Tchaikovsky's colorful, "Winter Morning" (Op. 39, No. 2, Children's Album) to give students of piano, ideas surrounding their first encounter with a composition: how the physical, musical, cognitive and affective (emotional) dimensions of a work, can… Continue reading My first day learning a new piece and what was accomplished (Video)
Favorite Tchaikovsky piano pieces and their pedagogical value
I made a promise to myself well before the New Year, that I would learn one new Tchaikovsky composition each day from the composer's Op. 39 Children's Album. (24 tableaux) Not that I'm recommending to piano students that they assimilate new music at lightning speed, but for me the challenge was to make a spurt… Continue reading Favorite Tchaikovsky piano pieces and their pedagogical value
Piano Instruction: Spinning Long Melodic lines in Romantic era music (Videos)
I'm about to fly off to a Skype lesson in UK, but while grounded here in Berkeley, I want to share epiphanies about spinning long melodic lines in the Romantic era genre. Using Schumann's supposedly less complex "Melody" from his Album for the Young, I found myself exploring physical motions that needed to be synthesized… Continue reading Piano Instruction: Spinning Long Melodic lines in Romantic era music (Videos)
My Yamaha Arius digital is singing again!
Harry Mello is the hero of this long-winded tale. Poor Yamaha Arius had lost her voice. She was dried out, and un-sustainable. All of her pedals, if not petals had died on the vine. She was speechless. To her dear rescue came the Yamaha Corporation, who dispatched Saint Mello from B Street Music to bring… Continue reading My Yamaha Arius digital is singing again!
A Conversation with David v.R. Bowles, Award-winning Classical Recording Engineer/Producer
David v.R. Bowles inhabits a sprawling space in Wildcat Canyon, high up in the Berkeley Hills where nature's bounty is a source of inspiration. It also happens to be home to his Classical Recording Company, Swineshead Productions that he formed in 1995. Here's where Bowles does mixing and mastering once he's wrapped up meticulous recording… Continue reading A Conversation with David v.R. Bowles, Award-winning Classical Recording Engineer/Producer
Steinway and Sons is sold, and the digitals are probably having a party
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/07/01/steinway-sold-to-private-equity-firm-for-438-million/ It was no surprise to read about Steinway selling out to Kohlberg and Company .. Why? because, 1) who has the money to buy a pricey grand 2) Digitals are turning acoustics into dinosaurs. If I were purist and dismissed all my students who had electronics, I'd be catapulted into bankruptcy. In all candor,… Continue reading Steinway and Sons is sold, and the digitals are probably having a party
A Russian composer’s colorful pieces with a strong teaching dimension
Native Russian, Samuel Maykapar (b.1867, d. 1938) composed a set of gorgeous, program-inspired pieces, that are carefully phrased, articulated, and fingered. The music is ear-catching in the spirit of Dimitri Kabalevsky and William Gillock as all three composers were highly expressive and imaginative within a pedagogical framing. Maykapar aims to teach an ebullient, crisp staccato… Continue reading A Russian composer’s colorful pieces with a strong teaching dimension
Should a piano student be a carbon copy of the teacher?
The whole universe of music teaching and learning became crystallized when I found myself bouncing ideas back and forth with two parents of Suzuki-trained children on a blog COMMENTS forum. First, I questioned the purist form of the Japanese imported "method" to the piano that delays note-reading to conform with the acquisition of language. Babies,… Continue reading Should a piano student be a carbon copy of the teacher?
