Piano Instruction: Analysis J.S. Bach Fugue in C minor, BWV847 (Videos)

http://youtu.be/ii0KsFQjGNA This first video represents Part One of my Discussion and Analysis of the Fugue, BWV 847, inclusive of the Exposition. (I use the Palmer edition) In the course of a fugue, the SUBJECT should always be fleshed out in whatever voice it appears, but an awareness of counter-subject one, counter-subject 2 and motivic, imitative…

Summer Piano Lessons and Musical Progress

I used to believe that summer was a time to let go of piano lessons, to allow students a break from the tight schedule of weekly meetings during the school year. That was my perception until I slowly but surely realized how many holidays and Teacher institute breaks made September to June feel like 7…

Piano Instruction: Attentive listening to the end of a note before playing the next (E minor arpeggio in TENTHS) Video

In the course of practicing an E minor Arpeggio, (E, G, B, E) in TENTHS (Right hand begins on G, finger no. 1) I reinforced the idea that listening attentively to the very end of a note before the next is played is an essential ingredient of beautiful phrasing and fluid playing. The video expands:…

Piano Technique: Rolling out a four-note E minor arpeggio in all inversions (using a supple wrist and relaxed arm)-Video

The key to achieving fluidity in playing these arpeggios, is having a relaxed arm and supple, "spongy" wrist. The wrist, I would add is a SPRING, or shock absorber. If you freeze your wrist, you might as well play the piano with a pencil. I dip my wrist with each inversion, and I roll into…

Piano Lessons and dropout rates: How the initial interview is better than a crystal ball

I've been eyeing the forums lately at Piano World, and a hot topic is why students drop out of lessons, some after only a few months. A related thread had jabber about a circulating statistic that level 2 method books took a significant marketplace nose dive. What could it mean? I looked into my crystal…

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…

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…

Digitals, Acoustics, the economy, and piano lessons

After I showered myself in digitals these past two days, I pleasantly dried out and came home to my dearly beloved acoustic pianos. (Two Steinways and a Haddorff) Now nothing is perfect in the world of electronics or acoustics. There are a repository of pitfalls associated with each, and it can be maddening to deal…

Aiden Cat joins Ilyana, age 8, at the Haddorff piano (Video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5tK4GvhqRo On a scorching Wednesday morning, Aiden was piano plopping. First it was the Steinway piano bench -- then he moved on to Haddy where he joined Ilyana who played "Firefly" and the first section of "Little Flower Girl of Paris" by William Gillock. Ilyana declared that she liked Haddy more than the Steinway grand…

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…