Category Archives: singing tone legato

Creating a seamless, singing tone legato through arpeggios and scales

Posted on June 2, 2016 by

My students are often amused by my prompts that frequently include “oohs,” “ahhs,” and “wah’s,” among other spaced out sounds, to prevent consonant sounding notes or hard-liners from interrupting a smooth, “sighing” stepwise descent to the tonic. And from this … Continue reading →

Posted in adult piano instruction, piano, piano blog, piano teaching, singing tone legato | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Piano Technique: A Bouncy Scale workout with forward arm rolls and supple wrist motions–Enjoy the romp! (Videos)

Posted on May 3, 2012 by

Scales can be a great workout routine if you let your arms loose, dip your pliant wrists and go with the flow. And it’s a great cardio. (No treadmill or weights required) Just apply principles of balance and buoyancy. Here … Continue reading →

Posted in phrasing at the piano, pianist, pianists, piano, piano arpeggios, piano blog, piano blogging, piano blogs, piano instrruction, piano instructor, piano lessson, piano playing, piano playing and breathing, piano playing and phrasing, piano playing and relaxation, piano practicing, Piano Street, piano student, piano studio, piano study, piano teacher, piano teachers, piano teaching, piano technique, Piano World, piano world-wide, pianoaddict.com, Pianostreet.com, pianoworld, pianoworld.com, playing piano, POWHOW, POWHOW instruction, POWHOW piano instruction, scale fingerings, scales, scales and arpeggios, Shirley Kirsten, Shirley Kirsten blog, Shirley Kirsten certified piano instructor at POWHOW, Shirley Kirsten on POWHOW, Shirley Kirsten teaches classes at POWHOW, shirley s kirsten, Shirley Smith Kirsten, shirley smith kirsten blog, singing tone legato, studying piano, teaching piano, technique, video piano instruction, virtual piano lessons, virtual piano teaching, whole body listening, word press, word press.com, wordpress, you tube, you tube video, yout tube, youtube.com | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Abby Whiteside and playing beyond the fingers as a point of departure (Videos)

Posted on February 26, 2012 by

From WIKI: Abby Whiteside (1881–1956) was an influential American piano teacher. She challenged the finger-centric approach of much classical piano teaching and instead advocated a holistic attitude in which the arm and torso are the conductors of a musical image … Continue reading →

Posted in Abby Whiteside, Mastering the Chopin Etudes and Other Essays by Abby Whiteside, phrasing at the piano, pianists, piano, piano addict, piano blog, piano blogging, piano blogs, piano instruction, piano instructor, piano lesson, piano lessons, piano playing, piano tutorial, piano world-wide, pianoaddict.com, pianoworld, pianoworld.com, playing piano, playing piano with expression, playing the piano, Shirley Smith Kirsten, shirley smith kirsten blog, singing tone legato, slow mindful practicing, slow piano practicing, Steinway M grand, studying piano, supple wrist in piano playing, technique, the art of piano playing, The Russian singing tone school of piano teaching, video instruction, video supplementation of piano lessons, video uploading, virtual piano lessons, virtual piano teaching, whole body listening, whole body music listening, word press, word press.com, wordpress, wordpress.com, you tube, you tube video | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Teaching Gillock’s delightfully appealing, Later Elementary Level music: “The Glass Slipper” (Video)

Posted on February 4, 2012 by

I have no reservation about the immense teaching value of William Gillock’s music from elementary through advanced levels. And while the titles in the first few volumes appeal to children, the pieces can be universally enjoyed by piano students of … Continue reading →

Posted in blog, blogger, blogging, blogging about piano, blogs about piano, classissima, classissima.com, El Cerrito, El Cerrito California, El Cerrito piano studio, Fresno CA, Fresno California, Gillock "Flamenco", Gillock composer, Hal Leonard, Hal Leonard Music Publishing, Journal of a Piano Teacher from New York to California, mind body connection, mindful piano practicing, MTAC, music teachers association of california, musical phrasing, New York City High School of Performing Arts, Oberlin, phrasing at the piano, pianist, pianists, piano, piano addict, piano blog, piano blogging, piano blogs, piano instruction, piano instructor, piano lesson, piano lessons, piano lessson, piano pedagogy, piano playing and relaxation, piano practicing, piano practicing motivators, piano recital, piano repertoire, piano studio, piano study, piano teacher, piano teaching, piano teaching repertoire, piano technique, piano tutorial, Piano World, piano world-wide, pianoaddict.com, playing piano, Shirley Kirsten, Shirley Kirsten blog, shirley s kirsten, Shirley Smith Kirsten, shirley smith kirsten blog, singing tone legato, slow mindful practicing, slow piano practicing, Steinway M, Steinway piano, video performances, William Gillock, word press, wordpress.com, you tube, you tube video | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Playing through Chopin’s B minor Waltz with its sighing motif (Video commentary)

Posted on February 2, 2012 by

Last night I sat myself down at my imperfectly regulated Steinway M grand and managed to sigh several times through torrents of phrases crafted by design and inspiration to tug at the heartstrings. And in the video below, I journeyed … Continue reading →

Posted in classissima, classissima.com, Journal of a Piano Teacher from New York to California, legato playing at the piano, phrasing at the piano, pianist, pianists, piano, piano blog, piano blogging, piano instructor, piano lesson, piano lessson, piano pedagogy, piano playing and breathing, piano playing and phrasing, piano playing and relaxation, piano practicing, piano society, Piano Street, piano student, piano studio, piano teacher, piano teachers, piano teaching, piano teaching repertoire, piano technique, piano technique and the singing tone, Piano World, piano world-wide, pianoaddict.com, playing the piano with a singing tone, Shirley Kirsten, Shirley Kirsten blog, shirley s kirsten, Shirley Smith Kirsten, shirley smith kirsten blog, singing tone legato, slow mindful practicing, slow piano practicing, Steinway M, Steinway M grand piano, Steinway piano, string player, studying piano, swinging arms in playing piano, Teach Street, teaching piano, technique, tempo rubato, The art of phrasing at the piano, the art of piano pedaling, the art of piano playing, video performances, video uploading, videotaping a piano performance and self analysis, violin, virtual piano lessons, virtual piano teaching, What pianists can learn from string players, whole body listening, whole body music listening, word press, wordpress.com, you tube, you tube video | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

A Skyped supplement to piano lessons (Video)

Posted on December 20, 2011 by

Here’s an example of a Bay area student taking a Skyped piano lesson to supplement her regular weekly meetings with me. These work well, particularly if a pupil has to catch up from a vacation period absence, or needs reinforcement … Continue reading →

Posted in classissima.com, pianist, piano, piano instruction, piano instructor, piano lesson, piano lessons, piano playing and phrasing, piano practicing, piano student, piano studio, piano teacher, piano teaching, piano technique, Pianostreet.com, pianoworld, pianoworld.com, playing piano, Shirley Kirsten, Shirley Kirsten blog, Shirley Smith Kirsten, singing tone legato, Skype, skyped piano lessons, Skyping piano lessons, sonatina by Latour, studying piano, Teach Street, teaching a piano student about melody, teaching piano, teaching piano to adult students, teaching piano to adults, word press, wordpress.com, you tube | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mozart memories, reflections and revisits (Videos)

Posted on December 11, 2011 by

Andante: second movement, Mozart Sonata K. 545 played on my Steinway, 1917, M. **** My relationship to Mozart and his music began with the violin. At the Merrywood Music Camp in Lenox, Massachusetts, only a stone’s throw from Tanglewood, I … Continue reading →

Posted in Eugen Lehner, Eugene Lehner, Haddorff, harpsichord, Harpsichord Unlimited, interpreting Mozart, Juilliard School, Kolisch Quarter, Kolisch Quartet, learning piano, Lenox, Lillian Freundlich, Lillian Lefkovsky Freundlich, Massachusetts, Merrywood Music Camp, mind body connection, mindful piano practicing, molto cantabile, Mozart, Mozart 545 Andante, Mozart sonata in C K545, Mozart String Quartet K. 387, music, music and heart, music and the breath, music teachers association of california, musical inspiration, musical phrasing, musical phrasing and breathing, New York, New York City, New York City High School of Performing Arts, pedaling at the piano, phrasing at the piano, pianist, piano, piano instruction, piano instructor, piano lessons, piano pedagogy, piano playing and breathing, piano playing and relaxation, piano repertoire, pianoaddict.com, Pianostreet.com, pianoworld, pianoworld.com, practicing the left hand at the piano, publishersmarketplace, publishersmarketplace.com, Shirley Kirsten, Shirley Kirsten blog, Shirley Smith Kirsten, singing tone legato, slow mindful practicing, Uncategorized, W.A. Mozart, word press, wordpress.com, you tube, you tube video | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment