I've picked the first two pages of Mozart's Sonata in Bb Major, K. 281, last movement, Rondeau, Allegro to explore breathing and blocking techniques in the learning process. (These principles can be applied to practicing music from a variety of eras) Starting a composition is often taken for granted. Sometimes students will land on a… Continue reading Piano Practicing: Breathing into phrases and blocking out passages (Mozart Sonata, example)
Category: supple wrist in piano playing
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."
Piano Technique: The dipping wrist, and how it defies convention (Videos)
One of my adult students echoed a belief that has resonated for generations in piano studios across the country, if not the world. The OLD school of thought was that you played piano with a rigid, arched hand, and if you slipped into a longer, relaxed curve, or dared to DIP your wrist below the… Continue reading Piano Technique: The dipping wrist, and how it defies convention (Videos)
Piano Instruction: Part FIVE, Beethoven’s “Tempest” Sonata, Op. 31 no. 2 Measures 93 to 158 (Development, Recitative, submerged pedal)
This is a hauntingly beautiful section of the first movement. After the composer has devoted so many preceding measures to the key of A minor, he decides to travel at quick intervals through a series of different keys. Such fast-paced modulations occur primarily with the return of the crossed-hands portion of the piece, beginning in… Continue reading Piano Instruction: Part FIVE, Beethoven’s “Tempest” Sonata, Op. 31 no. 2 Measures 93 to 158 (Development, Recitative, submerged pedal)
Irina Gorin, creator of Tales of a Musical Journey, shares her thoughts about braving a new piano teaching universe
From Irina Gorin: “An expert is a person who makes all mistakes possible in a very specific field and learns from those mistakes. So I could probably consider myself getting close to being an expert in teaching children. But I hope there are many more mistakes and learning experiences ahead." This riveting quote set in… Continue reading Irina Gorin, creator of Tales of a Musical Journey, shares her thoughts about braving a new piano teaching universe
Piano Technique: Burgmuller’s Tarentelle, Op. 100-Fueling and shaping fast passages with a dipping, supple wrist (Videos)
Most piano students will have been assigned a Burgmuller selection or two during their formative years of study. And most likely, these would have been snatched from the composer's Twenty-Five Progressive Pieces, Op. 100 that advance by steps in difficulty, though it can be argued that all contain unique technical challenges. Composed in the Romantic… Continue reading Piano Technique: Burgmuller’s Tarentelle, Op. 100-Fueling and shaping fast passages with a dipping, supple wrist (Videos)
Lesson planning for a 5-year old piano student–(Video)
Rina who's into her sixth month of study, is ready to learn dotted-half notes. Up to now, she's been saturated with black and white cardboard circles included within a packet along with Irina Gorin's Tales of a Musical Journey instruction. The black notes (quarters) are known as "short" sounds, and the white ones (Half-notes), "long-sounds"… Continue reading Lesson planning for a 5-year old piano student–(Video)
Piano Technique: Two nifty warm-up routines, one loopy, the other for zig-zaggers
Claudia, 11, and I do a 20-minute warm-up before she tackles repertoire at her weekly lesson. Today I snatched two routines that might help others with the time-honored, upper arm roll, supple wrist, and elbow swing. Just my bias showing about technique and what I favor in its development. I've presented this one before, but… Continue reading Piano Technique: Two nifty warm-up routines, one loopy, the other for zig-zaggers
Piano Technique: More wrist-forward rolling motion in Sonatina by Clementi Op. 36 no. 1 Vivace (Videos)
In two videos, I flesh out the need for a rolling forward wrist motion in playing the last movement of Clementi's well-known Sonatina in C, vivace. In addition, a 3/8 meter designation in rapid tempo requires the "feeling" of ONE impulse per measure not three. And this sense of ONENESS suggests CIRCLES of motion which… Continue reading Piano Technique: More wrist-forward rolling motion in Sonatina by Clementi Op. 36 no. 1 Vivace (Videos)
Abby Whiteside and playing beyond the fingers as a point of departure (Videos)
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 conceived first in the mind and soul. This quote is riveting: "Why spend dull hours… Continue reading Abby Whiteside and playing beyond the fingers as a point of departure (Videos)