Album for the Young by Robert Schumann – Arioso7's Blog (Shirley Kirsten)

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)

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Shaping a melodic line through chord blocking (Schumann Little Etude no. 14)

December 5, 2013January 17, 2014 arioso7: Shirley Kirsten

To block out sonorities that spring from spun out, undulating broken chords, can provide a peak learning experience. In a baby-step advance, especially, where finding a melodic thread, may consist of a one-hand alone approach at first, the pleasure to follow, comes with cushions of harmony. One of my adult students, just launched her journey… Continue reading Shaping a melodic line through chord blocking (Schumann Little Etude no. 14)

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Piano Technique: Exploring contrasting emotions when practicing a piece (as Daniil Trifonov, pianist, recommended in his videotaped interview)

February 21, 2012February 22, 2012 arioso7: Shirley Kirsten

I put into "practice" one of Trifonov's recommendations, as I mentored a second year piano student this evening. We started the lesson by playing "happy" and then "angry" consecutive staccato thirds. ("Hopping" from Dozen a Day) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaGlz5pKDZI Eventually after completing our scale and other technical routines, we applied the emotion shifts to the opening of… Continue reading Piano Technique: Exploring contrasting emotions when practicing a piece (as Daniil Trifonov, pianist, recommended in his videotaped interview)