It's easy for piano teachers to inhabit a comfortable space, teaching mainly repertoire that they've well learned, put away and brought back for review. It can perpetuate a stale process of retreading "old" pieces without posing a refreshing self-made challenge to learn a complex "new" work from the ground up side-by-side with a pupil. About… Continue reading Learning a new and challenging piece along with a student
Tag: Johann Sebastian Bach
“Great pianists speak about imagination and the singing approach”
https://youtu.be/hnIjGICvfAU I'm grateful to Pianist/Teacher Emma Leiuman for posting this recorded ensemble of inspired voices. Leon Fleisher, Daniel Barenboim, Gyorgy Sebok and Arthur Rubinstein share an approach to music-making that is devoid of mechanics, didactics, and methodology. They speak about a cosmos of internally imagined tonal images, emotions, colors, and orchestration that spring from the… Continue reading “Great pianists speak about imagination and the singing approach”
Piano Technique: Shaking out Bach Ornaments! and the influence of Claudio Arrau
When working on executing ornaments with an adult student as they appear in J.S. Bach's Prelude in F minor, I thought instantly of Claudio Arrau's allusions to "shaking" these out, without having a thread of tension in the arms, wrists, and hands. One of his biographers, Joseph Horowitz, profiled the pianist in an extensive interview… Continue reading Piano Technique: Shaking out Bach Ornaments! and the influence of Claudio Arrau
Learning J.S. Bach’s “Sheep May Safely Graze” (Egon Petri piano transcription)
Egon Petri offers a transcription of J.S. Bach's "Sheep May Safely Graze," (based on the Baroque composer's "Birthday" Cantata) and it's drawn a cult of admirers, mostly adult students begging to learn it. The work originally scored for two flutes, soprano and continuo, comes a close second in popularity to "Flight of the Bumblebee," with… Continue reading Learning J.S. Bach’s “Sheep May Safely Graze” (Egon Petri piano transcription)
No piece is too easy
Having recently started mentoring a new student whose principal instrument is guitar, I realized that repertoire offered at the beginner level requires the same sensitive understanding of phrasing, nuance, framing rhythm and the underlying singing tone that applies to music of greater complexity. (Not to overlook the common cultivation of all-embracing mindfulness, focus, and full… Continue reading No piece is too easy
A balanced piano lesson of Technique and Repertoire
If a student is well-prepared, having devoted quality time during the week to practicing scales, arpeggios, and pieces assigned, a lesson can contain a nice balance of ingredients. Barring holidays, long distance travel and time zone changes, most pupils will devote 15 to 20 minutes of their lesson to technique, and the remaining 40 minutes… Continue reading A balanced piano lesson of Technique and Repertoire
Putting Slow Practicing to good use in a J.S. Bach Fugue Analysis
I've been my own mentor to the exponential these past intensified 48 hours as I immersed myself in a slow, deep-layered analysis of J.S.Bach's Fugue in Ab, BWV 862 (Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1) The detailed exploration not only heightened my understanding of this ingenious composition, but it increased my love and reverence for it. So… Continue reading Putting Slow Practicing to good use in a J.S. Bach Fugue Analysis
A Bach Fugue is a neuron booster and soul searcher
In my tepid re-entry into the universe of piano repertoire for two hands, I chose what would be the antithesis of a comfort zone in my injury recovery phase. But just the same, my brain needed stimulation, building neurotransmitters, as it signaled the hands and fingers to regroup in a gradual healing process. Without doubt,… Continue reading A Bach Fugue is a neuron booster and soul searcher
J.S. Bach Prelude in Ab, BWV 862: A Fresh Start for Student and Teacher
In the course of teaching, a situation may arise where a particular favored piece is requested by a student that I've never studied--which means a deep-layered journey is ahead of two learning partners. And given that J.S. Bach's Prelude and Fugue in Ab, (Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1) requires thoughtful fingering choices; an awareness of Baroque… Continue reading J.S. Bach Prelude in Ab, BWV 862: A Fresh Start for Student and Teacher
Getting immersed in LEARNING Bach’s F minor Fugue, BWV 881 (Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2)
My journey through the Baroque master's Fugue no. 12 has been a labor of love though the form enshrined by J.S. Bach can be intimidating by its structural nit-pickings. Wikipedia, for example, cites BWV 847 in C minor, (the Fugue) as a model of internal order, with a carefully marked out Subject; Answer (a fifth… Continue reading Getting immersed in LEARNING Bach’s F minor Fugue, BWV 881 (Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2)
