My students continue to teach me as we move along at a pace that does justice to the unfolding of a work over time without a rush to destination. For each pupil the journey is different and varied, without definitive markers of absolute progress. Having said that, a movement that is brisk (as metaphor to… Continue reading Thinking in One through a brisk 3/8 movement (Clementi)
Tag: piano tutorials
Our self-made tutorials grow teaching skills
Ever since I embarked upon my very first lunge at globalizing my ideas over the Internet---devising a "chunking" strategy to play black key weighted scales B, F#, and C# Major, I realized that I was teaching myself while helping others. A "blocking" technique in its infancy, blossomed into more sophisticated analyses of how to approach… Continue reading Our self-made tutorials grow teaching skills
Piano Technique Tutorials abound this week!
I often enjoy a splurge of self-produced technique videos to assist my teaching, and to clarify my latest insights. This week I examined Staccato playing, using weight transfer for dynamic variation, as I employed a legato "floating arm" as a model for snipping out a stream of well-connected, scale-wise detached notes. In this undertaking, I'd… Continue reading Piano Technique Tutorials abound this week!
Don’t Choke through peak sections of a Chopin Nocturne
Many adult students get bent out of shape when a piece of "night music" blooms with "improvised," decorative passagework at peak expressive levels. Add in prolonged trills with lower notes tied (held down) leading to a decisive crescendo through a tricky chromatic scale, and many players will shrink from the challenge. They'll prefer to skip… Continue reading Don’t Choke through peak sections of a Chopin Nocturne
Schumann’s “Almost Too Serious” (Kinderszenen No. 10) requires get serious, step-wise practicing
When I first looked at a "seriously" complex page of dizzying tied-over (syncopated) notes in Schumann's "Almost Too Serious," (Fast Zu Ernst) I had a knee-jerk avoidance response--that is until I tapped into a permeating melodic thread that I isolated and wooed from its conspicuous alliance to myriads of off beats. In other words, I… Continue reading Schumann’s “Almost Too Serious” (Kinderszenen No. 10) requires get serious, step-wise practicing
An Adult Piano Student teaches the Teacher
Awakenings alternately occur between teacher and student, especially if they're collectively open to them. And embracing this sharing spirit, I welcome ideas from pupils about phrasing, technique, etc. since we enjoy a common journey of discovery. By chance, one student brought a "new" fingering for his assigned D Major arpeggio in 10ths, and it worked so… Continue reading An Adult Piano Student teaches the Teacher
An 8-year old’s playing BEFORE and AFTER Skyped piano lessons plus video supplementation (Chopin Waltz in A minor, No. 19-Videos)
This very gifted 8-year old from Oregon started her long distance learning with me in early July, 2011 after her father sent me a playing sample of the Chopin Waltz in A minor, Op. Posthumous, no. 19. I had actually videotaped one of our Skyped lessons following a brief exchange of videos on a common… Continue reading An 8-year old’s playing BEFORE and AFTER Skyped piano lessons plus video supplementation (Chopin Waltz in A minor, No. 19-Videos)
