During the half term break I took a trip to Germany, a place I’ve been to work on many occasions, usually hosting bilingual piano classes. This time I went for a short holiday to visit a friend. The city of Gelsenkirchen is situated on the Ruhr where it’s primarily known as part of a sprawling industrial area – not a place where one would perhaps expect to find much culture or creativity. But you might be surprised to learn that Gelsenkirchen is a popular place for artists to live and work, and it also has a sizable music theatre, several museums, numerous art galleries, and a strong rock music tradition.
Over the weekend, we attended an opera at the Music Theater, a large modern building seating over 1000, and were treated to an interesting twist on the perpetually popular Fidelio. Fidelio Schweight (‘Fidelio is silent’) is a contemporary ‘take’ on Beethoven’s only opera and the brainchild of German composer Charlotte Seither and librettists Joseph Sonnleithner, Stephan von Breuning and G.F. Treitschke, with new vocal lyrics by Hermann Schneider. Commissioned by the Music Theater, the opera ran for just five performances.
A modified plot with a political emphasis was accompanied by a compelling musical juxtaposition of Beethoven’s lyricism combined with Seither’s own ethereal yet captivatingly chilling music. Powerful and definitely not for the faint hearted, I did struggle with the German subtitles, but as with most opera, the splendid singing and acting brought the music to life in a way that was immediate and engaging.
How wonderful to see a regional theatre offering such musical delights. Regrettably, it wouldn’t happen in the UK. Culture is a valued commodity in Germany and one that the government is only too happy to fund.
Musical creativity is important and must be encouraged at every level, whether for students, amateurs, professionals, or for those attending concerts. In this light, it was a pleasure to recently discover a new educational website focusing on just that: pianocreativity.com
Learning Focus
Hosted by pianist and composer Garreth Brooke, who is also based in Germany, pianocreativity.com promises to bring creativity to the forefront of learning offering a new and innovative approach. From the outset, Garreth sets out his intentions clearly:
‘I want to share what I most enjoy, which is how to teach students to create music. Creativity lessons are where I have the most fun; the time simply flies by. They are why I love piano teaching. I want to share that joy. Many piano teachers understand that composition and improvisation are brilliant tools for teaching, but many piano teachers feel out of their depth. I will offer a guide.’
Pianocreativity.com promises to offer teachers and students:
- simple, accessible creative activities for popular piano repertoire
- short reviews of useful resources
- posts that explore the bigger picture
And one can expect three types of articles:
- Introductions to some good resources for teaching composition and improvisation
- Simple creative activities that you can use in your lessons
- Deep thoughts about creativity, learning, teaching, and kindness
Garreth Brooke
Garreth is a British/German musician who’s music has been streamed millions of times and who has released recordings with an impressive array of recording labels. He has performed all over Europe and his sheet music has been published by Editions Musica Ferrum and Breitkopf & Härtel. Garreth studied music at Oxford University and he teaches the piano in Frankfurt am Main.
Weekly Resources
Each week pianocreativity.com publishes a selection of articles, and it’s well worth joining the mailing list. Teachers might find this approach particularly helpful; the activity posts could be considered a useful lesson plan in themselves, proving invaluable for the teacher who prefers to focus on treading a less familiar lesson path incorporating elements of composition and improvisation.
My music has already been featured a couple of times on pianocreativity.com: the first post highlights a little piece that I wrote for Pianist Magazine last year. It’s called Gigue and you can read the article, complete with Garreth’s practice insights, here.
The second article, published earlier this week, focuses on a more recent piece written for the magazine: Strolling. I’m fortunate to contribute an elementary piano piece in every issue of Pianist, which usually includes a couple of paragraphs about how to practice it (written by me). But Garreth’s practice tips, ideas and concepts delve far deeper into the practice realm, neatly moving over into finding creative, appealing ways to work, both for the student and teacher.
Read Garreth’s blog post featuring Strolling, here.
Great Tips & Ideas
These include various types of repetition using different musical lines, articulations and dynamics, excellent suggestions for ensemble playing between teacher and student, useful tailor-made backing tracks, as well as written theoretical opportunities to develop and extend the piece. Readers can often download the musical score of a piece for free, too, making the site an ideal ‘go to’ resource for teachers who regularly need to find new music.
Garreth has written a whole collection of articles which may be of interest and you can read them all here.
Find out more here:
Publications
Melanie Spanswick has written and published a wide range of courses, anthologies, examination syllabuses, and text books, including Play it again: PIANO (published by Schott Music). This best-selling graded, progressive piano course contains a large selection of repertoire featuring a huge array of styles and genres, with copious practice tips and suggestions for every piece.
For more information, please visit the publications page, here.
Melanie Spanswick 
Thank you so much for introducing your readers to Garreth Brooke’s newsletter, Piano Creativity. It’s an excellent resource for teachers but also for adult learners who wish to learn to improvise. I read every post he writes.
Many thanks for your encouraging comments, Rhonda.