This weekend marks the start of my longest and largest ever book tour and I’ll be visiting Singapore, Australia and Hong Kong. I’ve undertaken many tours since the publication of my first series for Schott back in 2017. They are always a lot of fun, very engaging, and a great opportunity to connect with teachers and students. I love and really savour travelling especially for my work and, in my opinion, it’s the best form of education, allowing me to learn about the similarities – and differences – of teaching the piano elsewhere.
The tour has been based around the Australasian Piano Pedagogy Conference which is being held at Monash University in Melbourne from the 8th – 12th July. This large event attracts several hundred piano teachers from around Australia, and I’m looking forward to an informative and interesting experience. There are many fascinating sessions, masterclasses, and lectures on offer during the five-day event and you can find out more about it here.
I will be giving three presentations; two shorter workshops focusing on developing flexibility in piano technique and a longer key-note speech, Diversity in Repertoire. This presentation focuses on my research in reference to the three-book Women Composers – A Graded Anthology For Piano series published in 2022. I’ll be playing and demonstrating a selection of the works featured in the series, as well as speaking about the lives of the many female composers who all came with me on the long and winding journey to publication.
The first stop on the tour is Singapore, where I’ll present two of these workshops at the Virtuo Piano Studio to a group of piano teachers. Next, I fly to Perth in Australia for the first of several smaller presentations for teachers (or anyone who fancies coming along!) and these include visits to Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane after the conference. My trip will finish, as it often does, in Hong Kong. Here, I will work at the Tom Lee Academy Studio, adjudicating for three days at their annual Tom Lee Youth Culture Competition as well as one final workshop presentation for teachers. I’ll also be taking private lessons at Tom Lee, which, as one of their visiting faculty teachers, I do every year.
You can find all tour dates and information about my Australian events here, and I’ve also included a link to each venue below for anyone who might be in the vicinity and would like to attend.
I couldn’t possibly undertake this tour without the wonderful, generous and unwavering support from my publisher Schott Music and Hal Leonard Australia.
Hope to see you there!
Events Schedule
Singapore
July 2nd: 10.30am – 1.00pm. Virtuo Music Studio, 428 River Valley Road. Loft@Nathan 02-01, S248327.
Workshops: The Female Canon – Women Composers A Graded Anthology and Developing Flexibility, Sound and Finger Strength.
Australia
Perth
July 6th: 10.00am at Zenith Music, 309 Stirling Hwy, Claremont WA 6010 Australia.
Presentation: Diversity in Repertoire.
Melbourne
July 8th – 12th at Monash University as part of the The Australasian Piano Pedagogy Conference held at Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music and Performance, Building 68, 55 Scenic Boulevard Monash University, Clayton Campus Victoria, 3800 Australia.
July 9th: 16.35 – 5.15pm at the Performance Theatre:
Workshop: Developing Flexibility, Sound and Finger Strength.
July 10th: 16.35 – 5.15pm in Room GO1:
Workshop: Thumbs, Scales, Arpeggios, Ornaments, Double Notes and Octaves.
July 12th: 9.00 – 10.15am at the Auditorium:
Key-note speech: Diversity in Repertoire.
July 12th: 10.45am in the Room G01:
Panel Discussion: with Carly McDonald, Samantha Coates and Angela Turner.
Adelaide
July 13th: 10.00am at the Australian Piano Warehouse, 87 Winston Ave, Daw Park SA 5041 Australia.
Workshop: Developing Flexibility, Sound and Finger Strength.
Sydney
July 15th: 10.00am at the Sydney String Centre, 314 High St, Chatswood NSW 2067 Australia.
Workshop: Developing Flexibility, Sound and Finger Strength.
Brisbane
July 16th: 10.00am at the Queensland Music Teacher Association, 26/200 Moggill Rd, Taringa QLD 4068.
Workshop: Developing Flexibility, Sound and Finger Strength.
Hong Kong
July 18th, 19th and 20th: 9.00am – 6.00pm at the Tom Lee Studio, 11/F Silvercord Tower 1, 30 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Adjudicating at the Tom Lee Music Culture Competition 2024.
July 22nd: 10.30am – 12.00 noon at the Tom Lee Studio, 11/F Silvercord Tower 1, 30 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Workshop: The Female Canon – Women Composers – A Graded Anthology For Piano .
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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 