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Musician, Educator, Author, and Composer

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Featured

Composer of the Month at TopMusic

2025 starts with a bang! During January, I’m ‘composer of the month’ at the TopMusic.co which is an educational organisation founded and run by Tim Topham, a music educator who I had the pleasure of meeting when I visited Australia last Summer. Earlier this week ten of my elementary piano pieces were published by TMS…

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Featured

Developing A Flexible Piano Technique: Hal Leonard Webinar

Piano technique can be problematic for many students. Questions surrounding this aspect of piano playing are more frequent than any other in my experience, and this is certainly true in my Adult Piano Returner Facebook group: if you have a Facebook account but have yet to discover this group which now has 31,000 members, click…

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Featured

Ghostly Piano Tales: New Music for the Elementary Pianist

The Occult I wrote Ghostly Piano Tales nearly two years ago after becoming increasingly fascinated by the stories behind ghostly legends. I’ve always been interested in the occult, having experienced the supernatural at work. Most memorable was a surprise ‘sighting’ during a rehearsal at a medieval church in London around 25 years ago. I’d gone…

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Featured

World Piano Day 2024: Why play the piano?

A very happy ‘World Piano Day’ to all piano lovers around the world. We celebrate today because it’s the eighty-eighth day of the year, corresponding to the piano’s eighty-eight keys. Piano Day provides the perfect opportunity to evaluate why we play the instrument and what makes it the perfect hobby. In my Facebook group, Adult…

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Featured

International Women’s Day 2024: Celebrating 10 Women in Music

It’s been two years since Schott and I published our three-book series featuring music by women composers from over four centuries, Women Composers: A Graded Anthology for Piano. This publication has proved most popular, not only winning a Presto Music Award but, more importantly, reaching out to a new audience of pianists, whether they be…

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Featured

The Schott Student Edition Series

I’m pleased to be contributing to the Schott Student Edition Series. Popular amongst teachers and students, this series is, first and foremost, intended with instrumental tuition in mind. Each book is edited in collaboration with experienced instrumental teachers, providing information about the selected composers and works as well as useful ‘Teaching Notes’ with plenty of…

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About Melanie

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Recent Blog Posts

Julian Jacobson plays the ‘Hammerklavier’: Part 1
  • Melanie Spanswick

Julian Jacobson plays the ‘Hammerklavier’: Part 1

By Melanie Spanswick / December 14, 2025
My final guest writer of the year is pianist and piano professor Julian Jacobson, who is no stranger to my...
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Pre-Christmas Cheer
  • Melanie Spanswick

Pre-Christmas Cheer

By Melanie Spanswick / December 7, 2025
It's December already and we all know what that means: Christmas time, for those who celebrate. After a busy term,...
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Teaching Observations: How many is too many?
  • Melanie Spanswick

Teaching Observations: How many is too many?

By Melanie Spanswick / November 30, 2025
I’ve been musing on the topic of students learning and preparing a small amount of repertoire thoroughly as opposed to...
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A Master Class with Eliso Virsaladze
  • Melanie Spanswick

A Master Class with Eliso Virsaladze

By Melanie Spanswick / November 16, 2025
I haven't posted a master class for a while and the following is fascinating. Given by esteemed Georgian pianist and...
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Going backwards to move forwards
  • Melanie Spanswick

Going backwards to move forwards

By Melanie Spanswick / November 9, 2025
My article for last month's Pianist Magazine explores this important practice idea. As a general rule, I’m a fan of...
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The Piano Teachers’ Course UK: My Year of Piano Teacher Training – Becky Flisher
  • Melanie Spanswick

The Piano Teachers’ Course UK: My Year of Piano Teacher Training – Becky Flisher

By Melanie Spanswick / November 2, 2025
My adult piano student Becky Flisher recently undertook the Cert PTC Piano Teachers' Course and I asked her to write...
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Recordings as a useful practice tool: 5 Tips
  • Melanie Spanswick

Recordings as a useful practice tool: 5 Tips

By Melanie Spanswick / October 26, 2025
This article was recently published on Pianist Magazine's website. Many believe that we shouldn’t listen to recordings of our pieces...
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Piano Pedagogy Spotlight: An Interview with Chenyin Li – Part 4
  • Melanie Spanswick

Piano Pedagogy Spotlight: An Interview with Chenyin Li – Part 4

By Melanie Spanswick / October 19, 2025
In this final part of my interview series with Chinese concert pianist Chenyin Li we discuss the importance of teaching...
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Play it again: PIANO Prep Book
  • Melanie Spanswick

Play it again: PIANO Prep Book

By Melanie Spanswick / October 12, 2025
The piano is an intoxicating instrument. Those who have played in their youth often harbour a desire to return to...
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Piano Pedagogy Spotlight: An Interview with Chenyin Li – Part 3
  • Melanie Spanswick

Piano Pedagogy Spotlight: An Interview with Chenyin Li – Part 3

By Melanie Spanswick / October 5, 2025
This post is Part 3 of my Piano Pedagogy Spotlight interview series with Chinese concert pianist and piano professor Chenyin...
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