I’ve come to the end of a very busy Summer. It has been stimulating and enjoyable on so many levels, and it’s a privilege to travel to interesting parts of the world, meeting and working with different piano students, teachers, music lovers, and (hopefully) spreading the love for the piano.

Music courses, particularly piano courses, are thriving and I’ve written about  them on countless occasions. For teachers, courses can be a great way to connect with both students and fellow teachers, sharing ideas and thoughts about teaching, discovering new repertoire, and discussing various aspects of piano practice and performance.

After nine intense days in Singapore and Malaysia, mainly giving workshops for piano teachers, I spent two weeks on back to back courses serving as a faculty member at PIANO WEEK which is held at Moreton Hall School in Shropshire (UK). This course, lasting seven days, offers piano students comprehensive study with an excellent faculty (usually six or seven tutors: see photo above left).

The next stop on my Summer adventure was to a new festival held in Italy at Montecatini, near Florence in Tuscany. The Montecatini Piano Festival is still in its first year, but has already attracted considerable attention worldwide, with international artists and faculty members, including Hollywood composer and ‘cellist Martin Tillman, pianist and Leeds Piano Competition first-prize winner Sofya Gulyak, concert master and violinist Emanuel Salvador, and the Serbian piano duo, LP Duo.

Organised by Japanese pianist Aisa Ijiri, this festival enjoys an idyllic setting at the Montecatini Terme (or spa, for which the town is famous), and it was a pleasure to work in such surroundings with beautiful Steinway pianos (both PIANO WEEK and the Montecatini Piano Festival are sponsored by Steinway & Sons). At this course and festival, I gave several piano lessons focusing on my music, as well as a new venture for me, a composition workshop for students.

Finally, this past week was spent at Rugby School on the last of three PIANO WEEK courses. The course at Moreton Hall consisted of mainly children and teenage students, but Rugby was essentially an all adult course.

A comment reiterated time and again from students, particularly on intensive courses such as PIANO WEEK, is just how much is learnt, digested and, ultimately, improved in a short space of time. Few participants have the luxury of studying with several teachers simultaneously, as well as attending piano seminars, workshops, composition, sight-reading, memorisation, duet classes, and many other musical (as well as non-musical!) activities, which are all included on this course.

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.