This post is Part 2 in a short series about a recent journey that my piano collection ‘No Words Necessary’ has been undertaking: it has become the focal point of a DMA dissertation. ‘No Words Necessary’, which was published in 2018, has been under musical and theoretical scrutiny in South Korea, where pianist and teacher…
Author: Melanie Spanswick
Author of 33 mostly piano-related books, composer, adjudicator, examiner, and piano faculty member at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
No Words Necessary – The Doctorate Project Part 1: Juhye Moon
It’s not every day that a doctoral thesis is written focusing solely on one’s compositions. However, this is what has recently happened to one of my piano collections, ‘No Words Necessary’. ‘No Words Necessary’, which was published by Schott in 2018, has been under musical and theoretical scrutiny in South Korea, where pianist and teacher…
25 Etudes Op. 100 by Friedrich Burgmüller published by G Henle Verlag
G Henle Verlag If you’ve ever stepped into a music conservatoire, a piano teaching studio, or even just browsed sheet music online, you’ve definitely seen it. That distinct, elegant shade of darkish pastel blue which forms the iconic cover belonging to G. Henle Verlag publications. Henle is a German music publisher who has spent the…
Coffee with Composers: Katharina Nohl
Katharina Nohl is a German-born Swiss composer passionately devoted to highlighting the work of female composers through her international cultural work and her music festival, the Swiss Female Composers Festival. I’m excited to be a featured composer at the 2026 SFCF which is to be held on the 24th and 25th of October in Zurich….
‘Author Focus’ at Presto Music Part 6: Ghostly Piano Tales
I’m music store Presto Music’s current ‘Author Focus’ this year, which means that Presto publishes a video about my work every month on their YouTube channel and website. You can watch earlier videos in this series by clicking on the button below: Part six focuses on my popular collection of elementary piano pieces ‘Ghostly Piano…
’25 For 25′ at Chetham’s International Piano Summer School
In 2001, distinguished pianists, piano teachers and dynamic husband and wife piano team Murray McLachlan and Kathryn Page started a piano summer school. They wanted their school to provide an inspiring, warm, friendly environment where anyone obsessed with the piano could simply show up, learn, and hang out. Fast-forward 25 years, and the Chetham’s International…
‘Author Focus’ at Presto Music Part 5: Sight-reading & Ensemble Playing
I’m music store Presto Music’s ‘Author Focus’ this year, which means that Presto publish a video about my work every month on their YouTube channel and website. You can watch earlier videos in this series by clicking on the button below: Part five focuses on sight-reading, including ideas to improve reading and how to have…
Coffee with Composers: Jeffery Wilson
Today marks the start of a new initiative: an interview series focusing on contemporary composers. I’ve been keen to undertake this project for a while, particularly as my own interest in composition has gradually developed over the past few years. In this series, I interview a whole host of composers, hoping to glean some inside…
‘Bright Start’ for Elementary Pianists
‘Bright Start’ is a collection of educational elementary piano pieces published by Clifton Edition. I have composed an elementary piano piece for every issue of Pianist magazine for over five years. Every issue’s piece focuses on a different technical or musical element, and my challenge is to come up with something new each time. I’ve…
‘Author Focus’ at Presto Music: Part 4 – Play it again: PIANO
I’m currently music store Presto Music’s ‘Author Focus’ of the year, which means that Presto will be publishing a video about my work every month over the next year on their website and YouTube channel. You can watch earlier videos in this series by clicking on the button below: Part four focuses entirely on my…
Teaching Observations: Making Notes
Last week’s post, ‘The Pencil’, garnered a lot more interest than I had anticipated: it was really intended as an irreverent end-of-term topic that had been on my mind for a while. If you’d like to read it, please click on the button below: Subsequently, several teachers have written about the issue of ‘enticing’ students…
Teaching Observations: The Pencil
As the academic year draws to a close and teachers look forward to the refreshing long summer break, there is a natural tendency to reflect, focusing on elements that have brought particular joy throughout the year, as well as those that, perhaps, have been less successful or have caused upset in some way. I’m exploring…