On returning from my holiday, I enjoyed reading Rosie Millard’s recent interesting and thought-provoking article in The Telegraph deliberating over the benefits of music exams. She labels herself a ‘pushy’ parent, although I don’t find her approach particularly ‘pushy’. I think her concerns are fairly natural amongst parents who want their children to succeed. This…
Category: Melanie Spanswick
The Chicago Amateur Piano Competition
Love them or loathe them, piano competitions are more popular than ever before and there are no shortage of entrants, irrespective of standard or ability. And subjective as they are, piano contests can fire the imagination, motivating players to reach new heights in their quest for keyboard perfection. For a professional pianist a competition has…
Meet the Judges Live Stream Interview
This week I’m in Chicago adjudicating at the Chicago Amateur Piano Competition. Judging starts today but this competition offers an impressive events roster, a fairly unique concept amongst competitions, which runs in tandem, therefore proceedings actually started last night. Fifty-five talented pianists will play a short programme over the next two days. The finals will…
The Power of Repetition
Finding the appropriate practice tool for a specific issue can be a matter of trial and error. When all the usual methods have been exhausted or perhaps overused, it’s time to try new ideas and find a fresh approach to nail that awkward passage. Recently, I’ve been working with a couple of students who are…
A Master Class given by Brazilian pianist Cristina Ortiz
With the Olympics in full swing in Rio de Janeiro, it’s hard not to be impressed by the sheer dedication and tenacity emanating from every Olympian. Whilst piano playing is much more subjective, a similar pursuit of excellence and perfection must be sought by the concert pianist too, whether they be young or old. As…
The Art of Polyphony: 12 Top Tips
Today’s post features an article I wrote for Piano Professional Magazine, an EPTA or the European Piano Teachers Association publication. It was published in June this year and focuses on a few practice suggestions for counterpoint (or polyphony). There are so many different ways to work at this demanding style, and my thoughts are based…
Jackdaws Piano Course 2016
My piano course at Jackdaws Music Education Trust will be held in October this year and bookings open today. This is my second visit to Jackdaws and I’m very much forward to it. Jackdaws has a wonderful history and tradition, and is renowned for its instrumental and vocal courses, education projects, young artists programme, and performances…
Piano Classes with Nikolai Lugansky
This short but interesting master class given by Russian pianist Nikolai Lugansky was published just last month and recorded in October 2015. This acclaimed virtuoso pianist gave a class for piano students at the Rudolfinum in Prague. He was also giving concerts with the Czech Philharmonic. I feel there is so much to learn and…
A few thoughts on the ‘Una Corda’
I’ve previously written about the Sustaining or Damper pedal here on this blog: it’s the foot pedal farthest to the right on a piano, irrespective of whether there are two or three pedals. Grand pianos tend to have three whereas uprights often have two. You can read my post about the Sustaining pedal here. Today,…
So You Want To Organize A Piano Competition? Part III
Sally Olson is an amateur pianist and competition planner. She lives in Chicago (USA) and is on the committee of the Chicago Amateur Piano Competition 2016. Sally organises this competition. She has been writing a series of guest blog posts. These posts reveal her organisational skills and marketing strategies. Today’s topic is all about the…
Jazz Piano Tutorials by Tim Richards
I don’t usually feature jazz, rock or pop piano music here on this blog, but occasionally it’s fun to ring the changes. Acclaimed jazz pianist and educator Tim Richards has recently released five excellent tutorial videos to accompany his successful books Exploring Jazz Piano (Volume 1), published by Schott Music. These informative and engaging clips…
So You Want To Organize A Piano Competition? Part II
Amateur pianist and competition planner, Sally Olson, lives in Chicago (US) and is on the committee of the Chicago Amateur Piano Competition 2016. This competition, which began in 2010, is steadily growing in popularity with entrants hailing from many countries. Few realise the tremendous amount of planning, fund-raising and marketing behind such an enterprise. Last…