I’m delighted to be a faculty member at the 2020 Chetham’s International Summer School and Festival. This world-famous Summer school has been running for over 20 years, and is the largest of its kind. Offering an inspirational array of courses, individual lessons, lectures, presentations, and recitals, the Summer School boasts an impressive faculty of renowned…
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Winner of The Faber Music Soundtracks Piano Anthology Competition
Many thanks to all those who took part in my weekend competition. The prize is a copy of the new piano publication from Faber Music: The Faber Music Soundtracks Piano Anthology. This volume contains over 50 arrangements of your favourites themes from TV and film. You can find out much more and purchase this book…
The Faber Music Soundtracks Piano Anthology Competition
It’s time for a competition. The prize, for one lucky reader, is a copy of the latest piano publication from Faber Music: The Faber Music Soundtracks Piano Anthology. This hefty tome contains a generous selection of themes from the movies arranged for piano solo. The arrangements, of which there are over 50, are presented in…
Master Classes with Nelita True
In many respects a master class is a public lesson, the audience eavesdropping on proceedings. Attending public classes can be surprisingly beneficial both for students and teachers, as we can all learn from observing the lessons of others, and especially from esteemed pianists and teachers. I stumbled across this interesting filmed lesson, master class, and…
The ‘Chromasoul’ Steinway Piano
Earlier this year, I was invited to the launch of a new Steinway piano. Not entirely a new instrument, but more a new ‘design’; the Chromasoul Steinway. This Chromasoul piano is a Steinway Model D instrument that has been fastidiously painted by renowned Argentinian artist María Inés Aguirre. I wrote about Mia and the concept…
Piano Notebook
As many will know, I enjoy highlighting piano resources and today’s post focuses on the Piano Notebook; a new collection of short pieces intended for elementary students. Devised and written by Spanish teacher, Juan Cabeza Hernández, who is based in Madrid, the project has been created to provide various materials, resources, ideas and activities for…
Indonesian Charm
Over the past nine days I have been touring in the Far East. It’s always a pleasure to work with students and teachers in different parts of the world, and fascinating to note the various similarities in teaching styles, despite the cultural differences. I began my trip in Indonesia, a country I visited briefly last…
The Maze of Methods Unpacked
I’m in the Far East at the moment on my second visit this year. I was invited by the I-MEC and CYM in Jakarta (Indonesia) to be the 2019 ‘Grand Mentor’, which involved giving a week of workshops and masterclasses for piano teachers and their students. I’ve also been giving classes in Johor Bahru (at…
Painless Piano Playing Part 2
Today’s blog post has been recently published in EPTA’s (or the European Piano Teachers Association) flagship UK publication Piano Professional, for which I write a feature technique article. It’s the second article focusing on developing a pain free, relaxed piano technique. You can read Painless Piano Playing Part 1, here. In my previous article, Painless…
Piano Companion
Today’s post has been penned by Sergey Bogdanov, founder and CEO of Songtive. Songtive publishes Piano Companion, an App for those interested in developing their knowledge of theory and chord progressions. It’s free and can be a most helpful addition to a musician’s tool box. In this post, Sergey explains how to use this app…
Melanie Spanswick 