GUEST ARTICLES
Seeds of Hope: From Inception to Publication and Beyond by Alison Mathews
Today’s guest writer is pianist, teacher and composer Alison Mathews. Over the past year, Alison has compiled and edited a very special publication called ‘Seeds of Hope’: a collection of elementary level piano pieces featuring Middle Eastern themes with a focus on nature, growth and hope. Each work in this volume has been written by…
Piano-Playing Wisdom: Rami Bar-Niv
Today’s guest post has been written by Israeli pianist, teacher and writer Rami Bar-Niv, who is no stranger to my blog. Rami has recently published a new book, ‘Piano Playing Wisdom’, and in this post, he writes about the inspiration behind it. Piano-Playing Wisdom After the success of my book ‘The Art of Piano Fingering:…
The Piano Teachers’ Course UK: My Year of Piano Teacher Training – Becky Flisher
My adult piano student Becky Flisher recently undertook the Cert PTC Piano Teachers’ Course and I asked her to write a little about her experience and how it might help shape her future piano teaching goals. Becky passed the course with a distinction. Last June, I took a leap and enrolled in the Cert PTC,…
Interpretative Guidelines: Rami Bar-Niv
My guest writer this week is pianist, teacher and author Rami Bar-Niv. Rami has written many articles for this website and today’s focuses on interpretation. You can read more from Rami by clicking here. A good start is the balance between brain and heart, which is pretty good advice for life in general. Brain is…
Music and Sight Reading: Rami Bar-Niv
The guest post this week has been written by pianist, teacher and author Rami Bar-Niv. Here, he discusses the important topic of sight-reading in relation to note reading and rhythmic understanding. You learn to read music like you learned to read your language, and then you just read it. Furthermore, I claim that if you…
The ARSM Diploma from a Student’s Perspective: Becky Flisher
I recently published a post about my experience working with three students who were all preparing for their ARSM (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music or ABRSM) performance diploma exam. You can read it here. Today’s guest post has been written by one of those students: Becky Flisher. Becky is an adult piano…
Harpsichord Repertoire – Henry Purcell’s Prelude in G major from Suite No 1 Z.660: Katharine May
The start of a new academic year seems an appropriate time to introduce new guest writers and several exciting new series. Regular readers will no doubt know harpsichordist and teacher Katharine May, who has already contributed a couple of very well-received posts to this blog. She is now compiling a series, adding to her popular…
Performance Joy: Rami Bar-Niv
Performance anxiety is a very real issue for countless performers. Whether they be musicians, politicians, lecturers or presenters, the act of working in front of others can cause all kinds of uncomfortable sensations from nausea and sweating to heart palpitations and, in severe cases, amnesia. In this post, Israeli concert pianist, teacher, and writer Rami…
Essential Advice and Tech Tips for Aspiring Composers: John Jesensky
The guest writer for today’s piece is John Jesensky, a film composer from the US. Here, he provides some excellent suggestions for career advancement in addition to beneficial advice for those just entering the field. Embarking on becoming a composer is a rewarding yet challenging endeavour. Whether you are drawn to the classical symphonies of…
Beyond the Score – The case for reintegrating improvisation and composition into classical piano lessons: Garreth Brooke
Last weekend I published a post highlighting a useful new website called pianocreativity.com. In today’s post, Garreth Brooke, who runs this website, has written his own article introducing his new project and sheds light on the importance of incorporating such an approach for use in piano lessons. One of the curious paradoxes of being a…
Music, the confessions of a low middlebrow: Peter Honey
Today, my neighbour Dr. Peter Honey has kindly written a whimsical guest post. Peter is an occupational psychologist, management trainer, author, and artist, as well as an avid classical music lover and concertgoer. Here, he considers his classical concert ‘likes and dislikes’! Last week I was at Wigmore Hall listening to a concert given by…
My Compositional Journey: Wendy Edwards Beardall-Norton
Many will know that I enjoy highlighting the work of living composers, particularly educational composers – and especially music written by women. Today, I welcome back Canadian composer Wendy Edwards Beardall-Norton. Wendy, who is married to composer Christopher Norton, who has so generously written numerous posts for this blog, is currently published by several publishers,…
A series of posts written by guest writers on many aspects of pianism and music education. Click the text beneath each image to read the articles.