GUEST ARTICLES
A series of posts written by guest writers on many aspects of pianism and music education.
Compose Yourself! Alison Mathews
Compose Yourself! is an annual online competition for children encouraging them to compose their own piano music. I’m delighted to be involved with this project as one of the selected composers. The panel consists of an impressive group of renowned educational writers who will be providing their music as part of the prize. These include…
Studying at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam: Yuki Negishi
Japanese concert pianist Yuki Negishi has written the guest post this week. This is the third article in Yuki’s series for this blog, reflecting on her training, and, specifically, her time spent studying at various music conservatoires around the world. The first two posts explored her experiences studying in New York, at the Juilliard School’s…
The Thinking Pianist: David Jones
This week’s guest post has been written by David Jones who is Head of Keyboard Studies at Cheltenham Ladies’ College. Earlier this year, David inaugurated a new piano course held at Cheltenham Ladies College called The Thinking Pianist. After an extremely successful pilot course in July 2021, The Thinking Pianist, will now offer a more…
MicroJazz Refreshed: Christopher Norton
I’m delighted to welcome back composer Christopher Norton as my guest writer today. Chris, who has written many articles for this blog, is renowned for his excellent MicroJazz piano series. It has expanded exponentially over the years. The pieces have featured in countless examination syllabuses and in many music festival syllabuses around the world. MicroJazz…
Six Imaginative Gift Ideas For Aspiring Musicians: Jeni Warder
It’s nearly Christmas time again, and today’s guest writer, Jeni Warder, offers a few ‘stocking filler’ suggestions and ideas for your young pianists. Jeni is the Creative Director and owner of the Keys Piano School in Bolton (UK). She is highly experienced at teaching young beginners, and she will be writing a series of posts…
Border Tune: Christopher Norton
My guest writer this week is composer Christopher Norton. In this post, he offers practice suggestions for his work ‘Border Tune’, which is the second piece from the volume Country Preludes Collection for piano. This piece is featured in List B of the Trinity College London Grade 7 piano exam 2021 – 2023 syllabus. Background…
The Resilient Artist: Rachael Forsyth & Helen Sanderdon-White
I’m delighted to welcome Rachael Forsyth and Helen Sanderson-White as my guest writers this week. They have recently written an eBook; The Resilient Artist – a book which will, no doubt, be especially useful for those who have suffered during this pandemic. The eBook is available as a download, all you need to do is…
Narrative Musicianship 2021 at The Juilliard School: Konstantin Soukhovetski
My guest writer today is Russian American concert pianist Konstantin Soukhovetski, who is based in New York. Amongst his many varied projects, Konstantin directs a Narrative Musicianship Course at The Juilliard School. In this post, he writes about the course and his reason for instigating it. Narrative Musicianship is back at Juilliard in Fall 2021….
Montecatini International Piano Competition 2021 | Online Edition: Aisa Ijiri
I am delighted to welcome pianist, artistic director and Steinway Artist Aisa Ijiri to the blog. She has written the following guest post highlighting this year’s Montecatini International Piano Competition, of which she is the founder and artistic director. The Montecatini Competition is open to pianists of all nationalities and age groups. There are a…
Studying in Hong Kong and the USA: Rachel Cheung
Today’s post is a continuation of my series exploring advanced music study, and, more specifically, how studying at a music conservatoire or university plays a crucial, and often defining, role in a musician’s life. My guest post has been penned by concert pianist Rachel Cheung, who is based in Hong Kong. In this fascinating article,…
Go Compose North America Summer Festival 2021: Sonya Knussen
I first met today’s guest writer Sonya Knussen at the Barbican Centre when she was about 13. She was backstage with her father, the composer and conductor Oliver Knussen, whom I went to meet after he had conducted the London Sinfonietta in a concert featuring his music. At the time, I was recording and performing…
Studying at a Japanese Music Conservatoire: Yuki Negishi
Today’s article has been written by Japanese pianist Yuki Negishi. Following on from her very popular first post, in this second instalment, Yuki continues her piano journey, offering her thoughts and experiences on studying at the renowned Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo, Japan. You can read the first post in this series, which…