Piano & Music Education

PIANO & MUSIC EDUCATION

Devoted to all aspects of music education, this page features music festivals, events, and venues, as well as piano master classes, exam preparation, and competitions.

To memorise or not?

I recently read an interesting article in the New York Times written by Anthony Tommasini regarding memorisation. It refers to a new French movie called ‘Amour’ which features French pianist, Alexandre Tharaud who appears in a dramatic scene performing a Beethoven Bagatelle (Op.126) for his retired former music teacher. The drama of the moment is…

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The Wallcast Interview Series

I discovered this superb series of interviews recently and it brightened my day. These spontaneous question and answer ‘sessions’ are great fun and quite enlightening. The Wallcast Series was recorded at the Verbier Festival in 2011 by Medici.tv and it includes some of the greatest classical musicians. I have picked a few of my favourites:

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The Piano Education Project: Vlog 19

I have blogged about scales before because they are such an important element in playing the piano. Vlog 19 offers a few more tips and reasons why scales will only benefit your piano playing.

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BBC Radio 3 Gala Piano Concert at Hoddinott Hall for Children in Need

I had the pleasure of attending a special BBC Radio 3 gala concert on Monday night. It was held at Hoddinott Hall which forms part of the Millennium Centre in Cardiff, Wales, and was in aid of Children in Need. The concert also marked the climax of the Radio 3 Piano Season and in order to celebrate this…

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Introducing Stringbabies®: Kay Tucker

My guest writer today is ‘cellist Kay Tucker who is the founder of Stringbabies®. Stringbabies® students learn to sing and play simple songs based around the tuning and technical progression on their instruments. At the same time they learn a notation system based around shapes which progresses very naturally into conventional notation. An important part…

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