Piano Music by Women

Over the past few months, musicians have been carefully rethinking their work; the pandemic has forced artists to develop in a completely new direction. The internet has proved a splendid alternative platform. We have witnessed new online concert series’, master classes, workshops, and for teachers, copious online lessons. I’ve enjoyed performances from international artists, many…

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Pianists From The Past: Halina Czerny-Stefańska

My Pianists From The Past series continues this week with the following article featuring Polish pianist Halina Czerny-Stefańska, which has been written by British pianist and pedagogue Gareth Owen, who is head of keyboard at Eton College and professor of piano at Junior Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Over to Gareth… I had the…

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Positional Piano Playing

‘Positional piano playing’ is a term I use for a particularly helpful technique which allows students to locate and play note patterns with ease. At my most recent Finchcocks piano course (held at the end of last year), I applied this technique in one of my classes with several adult students, and to their amazement…

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Pianists From The Past: Cyril Smith

My Pianists From The Past series continues today and this article has been written by British pianist and pedagogue Julian Saphir. Julian’s past pianist of choice is the British concert pianist and pedagogue Cyril Smith, with whom he had a personal connection. Over to Julian… One day in the Spring of 1991, during my third…

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5 Tips to Help Develop the Fourth & Fifth Fingers

Wishing you all a happy and restful bank holiday weekend. Today’s post was first published in Pianist magazine’s April 2020 newsletter (you can subscribe to this newsletter for free, here). I’ve written before about these pesky fingers! The fourth and fifth fingers can be tricky to control and they require patience to develop, and,  if…

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Pianists From The Past: Lamar Crowson

I hope you continue to be safe and well during this difficult period. It’s time for a guest feature article. My Pianists From The Past series is proving popular, and today’s post has been penned by British pianist Julian Jacobson,  who is professor of piano at the Royal College of Music (in London, UK) and…

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The Bridge Position

Today’s post features my latest technique article for Piano Professional (published by EPTA or the European Piano Teachers Association). If you aren’t aware of this organisation, may I suggest visiting their website for more details (please click here). This article highlights the Bridge Position, which is generally considered an important assumed hand position for pianists….

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Pianists From The Past: Margaret Bonds

My Pianists From The Past series continues today with a fascinating article written by British pianist and musicologist Samantha Ege. Samantha is a leading interpreter and scholar of the African-American composer Florence Price.   Her PhD on Florence Price, and publications on women’s music networks, have shed an important light on classical practitioners from underrepresented…

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No Pain, No Gain?

How many times have you heard this phrase? A fair few, I would imagine. It may be true for some activities, perhaps those where grit and determination are necessary in order to achieve the desired outcome. But this phrase certainly does not apply to the activity of playing the piano. Yet, increasingly, pianists suffer from…

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Pianists From The Past: Raoul von Koczalski

Today’s Pianists From The Past post, which is the second in my series (you can view the first, written by pianist James Kirby, here), has been written by Japanese concert pianist and artistic director of Mousikos, Yuki Negishi (pictured at the end of this post). She highlights Polish pianist Raoul von Koczalski, a pianist who’s…

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