Happy World Piano Day! Today is World Piano Day, which is now an annual worldwide event. It takes place on the 88th day of the year because of the number of keys on the instrument being celebrated. Established in 2015, by composer Nils Frahm, it is now well known across the globe, and it forms…
Tag: Composition
Composer of the Month at TopMusic
2025 starts with a bang! During January, I’m ‘composer of the month’ at the TopMusic.co which is an educational organisation founded and run by Tim Topham, a music educator who I had the pleasure of meeting when I visited Australia last Summer. Earlier this week ten of my elementary piano pieces were published by TMS…
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…
Using Stylistic Influence in Piano Composition: Jeni Warder
This weekend’s guest writer is teacher and composer Jeni Warder who owns the Keys Piano School in Greater Manchester, UK. Jeni is writing a series of articles for this blog focusing on how to develop a student’s composition skills at various levels. Today, she tackles Grade 2. As a teacher at Keys Piano School in…
Teaching Through Composition – First steps in Harmony at Grade One Level: Jeni Warder
I’m delighted to welcome back Jeni Warder, who is the founder and director of Keys Piano School in Bolton near Manchester. Jeni is a passionate piano and composition teacher and in this post she explores teaching Grade 1 composition; there is also a downloadble free resource at the bottom of the post so that you…
Finding Their Voice: Progress Through Composing by Jeni Warder
Jeni Warder is my guest writer this week. She is the founder and creative director of the Keys Piano School in Bolton (UK). Jeni is writing a series of posts for this blog focusing on using composition as a helpful learning tool for younger students. Composing our own, original music is always a liberating experience,…
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…
Composing – An underrated tool in teacher’s toolkits: Jenni Pinnock
My guest writer today is British composer and teacher Jenni Pinnock, who is based in Cambridgeshire. Jenni is a busy composer and her works have been performed worldwide. She also runs a private teaching practice. Here, she offers teachers and students a few inspired ideas for incorporating composition into lessons. “There is nothing greater than…