An aspect of teaching that I particularly enjoy is the chance to meet and work with new students and this type of coaching is instantly possible on music courses. Here, one has the chance to work with a variety of students in a much shorter time frame than would be feasible with regular one-to-one coaching….
Tag: Piano Lessons
Classic Piano Repertoire: Elementary Level
I usually focus on practice tips for my bi-monthly Pianist Magazine column (this article was published on Pianist’s website last month) but what we play is just as important as how we practice it. As a teacher, I’ve found that the ‘progression’ of piano music for a student is vital. I teach many younger students…
Singing Ourselves in Time
The following article was first published on Pianist Magazine’s website a few months ago as part of my ongoing ‘5 top tips’ series. Singing. It can be a useful tool for pianists, or any instrumentalist, to help shape phrases, particularly when practising slower cantabile-style nocturnes, where it can encourage us to pay closer attention to…
Snapchats Duets & Trios for Beginners
At the end of last year, my fourth publication, featuring original piano duets and trios for students, was released. The Snapchats Duets (four hands at one keyboard) & Trios (six hands at one keyboard) series began in 2016 with just one book containing mainly elementary level duets plus a few trios which are from Initial…
Teaching Observations: How many is too many?
I’ve been musing on the topic of students learning and preparing a small amount of repertoire thoroughly as opposed to studying a much larger number of pieces in a perhaps more ‘laid-back’ fashion. This is a perennial subject, especially amongst adult returners, and is often quite a controversial issue. A common question in my Facebook…
Top Piano Practice Tips: An Interview
UK-based Marcel Zidani is a concert pianist, teacher, and composer. He runs a large Facebook group called Adult Piano Beginners (click here to join) which currently hosts over 44,000 members, and it was this group that proved the original inspiration for my own Facebook group, Adult Piano Returners (click here to join). Marcel is also…
Piano Pedagogy Spotlight: An Interview with Chenyin Li – Part 2
Today’s post continues the Piano Pedagogy Series with Part 2 of four interviews featuring Chinese concert pianist and teacher Chenyin Li. In this post, we discuss Chenyin’s advanced study, research and her repertoire. You won a full scholarship to study with Tamas Vesmas at the University of Auckland. Tell us about your experience studying in…
Piano Pedagogy Spotlight: An Interview with Chenyin Li – Part 1
I’m continuing the popular ‘Piano Pedagogy Series’ on my blog today featuring the first of four substantial interviews with Chinese concert pianist and teacher Chenyin Li. Chenyin enjoys a busy concert career and, since 2011, has contributed to nearly 90 CDs and dozens of video performances as the exclusive pianist for Pianist Magazine. She is a piano…
The Béla Bartók Connection
The last few months have been all-consuming, what with the usual end-of-term workload, but when it was finally over, I decided to take an early summer holiday to recharge and revisit old haunts. Over thirty years ago, I visited Hungary to do some research for what I thought was to be my Master’s degree project…
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…
Piano Pedagogy Spotlight: An Interview with Frank Huang – Part 2
I’m continuing my series of interviews focusing on piano pedagogy featuring professors and faculty members of universities and music conservatoires around the world. This week’s guest writer and interviewee is American concert pianist and associate professor Frank Huang who works at Miami University based in Ohio, USA. In part two of this series, Frank answers…
Performing for Fun: 5 Tips
This article was published last month on Pianist Magazine’s website. Why should we perform? Many of us merely want to play the piano in private just for fun and most crucially, to ourselves. So when someone suggests a possible performance, whether in a formal or informal setting, we can feel terrified. What if we make…