My Pianists From The Past series continues with this fascinating post detailing the incredible life and career of Venezuelan pianist and composer Teresa Carreño. This article has been written by Venezuelan pianist and pedagogue Clara Rodriguez, who is professor of piano at the Royal College of Music Junior Department, and a noted exponent of South…
Tag: Piano Playing
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…
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. 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 left to their own devices, will assume all kinds…
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…
Creating Even Passagework
The following article was recently published in Pianist magazine’s newsletter, and I hope it might be a useful practice tool for all those who are planning a weekend of piano practice! Creating even passages, devoid of lumps, bumps, and rhythmic jerkiness, can be a demanding challenge. How can we practice fruitfully, encouraging fingers to work…
5 Tips on Stage Presentation Part 1
Stage presentation is an important topic, not just for those who perform regularly, but also for students preparing for exams, diplomas, or school concerts and festivals. In my latest article for Pianist Magazine newsletter, I offer the first of two articles on stage presentation, with a few ideas for honing and developing a more assured…
Playing to Your Strengths
I haven’t written many guest posts over the past six years – the length of time that I have been running this blog. There’s no particular reason for this, but when the superb writer, author, journalist, and presenter, Jessica Duchen, kindly invited me to pen a post for her excellent blog, it was an offer…
Are you all Fingers and Thumbs?
My most recent article for Pianist Magazine’s e-newsletter focuses on the thumb. As always, my intention is to draw attention to an area of piano playing which may benefit from concentrated practice. I notice in my own teaching that students perpetually work to achieve and maintain finger strength, but then leave the poor old thumb…
Guest Post: Andreas Eggertsberger speaks out about Focal Dystonia
I first met Austrian pianist Andreas Eggertsberger in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) last November, when we were both presenting at the UCSI University Piano Pedagogy Conference. I was fortunate to catch Andreas’ fascinating presentation which focused on this little known condition. Injuries are frequently considered a taboo subject for pianists, and tend to be surreptitiously swept…
Chicken Wings
I try to be inventive when conveying various technical and musical details to students, but I’ve yet to come up with a ‘technical term’ as wacky as this one. Devised by my pupil Amy Reynolds, ‘Chicken Wings’ may be of interest to anyone focusing on the elbow. Many pedagogues feel this part of the body…
Melanie Spanswick 