Today’s post has been penned by ‘Piano Pedagogy Spotlight’ guest writer James Kirby. James is a pianist and piano professor who studied in Russia and the UK, and who now teaches the piano at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Eton College, and Royal Holloway University London. This article documents James’ concert tour…
Tag: Piano Practice
Piano Pedagogy Spotlight: An Interview Series with James Kirby – Part 3
Today’s post continues my series Piano Pedagogy Spotlight featuring pianist and piano professor James Kirby. Here, we discuss his work as a concert pianist and chamber music player. Were you tempted to enter the Tchaikovsky competition again, or any other international competitions? And after the competition ended, were you approached for concerts or management in…
10 Tips To Help Develop Arm-Weight
Today’s post was published in Pianist Magazine’s newsletter last month. It focuses on the importance of establishing and developing arm-weight into your piano playing. I hope you find it of interest. Producing an attractive, pleasing sound when playing the piano is key to good interpretation. When we perform a piece of music, we want our…
The Metronome: 5 Tips
Greetings from Melbourne, Australia, where I’m on a book tour. I’ve been intending to publish this post for a while; it’s a recent blog post written for Pianist Magazine’s website focusing on the use of the metronome. Over the years, I have found this device to be extremely helpful in my teaching class and I…
A Journey Through Debussy’s Preludes 4: Julian Jacobson
Concert pianist and piano professor Julian Jacobson continues his Debussy journey in today’s blog post. This fourth article surveys the final six works of the French composer’s Preludes Book 1 (Preludes Nos. 7 – 12), in preparation for Julian’s concert on June 6th at the 1901 Arts Club in London, where he will play the…
Piano Pedagogy Spotlight: Interview Series with Jan Loeffler – Part 3
Today’s post features the third interview with Jan Loeffler who is a pianist and piano professor at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (UK). In this instalment, Jan offers his thoughts on teaching technique, repertoire, and using the piano exam syllabus. At what approximate age and level do your students begin their musical journey with you? This varies…
A Journey Through Debussy’s Preludes: Julian Jacobson
I enjoy hosting articles written by friends and colleagues on this blog. Pianist and piano professor Julian Jacobson is no stranger to my website, and you can read the very popular 2022 series he wrote documenting his Beethoven sonata marathon, here. Today’s new series pays homage to Debussy; Julian will be performing the French composer’s…
Piano Pedagogy Spotlight: Interview Series with Jan Loeffler – Part 1
It gives me great pleasure to introduce a new series on my blog. Pianist and piano professor Jan Loeffler teaches the piano at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in the UK where he works in both junior and senior schools. A significant number of Jan’s pupils have won awards both domestically and abroad. He reflects on…
Teaching Observations: A Professional ‘Sound’
Many will know that I taught at the 2021 Chetham’s International Piano Summer School; you can read my blog post about it by clicking here. This course provided a great opportunity to meet and chat with all types of students, but particularly the adult amateur player. I teach few adult amateur students, as most of…
Teaching Observations: Piano Courses For Young Pianists
Over the past few years, several of my younger students have expressed a desire to participate in a summer course, and I’ve always been supportive of what I consider an extremely useful extracurricular activity. Those who have attended have invariably improved their playing, sometimes substantially. The opportunity to play regularly with new or different teachers…
Voicing: 5 Tips
This month’s 5 tips article for Pianist Magazine’s website focuses on voicing. This is a vital role in piano playing and will determine a pianist’s artistry and musical phrasing. I hope the following ideas are beneficial. Voicing, or the highlighting of various musical lines or strands of music, plays a crucial role in good piano…
Teaching Observations: A few thoughts about piano competitions
I’m fortunate to enjoy most aspects of my work. I hesitate to say ‘job’ as being a musician is so much more than that. It’s most definitely a vocation. As expected with any type of work, some parts of my ‘job’ are more interesting than others. Adjudicating, or judging piano competitions, is a favourite element…