You’re quite right in thinking that I’m not a food writer, and marmite is, of course, a rather dark, thick, sticky, potent, yeast-based paste that we spread over, well almost anything. You either love it or hate it. Apologies to vegetarians and vegans who will, no doubt, prefer Vegemite! In this post, the marmite connotation…
Tag: Piano Students
Teaching Observations: A Mindful Approach
The third post in my series, Teaching Observations, focuses on a perennial issue: ensuring students can find the necessary focus, discipline, and concentration required for real progress. Over the past few years, I have taught pupils who were most able and could find their way around the keyboard with relative ease. Notes were generally not…
The 4th Montecatini International Piano Competition
Over the past few years, I have been fortunate to be a jury member at several international piano competitions. Most of these have been online, which, thanks to the pandemic, has started a new ‘trend’. There are clearly some disadvantages to hearing young pianists perform in this situation regarding sound and instrument quality, but, generally,…
My Notebooks – A Personal Journey: Angeline Bell
Regular readers of this blog will know that I enjoy publishing guest posts. Today’s writer is composer and piano teacher Angeline Bell. Angeline has recently published two new volumes of piano music with Editions Musica Ferrum, and, in this article, she takes us on her journey as a composer. Scroll to the end of the…
Middle Eastern Odyssey
I’ve wanted to work in the Middle East for a while and have been busy hatching a suitable plan to present my books and workshops to teachers and students. Most countries in this part of the world are not known for their love of Western music education and it’s this relative indifference that caught my…
The Thinking Pianist: David Jones
This week’s guest post has been written by David Jones who is Head of Keyboard Studies at Cheltenham Ladies’ College. Earlier this year, David inaugurated a new piano course held at Cheltenham Ladies College called The Thinking Pianist. After an extremely successful pilot course in July 2021, The Thinking Pianist, will now offer a more…
2021 Online Global Piano Summit II
The 2021 Online Global Piano Summit was inaugurated last year and is returning by popular demand. The founding members, American concert pianist and Professor of Piano at Peabody Institute Dr. Steven Spooner and Chinese concert pianist Dr. Mei Li, are also co-founders of the International Institute for Piano Artistry. It hosts events like the Chicago…
Pianists From The Past: Margaret Bonds written by Samantha Ege
My Pianists From The Past series continues today with a fascinating article written by pianist and musicologist Samantha Ege. Samantha is a leading interpreter and scholar of the African-American composer Florence Price. Her PhD on Florence Price has shed important light on classical practitioners from underrepresented backgrounds. Her publications on women’s music networks have also…
Quarantine or Paradise: an interview with GéNIA
As the COVID-19 health crisis continues to dominate our everyday lives, many artists have taken to online forums, and particularly social media, in order to continue their work. With this in mind, Russian pianist, composer, teacher and writer, GéNIA (Genia Chudinovich) has established a new interview series, ‘Quarantine or Paradise’, where she will speak to…
Indonesian Charm
Over the past nine days I have been touring in the Far East. It’s always a pleasure to work with students and teachers in different parts of the world, and fascinating to note the various similarities in teaching styles, despite the cultural differences. I began my trip in Indonesia, a country I visited briefly last…
5 Tips for Secure Coordination and Quick Movement
This month’s 5 tips for Pianist magazine’s newsletter focuses on the issue of moving quickly around the instrument. I hope it’s usefui. Moving quickly and accurately can be tricky. Especially if fast passage work is involved. There are many ways to alleviate this conundrum, but one which can be really beneficial is octave displacement. Yes,…
Twiddling Your Thumbs
Recently I’ve been working with several students, aiming to develop strong, active thumbs. This may sound rather strange, but we tend to take the thumb for granted. They protrude at the side of each hand and we just expect them to support the fingers. I’ve written several times, here on this blog and in various…