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…
Tag: Piano Teachers
The Mature Pianist: Interview
I was recently interviewed about the value and benefit of learning the piano later in life. Many students play as children taking up the hobby again years later, whilst others learn from scratch. Is it a good idea? Can you succeed as an adult learner? Is anyone ever too old to play the piano? Here…
Butterflies: Rami Bar-Niv
Pianist, teacher, and composer Rami Bar-Niv continues his journey into piano technique and today’s post is the fifth in the series for this blog. Many thanks to those of you who’ve written to tell us how much you have been enjoying these articles. The fifth pillar of my five main piano-playing-technique pillars is the butterfly…
Three-Part Webinar for Pianist Magazine
I’ve been contributing articles to Pianist Magazine for over 10 years. During that time I’ve written an elementary ‘How-To-Play’ column—over 60 in total—for each issue and have composed an elementary piano piece—just over 15 so far—as part of the piano score section. I’ve also contributed regularly to Pianist’s blog, writing a series of ‘5-tips’ style posts. It’s been…
Rehearsing Piano Duets and Trios: 5 Tips
My most recent bi-monthly article for Pianist Magazine’s newsletter focuses on ensemble playing. It’s an element enjoyed by almost all pianists and if you’ve yet to experience the fun of playing duets with others, you might like to consider teaming up with a fellow pianist to run through some repertoire. Here are a few rehearsal…
Grabbing: Rami Bar-Niv
The first guest post of the year has been written by pianist, teacher, and composer Rami Bar-Niv. This is the fourth article in his piano technique series for this blog. Here, Rami highlights the importance of the ‘grabbing’ movement as part of developing a secure piano technique. The fourth pillar of my five main piano-playing-technique pillars…
Happy New Year 2024: The ‘Ideal’ Piano Teacher
Happy New Year At the beginning of a new year, it’s natural to take stock and consider our direction in life. I took a trip to Amsterdam for several days just before Christmas. I love my short trips. They provide the chance to get to know a place, soak up the atmosphere, the vibe, the…
Seasons Greetings 2023
Wishing you and your loved ones a very happy, peaceful, and splendid Holiday Season The winter holiday season is upon us once again, and I hope it provides us all with the opportunity to relax, rest, and reflect. This is my final post of the year, and I’d like to thank everyone who takes the…
Snapchats Duets & Trios: Beginners & Book 1, 2 & 3
Snapchats Duets & Trios is published by 80 Days Publishing, a relatively new publishing house owned and founded by composer Christopher Norton and Andrew Jones. The latest addition to the Snapchats family is the new beginners book: Snapchats Duets and Trios for Beginners (see image above). This volume contains 25 duets and trios: 20 duets…
The Piano Teacher Interview
I’m excited to be a keynote speaker at the Australasian Piano Pedagogy Conference 2024, which will be held at Monash University in Melbourne from the 8th – 12th July. I’ll be giving three presentations at this conference. I will also visit several other cities in Australia. Additionally, I will return to Singapore and Hong Kong…
Teaching Observations: Piano Exams For All?
Today’s post is about piano exams. I’ve written about this particular topic on numerous occasions, but, as ever, teaching the piano is a process, for the teacher as much as the student, and it’s a process where our thoughts are constantly changing and evolving. My views here are based purely on my own experience as…
Chord Playing and Improvising 6: Christopher Norton
Today’s post continues renowned composer Christopher Norton’s series here on my blog. Christopher suggests helpful practice tips and advice for one of his pieces, which can be downloaded for free; ‘In The Spirit’ comes from the highly successful series, Connections For Piano. Connections for Piano has been very popular since its launch in 2007. It…