This is the fourth and final interview with American pianist and professor Frank Huang. In Part 4 he discusses his love for and approach to teaching. Why do you love teaching? What is your teaching philosophy? As a piano professor, it gives me great satisfaction and fulfilment to motivate, encourage, and empower students towards developing…
Tag: Piano Teaching
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…
Tricky Corners: Tension Breaks
Students often find the concept of tension breaks challenging. What do I mean by this expression? Most pianists understand the idea of tension and release: we need a certain amount of tension in our bodies to play a note or a group of notes, but the second (or millisecond) the note or notes have been…
The Thumb
I’ve published articles in Piano Professional, which is the magazine published by EPTA UK (European Piano Teachers Association), for the past 8 years. My latest, which was published in Issue 54, focuses on the thumb. Thumbs. We know they form an important part of our hand, but how often do we focus on all four…
Flipping musical misperceptions on their heads: Erica Sipes
My guest writer this week is American pianist, writer and professor Erica Sipes. Erica is the author of the popular blog, Beyond The Notes, which provided the inspiration for this blog when I started almost ten years ago. In this article, Erica writes about an issue which often rears its head for many a musician….
Tricky Corners: The Leaping Fifth Finger
September heralds the start of a new academic year and is therefore an appropriate time to begin my new monthly series, ‘Tricky Corners’. Those who read this blog will know that I particularly enjoy developing a student’s technique. This is all about re-training bad habits, transforming them into good ones, which takes time and care….
Kindly speaking the truth: Amy Boyes
Canadian piano teacher and music examiner Amy Boyes lives in Ottawa where she also works as an adjudicator, judging piano festivals and competitions. She believes that music educators must always strike a careful balance between kindness and criticism when giving feedback to students. In today’s guest post, she highlights an issue which can emerge after…
Pianists From The Past: Lamar Crowson written by Julian Jacobson
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. Today’s post has been penned by British pianist Julian Jacobson. He is a professor of piano at the Royal College of Music in London, UK, and…
The Bridge Position
Today’s post features my latest technique article for Piano Professional, a piano teachers’ magazine published by EPTA or the European Piano Teachers Association. This article highlights the Bridge Position, which is generally considered an important hand position for pianists. I hope it’s of interest to both teachers and students. If you cast your mind back…
Master classes with Valentina Lisitsa
I’m championing the importance of public ‘class’ lessons and today’s post features Ukrainian pianist Valentina Lisitsa. Valentina enjoys a busy performing career. She established her YouTube channel in 2007 and has been hailed an internet ‘star’. The following classes have been filmed over a period of a few years. They illustrate her approach to performing…
Creating Even Passage Work
The following article was recently published in Pianist magazine’s newsletter. I hope it might be a useful practice tool for creating nice, even passages. Creating even passages, devoid of lumps, bumps, and rhythmic jerkiness, can be a demanding challenge. How can we practice fruitfully, encouraging fingers to work optimally? Here are my 5 tips: 1….
Piano Workshops and Summer Adventures
I’ve come to the end of a very busy Summer. It has been stimulating and enjoyable on so many levels. It’s a privilege to travel to interesting parts of the world and I have met and worked with different piano students, teachers, and music lovers. Music courses, particularly piano courses, are thriving and I’ve written…