Monthly Archives: December 2011
Don Cherry’s Piano Desk
Don Cherry is our (Canada’s) most colorful hockey commentator. His attire generally makes it worth tuning in to CBC to see him. He is often controversial and frequently good for a laugh. Someone at RBFlicks had a bit of fun … Continue reading
Musings about Chopin – Etudes Opus 10
I kind of know the first 3 lines of all of Chopin’s Etudes, opus 10, but that’s all I know of most of them. I’ve never learned any up to performance standard. I once heard a pianist say that if you … Continue reading
Posted in Musings about Chopin, Piano pedagogy, Technic
Tagged Étude, Frederic Chopin, Piano
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A Year of Blogging
Today this blog is one year old. It’s been way more adventurous than I could have imagined. I started it for two reasons: one, to record some of my impressions of the Artistry at the Piano method – a method … Continue reading
Merry Christmas – from Chopin
Haydn gave the Minuet and Trio its place in the multi-movement instrumental forms of the Classical period. Beethoven, always innovative, replaced the elegant Minuet with a more playful, humorous, sometimes darker, scherzo. In Chopin’s hands, the Scherzo retained the form … Continue reading
Posted in Musings about Chopin, Performance
Tagged Bob Kerr, Frederic Chopin, Scherzo No. 1 (Chopin), Yundi Li
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Contrapuntal Music for Young Students
I’ve been reading Joan Last’s The Young Pianist (first published 1954, Oxford) – not from beginning to end, but in bits and pieces. The chapter on interpretation offers many very good, helpful points about music in general, playing the piano … Continue reading
Gr. 7 Technique Worksheet – errors fixed
While teaching yesterday, I noticed a few errors on the grade 7 RCM worksheet that I have available in Printables. Apologies to anyone who has used this. The errors are now corrected. As always, please double check with the 2008 … Continue reading
Tasty Fix to 3/4 Time
Erica Ann Sipes at Beyond the Notes recently wrote a witty, almost poignant apology to 3/4 time. It is massacred so often. Students invariably add a fourth beat, completely unaware of what they’re doing. There is nothing stable, nothing to ground … Continue reading
Performance Classes
We’re in the midst of Performance Classes this week. I’m having my Christmas Piano Parties over the next 2 weekends, so the primary focus of the classes is to prepare for the recitals. A few students missed last weeks’ lessons, … Continue reading
Posted in Games, Piano pedagogy, Studio News
Tagged Piano Performance, Rhythm Drills
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Think twice about Clementi
I’m sure we’ve all taught and heard more Clementi Sonatinas than we care to think about. We know exactly where the problem spots are – we know every student is going to come back with the wrong rhythm in THAT … Continue reading
Mozart C Major as you’ve never seen it before
This is the familiar Mozart C Major sonata K. 545 with a wonderfully descriptive harmonic analysis – and don’t let those words frighten you! (and don’t let the French title scare you, either). It shows just how big an emotional … Continue reading
Sight-reading Chopin
My next sight-reading project is to play through Chopin’s music – chronologically, not by genre, mostly to break up what at this point I perceive to be a monotony in the Mazurkas. I’m willing to be proved wrong. I found … Continue reading
Reading Books; Reading Music
Aretha van Herk is a published author and English Professor at the University of Calgary. She reads a book every day. She is often asked whether she has taken a speed-reading course, a question that makes her smile because “it … Continue reading
