Category Archives: Sight Reading
30 seconds of terror
Time to Sight-Read on the exam. And get an easy 10 marks. Or not. You get about 30 seconds to look over the piece before starting. And once you start, you Just Don’t Stop. Forget about showing the examiner (or … Continue reading
Posted in Piano pedagogy, Sight Reading, Uncategorized
Tagged Ledger line, Piano exams, piano teachers, Piano teaching, Sight Reading
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It’s all about the brain
After looking at numerous incentive programs, and rejecting many because they’re more complicated than I’d like them to be, I’ve decided to use Jennifer Fink’s This is Your Brain… on Music! (Pianimation) I like this because : (1) It’s easy. It’s … Continue reading
The big gun
Week 3 of the summer teaching schedule. Week 3 of the intense “let’s improve your reading” campaign with one of my early advanced students – blogged about here. Two weeks ago, in addition to what I blogged about I sent … Continue reading
Posted in Piano pedagogy, Practice Tips, Sight Reading, Studio News, Technic, Theory
Tagged Howard Ferguson, score-reading, Sight Reading
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Burgmuller – Opus 105
Love it when I catch myself making the same mistakes that I bag at my students about! It keeps me grounded, and human, and laughing. Sight-reading my way through the “B”s I played through my collection of Burgmüller today – … Continue reading
Posted in Sight Reading A to Z, Technic
Tagged Burgmuller, Piano Studies, Piano Technique, Sight Reading
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Back on the bench again
My summer (July) teaching schedule is very light – a half-day a week. Two good piano students in the morning and two good theory students in the afternoon. The summer goal for one of the piano students: to improve her … Continue reading
Posted in Piano pedagogy, Sight Reading
Tagged Music theory, Piano, Piano pedagogy, Sight Reading
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Bach, Bartok, Brahms, Bortkewicz, Burgmuller, Busoni, Buxtehude
Having completed all the As in my stash of unread music (one volume, 5 pieces of Albeniz), it’s time to move on the the Bs. This will take me a while. I’ve already sight-read through or performed or taught a … Continue reading
Posted in Bach, Beethoven, Sight Reading A to Z, Studio News, Technic
Tagged Johann Sebastian Bach, music books, Sight Reading
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Albeniz: Cantos de Espana
My introduction to Spanish music was Granados and Albeniz, via this LP that my teacher gave me when I was a teenager (hmmm… I don’t think I have EVER given a student a recording). I loved playing this album or … Continue reading
Posted in Performance, Sight Reading A to Z
Tagged Albeniz, Chants d'Espagne, Isaac Albéniz
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Sight Reading A to Z
Not a how-to list with 26 points on how to be a better sight-reader, but a decision on what to tackle next. The plan is to read through all the composer books (as opposed to the teaching rep and graded … Continue reading
Drill the skills
This is kind of a follow-up to the previous post on the value of repetition in practicing. An article in a March issue of Maclean’s magazine, titled “Why is it your job to teach your kid math?” discusses recent learning … Continue reading
Musings on Chopin: It’s a Wrap.
And there we have it. I’ve sight-read through most of Chopin’s solo piano music – all the Preludes, Etudes, Nocturnes, Waltzes, Ballades, Impromptus, Mazurkas and a few miscellaneous pieces (notably absent – the Polonaises and Sonatas). Definite favourites have emerged … Continue reading
Posted in Musings about Chopin, Sight Reading
Tagged Composers, Frederic Chopin, Sight Reading
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The One-Minute Club
As the year begins to wind down (from my perspective, possibly not from the students’ perspective!), my goal for a number of my 2nd and 3rd year students is to be able to say the letter-names of all the notes … Continue reading
Anyone can compose…
…but that doesn’t mean that just anyone should. Until WWII virtually every pianist was also a composer. It was part of their music education, along with improvising. There are those who feel that it’s a tragic loss that we no … Continue reading
