Category: Repertoire

Repertoire, Students

5 Pieces to Play Instead of Für Elise

The Cross-Eyed Pianist

Pianist and composer Frederick Viner feels, like many of us, that Beethoven's Für Elise is "just a tad…overplayed". In this video, he select some wonderful and intriguing alternatives, including some lesser-known composers and music, to suit the intermediate player and which offer teachers a chance to explore the wider repertoire of the piano with their… Continue reading 5 Pieces to Play Instead of Für Elise

Repertoire

Sheet music for sale

The Cross-Eyed Pianist

I'm selling some previous exam syllabus books, accompanying tests (aural and sight-reading) and other scores. Although these are from previous years' exam syllabuses (ABRSM and Trinity), teachers and students may find them useful for additional repertoire etc. If you are interested in purchasing any of this music, please contact me ABRSM piano exam pieces 2019/2020… Continue reading Sheet music for sale

Exams, Piano teaching, Repertoire, Students

New Trinity College London piano syllabus – exploring the repertoire

The Cross-Eyed Pianist

This is a transcript of an article I wrote to accompany the release of Trinity College London's new piano syllabus, for which I also contributed teaching notes. Here I introduce the new piano syllabus for Grades 3 to 5 and explores some of my favourite pieces from the repertoire. For music examples, please see the… Continue reading New Trinity College London piano syllabus – exploring the repertoire

Practising, Repertoire

Repertoire in focus: Mozart Rondo in A minor, K511

The Cross-Eyed Pianist

I first heard this work live more than 10 years ago at a concert given by the American pianist and noted Mozart specialist Robert Levin, with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Played on a fortepiano, whose relatively modest voice spoke so elegantly in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, from the opening measures I was… Continue reading Repertoire in focus: Mozart Rondo in A minor, K511

Piano teaching, Repertoire

ABRSM: Core Classics for Piano

The Cross-Eyed Pianist

When I was a young piano student in the 1970s, taking lessons with Mrs Scott in Sutton Coldfield, I remember having books like the ABRSM's new Core Classics series, volumes such as Hours With the Masters and Step By Step to the Classics, edited by Felix Swinstead (whose music still regularly appears in ABRSM exam… Continue reading ABRSM: Core Classics for Piano

Repertoire

Journeys piano album by William Minter

The Cross-Eyed Pianist

'Journeys' is a six-volume collection of 97 piano pieces, composed and arranged by William Minter, originally from the UK and now resident in Connecticut. Rather in the manner of Bartok's Mikrokosmos, the pieces are arranged in order of difficulty, from the first volume of simple but characterful pieces for students of around Grade 1 ability… Continue reading Journeys piano album by William Minter

Piano teaching, Repertoire

‘Under the Rowan Tree’ by Robert Peate

The Cross-Eyed Pianist

Following in the footsteps of Robert Schumann, Bela Bartok and Dmitri Kabalevsky, British composer Robert Peate has created a delightful collection of piano miniatures for children. Like Bartok's For Children and his Mikrokosmos, Peate's pieces are both imaginative and educational, and range in difficulty from very easy (pre-Grade 1) to more challenging (cGrade 3/4). The… Continue reading ‘Under the Rowan Tree’ by Robert Peate