As the title of this piece suggests, it is inspired by Aaron Copland's famous 'Fanfare for the Common Man' - and the first thing I do when I start teaching this piece to a student is to ask them to listen to Copland's work and tell me what they hear in it and what instrument… Continue reading How to play……. ‘Fanfare for the Common Cold’
Category: Students
Penelope Roskell’s Advanced Piano Course
There are still places available on Penelope Roskell's Spring course (16th-18th March). Penelope is an inspiring and dedicated teacher, and the courses, which are open to all advanced pianists (Grade 8 - post-diploma), amateur, student or professional, offer a very supportive and stimulating learning environment. Taking place over three days, the March course will focus… Continue reading Penelope Roskell’s Advanced Piano Course
Why take a music exam?
When I was learning the piano as a child, I remember feeling that I was chained to an exam treadmill: every year I took another exam, and as soon as the exam was over and the results were in, I moved on to the next grade's syllabus. I did all this willingly, because it pleased… Continue reading Why take a music exam?
Guest post: Discovering New Repertoire
As a piano teacher based in Lichfield, one of the first things I ask a pupil when they start lessons is what would they like to play. Most look slightly embarrassed and the horribly predictable 'Moonlight Sonata', 'Für Elise' and 'The Entertainer' are volunteered as possible ideas. For most people learning an instrument, I reckon… Continue reading Guest post: Discovering New Repertoire
Making the most of your piano lessons
Make sure you get the most out of each and every lesson by following these simple points: Arrive on time for your lessons: get the most out of the time you have each week. Come prepared for your lessons: make sure you bring all your music, tutor book and practice notebook. Your teacher may have… Continue reading Making the most of your piano lessons
Guest post: Avoiding sightreading derailments at the piano.
by Erica Sipes Erica is a primarily a pianist but also a cellist who has a passion for bringing joy, personality, and fun into making, listening to, and performing classical music. She studied at the Eastman School of Music, and lives in Blacksburg, Virginia. She writes a blog for pianists and musicians called Beyond the… Continue reading Guest post: Avoiding sightreading derailments at the piano.
Telling stories, painting pictures
Music is all about story-telling and painting pictures. Pop music helpfully has titles and song lyrics to tell us what it is about, but Classical music can be more difficult to interpret unless the performer or performers give us "signposts" to help us understand the composer's intentions. The simplest "signposts" in the score are tempo,… Continue reading Telling stories, painting pictures
Describing and imagining music
My students will remember we did an exercise earlier in the year called The Musical Adjectives Project, where we each wrote down 5 words to describe a piece of music we were studying. You can see the results of this fun exercise here, together with the Word Cloud I created from the all the adjectives… Continue reading Describing and imagining music
Guest post: More than Just Piano Trivia
Pianist, teacher and writer Catherine Shefski studied at Smith College, Massachusetts, and at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London, where she was taught by EPTA founder, Carola Grindea. Catherine has performed as a soloist and chamber musician, has taught “virtual” piano lessons, and writes an informative blog, All Piano, with the mission… Continue reading Guest post: More than Just Piano Trivia
Guest post: Being a music student…..
Stephen Gott is a piano student in his first year at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance. Since moving to London from Halifax, West Yorkshire, I have been studying at Trinity Laban Conservatoire (music college) in Greenwich. I can safely say that studying music whether at primary school, GCSE, BTEC/A-level or Conservatoire is the… Continue reading Guest post: Being a music student…..
A Piano Teacher Writes... 