Pianist recommendations on Youtube

It is often helpful to listen to recordings of intermediate and advanced pieces when learning a new piece. A student doesn’t need to copy the same performance, but much can be learned from various interpretations. It is a great learning experience to compare performances. It also helps to focus on the performer’s expression and articulation, musical aspects that set true artists apart.

The following list came from a group of piano teachers when asked what top five pianists they would want their students to listen to. The ones with stars were mentioned frequently and are among my favorites. Click on the links to see who they are and listen to some of their music.

Agerich, Martha** playing a Schumann piano concerto

Ashkenazy, Vladimir playing Chopin Preludes

Campaner, Gloria playing Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2

Fleisher, Leon playing Bach Capriccio BWV 992

Gilels, Emil* playing Beethoven Piano Sonata Op. 101 No. 28

Horowitz, Vladimir**** Playing Mozart Concerto No 23

Kissin, Evgeny* playing Paganini’s La Campanella

Lang Lang playing Chopin Polonaise in Ab Op. 53

Letsitsa, Valentina* playing LIszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2

Li, George playing Saint Saens Piano Concerto No 2

Perahia, Murray*** Playing Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata Mvt. 3

Rubenstein, Artur*** playing Grieg Piano Concerto in am, Op. 16

Trifonov Daniil** playing Schumann Kreisleriana, Op. 16

Uchida, Mitsuko**** playing Mozart Piano Concerto in dm, K. 466

Van Cliburn* playing Tchaikovskky Piano Concerto No. 1 in bb m, Op. 23

Viardo, Vladimir playing Schubert/Liszt

Wang, YuJa** playing Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 in Bb M Op. 83

Watts, Andre playing Debussy

Zimmerman, Krystian*playing Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 in GM, Op. 58

40 Challenge 2019

I hope you’ve heard about the 40 challenge. I’ve challenged each of my students to learn at least 40 pieces this year. I have a card for each student on which I record the name of the pieces they pass off. I also have a sticker board where they get a sticker for each set of ten pieces they master.

What does it mean to “learn a piece”?

I’m not expecting memory or having a piece fully ready for a performance. However, the piece needs to be played fluidly (without unnecessary pauses), with correct notes, rhythm and tempo, and attention to dynamics so that it sounds beautiful.

How to prepare a piece? (This could be a separate blogpost. Here it is in a nutshell)

1. Day 1: Spend a few minutes looking over the piece for details that you will be incorporating. This should include time signature, key signature, dynamics, tricky spots (to focus on especially), flow of the piece (repeats, d.c. al coda etc.), articulation (staccatos, slurs, accents).

2. Day 1: Practice one hand at a time with great attention to details.

3. Day 2: Put hands together slowly and evenly with correct rhythm—-it doesn’t matter how slowly at this point.

4. Day 3: Use the metronome to maintain evenness

5. Day 4-7: Determine a final tempo and work methodically toward it, practicing difficult spots more (don’t just always start at the beginning and play to the end!). To work methodically, find a slow tempo where you can play all of the notes with the correct rhythm without mistakes. Then, gradually, increase the setting on the metronome until you reach the final tempo with ease. (This will take more than one day! Be patient. Doing it little by little ensures accuracy)

6. Days 4-7: Make sure you have added all the dynamics

7. Days 4-7: If you know you are consistently missing details such as a sharp or a flat or having difficulty with fingering, take a minute to pencil in the correction or the correct fingering. This would delight me!

8. Second week (if needed): Continue working toward final tempo if needed and details from lesson.

Repertoire choices—Flexibility

I have tried to provide each student with some options that are achievable in a week or two if they are practicing regularly and purposefully (Remember that I recommend at least 5 practice sessions a week that are the length of their lesson).

I have also adapted the count for some pieces. For example, five students in my studio learned concertos this year. These pieces are usually about 20 pages long—-a large, impressive accomplishment. They received credit for 5 pieces in the 40 challenge for learning their concertos. For some students, hymns are very easy and I have counted either 2 or 5 hymns for 1 piece in the 40 challenge. Other students get 1 for 1 on the hymns if they find them more challenging. Another example of adaptation is one student who wanted to review some old pieces. She reviewed 2 pieces to equal 1 piece on the 40 challenge. I record recital or festival pieces the week of the event.

What does it accomplish?

Hopefully it inspires students to focus on details in their pieces, motivates them to expand their repertoire and to have pieces “ready” at their lessons. I love seeing the excitement when I ask if they have something ready for the 40 challenge and they readily turn to a piece that they want to share with me.

The reward?

There might be some ice cream in the future. This group seems to enjoy ice cream and the social aspect of the accomplishment is a motivator!

Deadline?

June 1 (in preparation for June 5/6 recitals).

Fall Festival--Celebrating Contemporary Music

We are in the final month of preparation for Fall Festival now. I enjoy doing this festival each year because it gets all of my students off to a great start in the fall. Whenever there is a recital or an event that they are working toward, they work harder and concentrate more. At the September class lesson, they shared their music with each other (memory wasn’t required). At the upcoming October class lesson, they will share the same pieces, memorized this time, and much more refined, ready for festival and recital.

The focus of Fall Festival is to introduce students to contemporary sounds. I will review of few in this blog post and provide links for some examples. Maybe you can look and see which categories are present in your music. Often contemporary composers will use more than one of these categories in their compositions. These characteristics are very distinct from other eras of composition.

Melody

1. Melodies are fragmented, irregular, or disjunctive.

2. Significant parts of the piece, or even the whole piece, lack melody.

3. The melody is constructed by chance or serial technique. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bkQa2Rowvw

4. The melody is built from non-traditional scales such as modes, a scale with “blue” notes, etc. Some examples of Taylor Swift music with different modes: Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, and Locrian) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixUpXB2zJ8M

   Harmony

   1. Chords are unrelated to a major-minor system—clusters, altered chords, quartal or quintal harmony. Here’s an example of quartal harmony (uses 4th’s) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2loKj2-SU4

   2. The composer makes simultaneous use of two chords or keys (bitonality).

   3. The piece is not in any definable key (atonality).

   4. Unresolved dissonance is common. (Henry, Bradley, Katie, Ellie, Qing Shuang, Jack, Myla)

   Rhythm

   1. The piece or large parts of it contain no bar lines.

   2. The meter is irregular, such as 5/4. (Sloane) Here’s an example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPRtRoH4zcA. See if you can count along (9/8: count 2,3,2,2)

   3. There are frequent meter or tempo changes. (Sam, Zaria)

   4. Cross rhythms (polyrhythms)—5 against 4, 7 against 8, etc.—are prominent.

   5. Jazz rhythms prevail. (Walker, Adam, Peter, Quinn)

   Other considerations

   1. Non-traditional notation.

   2. Knocking, tapping or plucking some part of the instrument not traditionally used in this way. (Lawrence)

   3. Use of prepared piano. Only do this with permission from the owner of the piano: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgph8aPmRJs

   4. Use of extreme range on the instrument.

Welcome to the new website!

I'm excited to share this new website, created by my son, William.  

If you are hoping to join the studio, please contact me! 

If you are already part of the studio, I look forward to posting pictures and recordings of my students.  It should be easy to find calendar items and I am accepting tuition payments online as well.

Here's everything you need to know about the website.

Create your own account

On the top navigation, you'll see the sign in button.  Each family should create an account to keep a record of your payments to the studio.  You will see every payment that you've placed for lessons, festivals, or book deposits.  You can add your address and payment information for a faster checkout. The credit card is securely encrypted and only available to you.

Blog

I will be updating this regularly.  You can look forward to practicing tips, motivational ideas, recommendations for listening experiences and perhaps some upcoming concert information. I'm hoping that some of you will share your experiences with me as well to help other parents in the studio. Also, I would like to share recordings of my students in this area. Please complete the waiver for photos at this link: Here

Student/Parent Area

A password will be provided to student families for the student/parent area.  You will be able to make secure payments for tuition and other fees in this area and also see the detailed studio calendar for each term.

Tuition payment 

Once in the student/parent area, press "pay tuition" button to go to payment gateway.  

• To pay for lessons, select the first box. Private lessons, class lessons, and recital payments are bundled together.  
• Scroll down to select the day of your lesson (previously arranged with René), the length of the lesson and the current term.
• Press add to cart.
• If paying for multiple students in a family,  or you need to add a book deposit or festival fee, you can repeat the process for the other(s) and press "add to cart" again. 

The tuition amount is based the day of your lesson and the number of lessons in a term.  

Festival Payments

Festival payments should be made at the same time as tuition. To pay for multiple festivals during the same term, select the first one and add it to the cart.  Then repeat the process for other festivals during that term.