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(S3) SAPLINGS: 21 INTERMEDIATE PIANO SOLOS published by Red Leaf Pianoworks While presenting at and attending the Canadian Music Teachers Conference last summer in Winnipeg, I was introduced to a new collection hot off the press called Saplings. This collection is written with the intermediate pianist in mind and features eleven Canadian...
Penelope Roskell has created an encyclopedic masterpiece of pianistic wisdom, based on a fruitful performing and teaching career, and fueled by her quest for a healthy, injury-free approach to the piano. The Complete Pianist is divided into three parts: "Healthy Technique," "Natural Artistry," and "Healthy and Inspired Performance." Each of th...
As a yoga practitioner for almost two decades, I was thrilled to learn about Yoga in the Music Studio and eager to dive into reading Lesley McAllister's recent release. McAllister makes an impassioned case for combining yoga study with musical study, clearly conveying how the first enhances the second. She informs the reader from the...
William Brown has once again made a valuable contribution to the piano world, thanks to his thorough research on the life and teachings of his mentor. Brown's efforts produced so much material when he wrote Menahem Pressler: Artistry in Piano Teaching, that he had enough remaining to compile a second book, Master Classes with Menahem Pressler....
Emilie Lin has arranged five traditional melodies in her publication Hearts of Asia: Chinese Folk Songs, published by FJH. The first four pieces have lovely, cantabile melodies which are divided between the hands. They also have simple, beautifully written duet parts which could be played by a teacher, parent, or student at the early-intermediate l...
(S4) TOCCATA "HYGAGAN," OPUS 229by Dianne Goolkasian Rahbee From the FJH Contemporary Keyboard Sheets, Toccata "Hygagan" by Dianne Goolkasian Rahbee is an engaging and virtuosic late-intermediate piano solo.Born in Massachusetts, Rahbee is a first-generation Armenian American. She was a piano major at Juilliard, and a self-taught composer who ...
ROMANCE:THE PIANO MUSIC OF CLARA SCHUMANNIsata Kanneh-Mason, pianoDecca[Total Time 76:00]www.deccaclassics.com Contributing to this year's bicentennial celebration of Clara Schumann's birth is the debut album of the twenty-three-year-old British pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason. In 2015, while a student at the Royal Academy of Music, Kanneh-Mason, a...
MUSIC FOR YOUNG CHILDREN (MYC) is a piano-focused music curriculum designed for age-based classes of up to six children (ages 3–9). Founded in Canada by Frances Balodis program's focus on group learning and parental involvement. in 1980, it was most recently revised in 2015, and is now an international&n...
(S4-5) PIANO PIECES by Otilie Suková Very little is known about the composer Otilie Suková (1878–1905), yet a great deal is known about her famous father, Antonín Dvorák. Nonetheless, Bärenreiter Urtext has presented pianists with a gem: a collection of four short piano pieces by this relatively unknown composer. The p...
In Transformational Piano Teaching: Mentoring Students from All Walks of Life, Derek Kealii Polischuk provides an overview of various student populations we might encounter as piano teachers, and offers snapshots of how to work with and engage these seemingly disparate groups. "The book examines the role of mentor, a r...
FARRENC: VARIATIONS FOR PIANOBiliana Tzinlikova, pianoPaladino Music PMR 0088[Total Time: 53:02]www.paladino.at This is a significant new recording of Louise Farrenc's piano works. The program consists of four sets of variations, all written in the 1830s, including Air russe varié (on the composer's own theme), one on the cavatina "Nel veder l...
Review by Ann DuHamelDebussy's Paris: Piano Portraits of the Belle Époque, by Catherine Kautsky. The first time I heard Professor Catherine Kautsky speak at a conference, I was utterly entranced: she gave a captivating, lively, and energetic session that I still remember years later. Her enthusiasm for French music was palpable, and she provi...
(S2) Bastien New Traditions All In One Piano Course, 2B, 3A, 3B, by Lisa, Lori, and Jane Bastien. In a grand family tradition, these materials continue the recently published Bastien New Traditions All In One Piano Course by Lisa, Lori, and Jane Bastien. As with the first five levels in the new series (Primer A through 2A), Lessons, Theory, Techniq...
D'Albert was a prized student of Liszt and his piano transcriptions of Bach's organ works bear the influence of his master. Unlike some transcribers, who sought to glorify Bach by embellishing his works in grandeur, both Liszt and d'Albert stayed largely reverent to the original works. One exception here is d'Albert's version of the Passacaglia and...
The Contemporary Piano: A Performer and Composer's Guide to Techniques and Resources, by Alan Shockley. The introduction to Alan Shockley's The Contemporary Piano: A Performer and Com- poser's Guide to Techniques and Resources indicates that the "book is designed as a resource for composers writing for the piano and for pianists in...
Music teachers who collaborate with other equally busy musicians, must find creative ways around full schedules and unusual working hours. Email, text message, and social media platforms are cumbersome when communicating about team teaching, shared events, and group organizations. Consider a new tool to facilitate shared correspondence: Slack...
(S1-3) Imaginations Books 1 and 2, by Kevin Olson. Kevin Olson has a knack for creating fresh and original sounds at every teaching level. While incorporating the reading, rhythmic, and technical skills needed to advance the piano student, Imaginations offers a wide variety of appealing pieces. With titles like "Android Attack," "Pengui...
The two leading piano manufacturers in Paris during Chopin's lifetime were Érard and Pleyel. Chopin preferred Pleyel's instruments, praising what he heard as a more compelling cantabile, and subtler tonal palette. The 1847 Pleyel here possesses remarkable clarity, due in part to its quick decay time. Rutkowski's prowess with convincing agogic expr...