JANUARY 2023 | ISSUE 60 | www.epta-uk.org Reintroducing the The use of moveable do in EPTA UK Piano music reading, musings on first Competition piano lessons, an overview of the online ESTA MA in Practical New Sheet Music Piano Teaching, reflections on from Hal Leonard composing in the field, and Tips on Effective much more Student Feedback Strategies for Teaching Pop Piano
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JANUARY 2023 | ISSUE 60 | www.epta-uk.org Piano Professional PROFESSIONAL Published by EPTA UK Ltd in January, April and September. 4 Editorial by Talia Girton Free to EPTA UK members; 4 EPTA UK Piano Competition 2022-23 annual subscription £12 (inc P&P). 9 The Naive and Sentimental Piano Teacher Editor by Daniel Lloyd Talia Girton e: [email protected] 10 Singing Scales - The Power of Reading Music in Design Moveable Do by Starr Meneely Helen Tabor w: helentaborcreative.com 12 Spotlight on Group Piano, Part 3 by Melanie Bowes Advertising enquiries 14 Providing Student Feedback by Michael Griffin e: [email protected] 16 Scores Section: Selected by Talia Girton Subscribers to Piano Journal: 30 First Piano Lessons by Anthony Williams Annual subscription is £7 (inc P&P) 32 Teaching Pop Piano by Jonathan Mark Roberts Contact Nadia Lasserson 34 Carver Road, London SE24 9LT 35 Concert Review by Yvonne Cheng Tel: 020 7737 7307 / 020 7274 6821 e: [email protected] 36 Online ESTA MA in Practical Piano Teaching 38 Composing in the Field by Michael Blake All EPTA UK enquiries 41 A Natural Approach to Music - Introduction The Administrator EPTA UK PO Box 77560 by Muriel Levin London WC1A 9RX Tel: 0771 931 6333 (Tue–Sat, 10am–1pm) 42 Reviews e: [email protected] w: www.epta-uk.org 46 Corporate News Registered Company England 1945055 49 Regional News & Regional Organisers Registered Charity 293698 50 New Members • Bursaries Please see the EPTA UK services section for full membership information and how to join. The opinions expressed or implied, the methods recommended or the advice given in this publication are not necessarily representative of EPTA UK Ltd and therefore EPTA UK Ltd takes no responsibility for them. Appearance of an advertisement does not necessarily indicate EPTA UK Ltd’s approval of the product or the service. The editor welcomes letters from members but reserves the right to edit them for publication. This product is copyright material and may not be copied in whole or part for any purpose whatsoever without the permission of the copyright owner. 51 Services to Members | 3 | www.epta-uk.org HOME
EDITORIAL Welcome to 2023 EPTA UK Piano and the 60th Competition issue of Piano 2022-23 Professional magazine. Please join me in EPTA Lancaster/Manchester extending a hearty hello to EPTA UK’s new Sunday 22 January 2023 communications manager, Vicky Ward. You may have EPTA North East seen her name on our most recent newsletters and on Saturday 28 January 2023 our social media pages (don’t forget to join “EPTA UK Member’s Community” on Facebook and follow EPTA Cambridge/Beds/Herts @epta_uk on Instagram!). As a communications and PR campaign manager, Vicky looks forward to Sunday 29 January 2023 combining her unique skill set with the extensive knowledge bank of EPTA UK trustees to attract EPTA Essex new members, ensure existing memberships are renewed annually and help build an outstanding Sunday 29 January 2023 reputation for the organisation. In other news, the EPTA UK Piano Competition EPTA Surrey is finally back after a long hiatus. With Swansea and Kent kicking us off with great success at the Sunday 29 January 2023 end of last year, 2023 will see competitions held by our regional organisers throughout the country. EPTA Bucks/Berks Students of all levels are encouraged to participate! See opposite for details of how to enter. Sunday 29 January 2023 We’ve got a ton of free music for you! Thanks to the generosity of our partners at Hal Leonard, I’m EPTA Norfolk excited to present you with a new regular segment in the magazine: the Scores Section. Here, you Saturday 4 February 2023 will find a collection of lovingly selected pieces for a variety of playing levels from top composers EPTA London around the world. If you like what you see – and hear! –, head over to www.musicroom.com for Sunday 5 February 2023 more. EPTA UK members will receive 15% off all products until 30 June 2023 with code EPTA15. For more information, including closing dates, visit: This issue of Piano Professional offers a reflection https://epta-uk.org/epta-event-detail/11563 on ‘free’ grand pianos with Daniel Lloyd, musings on first piano lessons with Anthony Williams, suggestions for providing student feedback with Michael Griffin, tips for teaching pop piano with Jonathan Mark Roberts, techniques for teaching scales with Starr Meneely, observations on the art of composing with Michael Blake, and an interview with ESTA on their new online MA in practical piano teaching. You’ll also see our regular columns by Melanie Bowes and Muriel Levin, regional news (including reflections on Round 1 of the EPTA UK Piano competition in Swansea and Kent), reviews, and announcements from our corporate members. Lastly, I would love to hear from you! Please do drop me a line ([email protected]) with any questions or comments you have about piano teaching and/or feedback regarding our magazine. I’d especially like to know what content interests you most so that we can publish more of it. Wishing you warmth in this chilly season, Talia Girton, Editor | 4 | www.epta-uk.org HOME
competition EPTA (UK) PIANO COMPETITION - RULES Aims Advance I £35 Advance II £40 To encourage, motivate and honour high levels of Advance III £45 Advance IV £50 piano playing and piano teaching nationwide, and to promote musical awareness through participation in We hope to give recital opportunities for the performing. winners and they will be contacted nearer the time. Rules of Entry Classes • The competition has an age limit of 25 and Two or more contrasting pieces should be played under for all categories. in each round. Category entry is determined by the • Entrants are allowed to enter one class only. piece of the highest level in the set. Round 1 A repertoire list is available to assist teachers in the • All participants will receive verbal and written categorisation of pieces. This is an ongoing list. For adjudications and certificates of entry. enquiries, please contact [email protected]. The • Round 1 adjudicators and venues will be competition organisers reserve the right to chosen by local Regional Organisers. re-allocate a participant to a different class. • Certificates of high commendation will be awarded where appropriate by the adjudicator. Participants may play the same or different • The adjudicator will choose a maximum of repertoire in round 1 and the regional final round as TWO performers from each class to go forward long as the grading level remains the same. into the regional final rounds. • Performances selected for the regional Performance Rules final rounds must be “Outstanding” or with 1. No changes to the repertoire are permitted “Distinction”. It is not necessary or expected once the application form has been received. that anyone be ranked according to number or 2. Performance that goes over the time limit will place. be stopped and may be penalised. • If more than two performers received 3. Performance time limits must be observed. “Outstanding” or “Distinction”, only two Time starts on the first note and includes must go through.There are no exceptions. the time in between pieces. Pianists are not This important rule must always be observed. required to announce their pieces; any spoken • If numbers are very small in a class, there introductions must be included in the overall is no obligation to put students through to performance time. the regional finals. 4. The adjudicator(s)’s decision is final. • The preparatory class will have the option of non-competitive entries. All non-competitive Categories for participants: entries will receive a certificate of participation. All first rounds completed by 31 December 2022. Level | Max. platform time (minutes) | Fee (£) Regional Final Rounds Preparatory (non-competitive) | Grade 1 or below | There are to be two regional final rounds during 3|6 February and March: Preparatory (competitive) | Grade 1 or below | 3 | 6 Elementary | Grades 2–3 | 5 | 7 • South Sunday 5 March 2023, Recital Room, Intermediate I | Grades 4–5 | 7 | 9 City Lit, 1-10 Keeley Street, Covent Garden, Intermediate II | Grades 6–7 | 9 | 9 London, WC2B 4BA Advanced I | Grade 8 | 10 | 10 Advanced II | Post-Grade 8 | 11 | 12 • North Sunday 12 March 2023, Performing Arts Advanced III | Post-Grade 8 AND studying at Studio, Rossall School, Broadway, Fleetwood, Specialist Music Schools, Conservatoires or Lancashire, FY7 8JW University | 13 | 14 Advanced IV | Professional students studying full All classes will be represented in the regional final time at a Conservatoire or University | 14 | 15 with 1st, 2nd and 3rd places in every class. Prizes All entries must be submitted via the EPTA UK Prizes awarded to each of the two regional final website form by the closing date set by the winners of each class as follows: organiser of the first rounds. Please check the competition web page for updates and contact Preparatory £15 Elementary £20 information. www.epta-uk.org Intermediate I £25 Intermediate II £30 | 5 | www.epta-uk.org HOME
competition EPTA (UK) PIANO COMPETITION - FIRST ROUND EPTA SWANSEA After a long pause due to COVID-19, The Swansea round of the piano competition was held at the show room in Coach House Pianos. We were surrounded with beautiful grand pianos of all brands and a nearly new Bösendorfer grand piano was our piano for the day. Competitors were so thrilled to play this beautiful instrument for their performances. From the preparatory level to advanced IV level, there were 31 competitors. Two finalists were chosen at each level. It was tough but our adjudicator, Pippa Harrison, did a brilliant job. She not only gave positive and helpful comments to each contestant, but also showed an example on the piano so the competitors could see how they could improve. It was more than a successful event for all the pupils, teachers and parents. It was a great encouragement for them in their playing, and a wonderful memory. I’m looking forward for our finalists to go to the next round in March. I was so grateful for EPTA UK for sending some bags and pens to give out to students. Hyelim Morris, EPTA Swansea | 6 | www.epta-uk.org HOME
competition EPTA KENT The Kent round of the piano competition was held in my home in Maidstone, as it was for many years before COVID struck. I have a nice salon Kawai grand and it is not difficult for people to park at weekends. As with our other EPTA Kent events it was on a Sunday afternoon. On this occasion it began at 1pm and continued until gone 5pm, with 16 players participating. I divided the afternoon into the times for the start of each class, with helpers in the kitchen to welcome arrivals with tea and coffee (and EPTA Kent’s sale of second-hand music) before they waited in the lounge for their turn to come. Then players, parents, siblings and teachers squeezed into the music room for the performances. The intimacy and friendliness put everyone at ease. Tim Barratt gave them all excellent advice, served up with kindness and encouragement. We had a preponderance of advanced players, holding Advanced l, ll and lll first, and then working our way down to some non-competitive beginners in the final class who regaled us with pieces such as Old MacDonald from John Thomson book 1. A number of our players are going forwards to the next round, with two Outstandings and 7 Distinctions. Nancy Litten, EPTA Kent Photos: Adjudicator Tim Barratt, with competitors - Column I: Ameli, Alexander, Caden and Viola, Adv. II L: Annabelle, Lilian and Mawunukunu, Prep R: Ashley Solano and Eliza Ruffle, Adv. III Nneoma Ude and teacher Graham Rix, Elem. L: Lucas Yin and Queenie Ziyi Yang, Int. II R: Yueci Li and Lydia Mi, Int. I Column 2: Oscar Mi and Chloe Jin, Adv. I | 7 | www.epta-uk.org HOME
36 graded piano arrangements from ABBA to Adele. Play for fun or use as your own-choice piece in Performance Grade exams. For more info please visit: shop.abrsm.org Piano Repertoire for 2023 From first lessons, school concerts, the latest graded exam materials or for those returning to music later in life, Hal Leonard Europe’s piano catalogue enables life-long music-making for everyone. Kick off the new year with the latest in contemporary piano with Ludovico Einaudi’s Underwater Extra Edition and Ola Gjeilo’s Dawn, explore new repertoire with our Graded Gillock collection, Peaceful Jazz Piano Solos and ABRSM’s Pop Performer, and much more for a year full of music. available from your local music shop or from | 8 | www.epta-uk.org HOME
REFLECTIONS The Naive and Sentimental Piano Teacher by Daniel Lloyd Daniel Lloyd, author of No Notes piano music books (www.NoNotes.uk), describes how sometimes it can be a good idea to look a gift horse in the mouth. Iwonder whether any grand. However, they were Piano Professional considerably less impressed readers have received than me with Delia’s offer. an email recently asking if They wanted to know whether they could help Delecia Lyons I knew Delecia and whether I had seen her piano ‘in if an offer seems toofind a new home for her recently deceased husband’s good to be true... the flesh’? Sure enough, a Yamaha baby grand. I did. quick trawl on the web soon In a subsequent email uncovered multiple examples Delecia explained that she was relocating back to of very similarly-worded piano removal ‘offers’. All the United States and was wondering if I, being shared the aim of getting a payment in advance for an active piano teacher, would be able to take a non-existent product. In short, “Delecia’s” email the piano or knew of someone who would like to to me was a scam. take it and care for it. I did not know Delecia but I hope that I would have discovered the deceit I supposed she might have got hold of my email for myself before I had parted with any money. But address from one of the various piano-themed this is a very simple and harmless-seeming con that blogs I subscribe to. preys on our internet-age willingness to pay up Delecia’s reply to my request for further front for goods unseen from people unknown.When information yielded several photos of a delightful the ‘mark’ (who so easily might have been me) uses Yamaha GC1 model that was, apparently, about 3 the ‘removal company’ email provided by Delecia, years old, in impeccable condition and last tuned they are, without realising, actually contacting scam about 5 months ago, “... shortly before her husband HQ. From the outset the scammers would probably passed...”. Delecia said she had put the piano in have stressed the need for me to act quickly. I storage with the removal company she’d employed would likely have been encouraged to believe to move the furniture from her house. She said she that several other people were also interested. No was anxious to find a good home for the instrument doubt too that any request I made to see the piano as soon as possible and explained that she did not beforehand would have been carefully finessed want any money for the piano, just the knowledge into some kind of extremely generous refund in that it had gone to a good home. The beneficiary of the unlikely event I was less than 101% satisfied. her gift had only to arrange and pay for the piano’s The conversation would have moved smoothly and removal (her email included her removal company’s inexorably onto the various piano removal charges, email and a reference number). She also requested, depending on distance and speed of delivery. I’d poignantly, that the beneficiary take and send probably have wrestled with being ‘sensible’ and some photos of the piano in its new home. choosing the cheapest option and ‘treating myself’ What an extraordinary and touching offer! What and paying extra for an express delivery. After all, piano teacher would not be moved to help find a the piano itself was costing me nothing! Needless home for such a special instrument, or tempted to say, of course, however much I paid, my dream to give the instrument a home themselves? I piano would never have arrived. was certainly disappointed when I realised that I guess it’s worth repeating, obvious as it seems Delecia’s baby grand would not fit in my house! now in hindsight, that if an offer seems too good to I decided I would ask around and soon found be true, it probably is! someone who was actively looking for a baby | 9 | www.epta-uk.org HOME
TECHNIQUE Singing Scales - The Power of Reading Music in Moveable Do by Starr Meneely Scales - are they a technical exercise or an Learning how to sing the integral part of reading and understanding solfa scale is the first step in music? the process of learning how Whenever anyone thinks about singing scales to understand tonal music. they immediately imagine Julie Andrews and seven Von Trapp children dancing around the streets students can learn to read music with this type of of Salzburg. This is not an inaccurate portrayal. understanding from the very beginning. Students When students are introduced to Do Re Mi Fa So can learn to read in moveable solfa. Fixed letter La Ti Do, they almost always refer to the film. names are important but are simply a starting-off We can be grateful that such a reference exists point; the rest of musical reading and playing can in popular culture because it helps set the stage be done within a musical key. To begin this process for teaching this valuable skill. However, learning students must be familiar with the solfa scale. In scales can be a tedious and painstaking process. my studio I teach this using Kodály methods and It’s easy to present them as technical exercises Curwen hand signs: that mostly involves practising fingering patterns. I used to teach scales exactly like this but I had a Once students are familiar with the entire feeling that something was missing, there seemed diatonic scale in solfa and their dexterity and to be a significant gap between memorising coordination is ready to play scalic patterns, they fingering patterns and the development of a deeper understanding of tonal centres. When I started singing scales with my students everything changed. Learning how to sing the solfa scale is the first step in the process of learning how to understand tonal music. Scales and musical notation are not separate concepts or skills, they are exactly the same thing. If this seems like a strange idea it’s because many of us were not trained this way. Formative piano training is often a presentation of some type of “Middle C Position” and from there students are taught to add sharps and flats. It is important to realise though that sharps and flats are not a modification of C Major. Although this is a stumbling block in much of piano pedagogy, it is easily remedied. When we play music in a key signature we are reading music in a tonal centre. If we include a solfa / singing methodology into our teaching, | 10 | www.epta-uk.org HOME
TECHNIQUE can begin to study the scales. The language I use to This approach to scales leads us to understand teach this is quite simple: what John Curwen meant when he elaborated on the unique sound qualities of each solfa • Scales can begin on any note. syllable in his 1848 book Singing for Schools and Congregations. His characterisations of the solfa • Major scales need to follow the rules of whole syllables include examples such as, “La is mournful, tones and semitones in the correct order. This Ti is piercing and Fa is desolate”. Students can can be done visually and with listening. imagine these descriptions, or descriptions of their own, from the earliest days of their learning. This • We choose fingerings that make the scales relationship with sound nurtures a foundation of easy to play and so that someday we can play listening that prompts them to treat each tone with them quickly with beautiful tone. care and consideration. • Key Signatures tell us where ‘Do’ is. This musical foundation paves the way for students to take on the challenging masterpieces “Key Signatures tell us where Do is” - this is the found throughout piano repertoire. Playing the magical secret. When students learn to read from piano is not simply “melody and accompaniment”, ‘Do’ in any key they don’t need tricks to remember instead, the piano is a complex chorus of voices what the sharps and flats are or where they belong on where each voice brings something valuable to the lines and spaces. Their own experience and aural the composition. This is equally applicable in skills will let them know if they play incorrect notes. musical passages such as the magnificent fugato sections of Beethoven’s Sonata Op. 111 or the A wonderful example of this happened recently simpler Minuets found in the Anna Magdalena Bach with one of my adolescent students. I had just Notebook. Students can learn to hear the voices given her a new piece in the key of F Major. We within a given tonal centre and recognise how they began by singing the opening few bars in solfa work together. As always, if they can hear it, then and then she sat down to sight-read it. The piece they can play it. was technically challenging for her and at first she was distracted by the difficulties and kept Starr Meneely has been missing the B-flat. Every time this happened I teaching piano for more simply said “You’re in the key of F, where is Fa?” She than 25 years. She is the immediately corrected her mistake and reminded creator of the PianoForte herself what it meant to be in the key of F Major. I Method which teaches did not say “don’t forget the B-Flat”, I asked her to students to play the remember Fa. She was not reading “letter name by piano through Moveable letter name”, she was reading from a tonal centre. Do solfa and singing. When we do this, reading musical notation is She is also currently in transformed into real music. the Master’s programme at Chichester University In the beginning, to help students learn this skill, where her research is focused on Singing and I often allow them to circle Do in their score. We Folk Music in Piano Pedagogy. She lives in Surrey, practise finding Do and then they are able to sing, England, with her husband and four children. hear and read the rest, they never need to match lines and spaces to piano keys. It doesn’t even www.pianofortemethod.com really matter what letter names are, it only matters what the solfa is. This way of learning music gives students the tools they need to develop a mature understanding of music. In fact, this level of mature comprehension is often only seen in advanced musicians, when in reality any students is able to create this type of relationship with sound from the beginning, regardless of their age. | 11 | www.epta-uk.org HOME
group teaching Spotlight on Group Piano: A Four-Part Series by Melanie Bowes Part 3: Singing in a group piano class It is fascinating to see Singing in any learning context is an different children use the incredibly useful tool, whether it be when learning the alphabet, times tables or, different ways of singing to indeed, piano. learn to play the song they The consistent and integral use of this tool has a huge impact on developing aural skills, on have just sung. making connections to what students are learning to play, both rhythmically and melodically, on no different; not only do they find strength in bringing context and on musical enjoyment and numbers, this strength leads them to singing with engagement. such joy and gusto; it really is such a pleasure to witness! There are many well-documented benefits of singing, both piano-based and in a wider sense. What do we sing? We ensure that everything we sing supports the learning, by helping to Wider benefits of singing include: make connections and helping to apply skills and concepts to the piano. For our beginners we • helping people to feel part of a community have lyrics for each song (which are related to • providing an outlet for feelings and emotions the story or theme that the workbook is based • neurologically, singing helps us to build around). We also sing the finger numbers and letter connections between different areas of the names (which are written on a pre-reader stave). brain: music, language, fine motor It is fascinating to see different children use the development, visual and emotional different ways of singing to learn to play the song they have just sung - some choose to sing the • it stimulates creativity finger numbers, some the letter names and some • It is fun! the lyrics. Singing the finger numbers and the letter names means they are quite literally singing Specifically piano-based benefits: instructions to themselves in a most wonderful and musical way! I find that once these elements are • Developing aural skills more secure, they will sing the lyrics and start to • Aiding audiation add expression and meaning in line with the topic • Helping with rhythmic accuracy or story they are singing/playing about. • Helping to assimilate the melody • Making musical connections Those not using methods where lyrics are • Learning points/concepts more easily written as part of the songs, are able to sing just remembered the finger numbers or letters, or indeed make up some lyrics (or ask students to do so). Or, for an Perhaps teachers know all these benefits of excellent development of aural skills, Kodály/Orff singing but feel uncomfortable asking students principles with solfa are used by many teachers of to sing on their own in an individual instrumental all instruments with incredible results. lesson, where many may already be feeling timid enough without being asked to sing. What are the benefits of singing that are particularly pertinent to group piano teaching, and This is where learning piano in groups can help. how can we ensure that they are realised? In my classes we sing every single lesson, from the very first one. So, my students know | 12 | www.epta-uk.org HOME
GROUP TEACHING (Tommy Thumb becomes Finger 1), the alphabet (there are always lots of giggles at remembering to move back to A rather than going to H, I, J when we are singing the musical alphabet. Then we try and sing it in different ways: backwards, starting on C instead of A etc.), and generally adapting the songs to show high and low pitch, fast and slow tempo, loud and soft dynamics and so on. Singing for fluency Singing for piano: listen, sing, play With any level class, singing can help with fluency. It adds a different timbre that students Singing for piano learning can be considered as a can hear and pick out over the pianos/keyboards, three-part exercise. Let’s take a class of beginners. so it helps to keep everyone playing together, and First of all, students listen to the melody (or bass be able to come back in if they get lost! or harmony, depending on what we are going to sing). With students standing around me at the Singing for group teaching success piano, I play and sing the song or piece, pointing to the score so that they can track with their eyes So far, we have looked at why singing is whilst listening, seeing and hearing the up/down important when learning an instrument, and movement, the letters, finger numbers, lyrics etc why it is easier to use as a tool in group classes (thus making yet another connection for their own as opposed to when teaching individual lessons. independent application). Once they have heard However, it is also the case that singing is an the song, they will then join in with singing, and essential part of making group teaching successful, as mentioned earlier, we sing the finger numbers, for all the reasons discussed above. letter names and lyrics. By the time they go to the piano to play it themselves, they have heard and We need our students to have strategies for sung the song at least three times. They have the independence because we are not guiding their melody within their ears and they just need to every note like we can in individual lessons. We make some final connections in order to play it on need them to self-guide and self-correct – which the piano (which other activities will have prepared is an excellent skill for our students to develop them for!). in terms of learner characteristics, and one that educators in all subjects aim to nurture. Beyond the beginner stages where there are no lyrics, we will still often sing the different parts I do not know how I would manage my group so that the melody is assimilated and applied to classes without the use of singing to aid and the piano more easily. We sing different parts of structure the learning, and I hope that sharing an ensemble to hear how they fit together and these ideas and thoughts around singing, inspires we might even add lyrics to a rhythmically tricky you to think about make it an integral part of your section. own piano teaching. Singing for nuance and interpretation Looking for a group piano curriculum that has singing at its core? Visit our website: www.keynotes-music.com Singing can also be used when adding nuance Melanie Bowes is the Founder of KeyNotes and thinking about interpretation. Singing a Music, a group piano program focusing on phrase, exaggerating the dynamics and articulation collaborative group learning in the foundation needed, can help learners to hear what they are stages of piano. Having taught for many years as being asked to do in terms of nuance on the a school music teacher, plus with her extensive piano. The fact that they understand the sound postgraduate qualifications in Music Education, that we are aiming for helps when showing or Melanie has brought together all of her experience demonstrating the technique needed to achieve it. and knowledge to support teachers in delivering innovative and progressive group lessons. Singing to learn concepts Melanie is currently working towards a PhD With my very young classes (age 4-5) we in group piano teaching, and is researching its use nursery rhymes to help with learning the impact and range of approaches across the world. foundations of piano such as finger numbers | 13 | www.epta-uk.org HOME
teaching Providing Student Feedback by Michael Griffin Quality feedback is one Feedback it is wise to invite the student of the most effective to evaluate their playing. “What influences on student needs to entice do you think?” This might be achievement. It is different and uncomfortable or challenging for more beneficial than praise, students to work a student. Teachers can scaffold which essentially is information- this process. For example: “Tell less feedback. Whilst most in a new way. me two good things about teachers are confident in their your playing just now”. This is ability to give feedback, it any hesitations or errors” is valuable not only because we remains an area where most factual and observational, teach for independent learning, of us can continue to improve. whereas “I like how you have but because personal recognition What follows are some notes eliminated hesitations” is of progress fuels motivation. that might be considered when more judgemental. Generally, To remain motivated, students offering feedback in a piano people prefer not to be judged must perceive they are making lesson. and hence are more open to progress as a result of their observational feedback. “I notice efforts. Teachers can also Quality feedback is you’ve been practising well lately facilitate student evaluation informational and it is (how do I know? Your playing is ability by playing reversing specific. Whereas praise improving!)” rather than “I like roles. That is, the teacher could includes utterances like “that it that you have been practising play student repertoire (an act was fabulous!” as an end, more”. The aim is not for the – deliberately making mistakes) quality feedback goes further, student to want to please the and have the student assume specifying what was good teacher, but to learn how to self- a teacher role and “assess” the about the playing. For example: evaluate and analyse at a level of teacher’s playing. Simple criteria “Your dynamic contrast was musical competence. – correct notes, tempo, phrasing compelling,” or, “You played and expression – might be the the first page without any Feedback should be quick focus of this learning exercise. hesitations or errors. That’s and regular but preceded by an More generally, before teachers fluency! Well done.” Effective opportunity for self-evaluation. provide feedback, questioning feedback is better when Therefore, before teacher advice, fosters student autonomy and framed as an observational self-determination: “What are comment rather than personal you thinking about the role of judgement. For example, “you rubato in this passage?” “Are played the first page without you happy with this tempo or | 14 | www.epta-uk.org HOME
teaching might we look at it differently?” In doing so, be careful using For feedback “Can you tell me which phrases “but” and “however” as these you find most challenging, and conjunctions can add a tone to have been why?” “How will you practise this of control, undermining the at home?” The most effective positive message. Feedback effective it must teaching uses questions more so needs to entice students to work than commands. in a new way. When offering be manifested critical suggestions, prefacing Quality feedback is genuine, remarks with “I wouldn’t be in action and honest and consistent. Honest giving you this feedback if I feedback sends the message didn’t think you were capable of improvement. that the teacher holds a high using it to improve” increases expectation of student potential, the probability of acceptance. not understand, and what they and demonstrates high teacher Use “perhaps you might can and cannot do. This means standards. Praise, though, is consider” “you might try” “do you observing practice. How often often inflated and exaggerated. think” and other gentle modal do teachers observe students When students perceive this, questioning to direct attention. practising, or students observe they might think the teacher We appreciate the frailty of teachers practising? The has low standards, or a low ego when it comes to critical student arrives for a lesson: “Hi opinion of their potential. Some feedback. Whilst it is imperative Johnny. Today the lesson will be teachers offer praise in the hope to address short-comings – and different. I’m going to sit in the that it encourages and fosters we do our students the disservice corner – I’d like you to practise self-esteem. Any temporary of low-expectation if we avoid for 30 minutes just like you boost in self-esteem from false it – this gentle approach is do every day at home. I won’t compliments will not endure, for more likely to be received and disturb you.” Not interrupting self-esteem is the consequence even welcomed by the student. can be difficult when practice rather than the cause of healthy Feedback that is informational is poor and ineffectual, but it is behaviours. Success leads to and related to competence is important to allow the student self-esteem, not the other way incredibly important and highly to practise for the entire 30 around. As Carol Dweck says, motivational. But feedback is minutes, or shorter depending “you cannot hand children self- a waste of time if not accepted on the usual practice routine of esteem on a plate”. Self-esteem and acted upon, and sad to say, the student. Resist the urge to is developed by overcoming a much valuable feedback goes interfere and make comments! personal challenge and through unheeded. It is how the students You will collect the most valuable altruistic actions. receive and accept feedback feedback – from student to that counts. Rather than the teacher, for teaching progress. Quality feedback targets teacher relying on student verbal A teacher commented to me both the competent and less affirmation or a nod of the head on his experience from this competent aspects of playing. indicating they understand recently: “What an eye-opener! One study by Katie Zhukov an instruction, for feedback My student didn’t stop to correct reported that instrumental to have been effective it must errors, practised too fast and music teachers are specific when be manifested in action and always started a piece from criticising, but not when praising improvement. the beginning. It was hard for their students. For example, me not to interrupt!” The focus “that was really good (lacking Thus far we have discussed of teacher feedback has now specifics) – now this is what you feedback from teacher to shifted to practice methods. need to do from here… (more student. But equally important specific)”. Feedback is more is feedback from student to effective when correct processes teacher. What this means are reinforced prior to incorrect is we need to find out from processes. For example, rather students what they do and do than “no, that’s not right”, affirm the musical constituents that Michael Griffin is a pianist, educator, author, and speaker. His are being attended to and then website is professional-development.com.au. He is the author of refer to the areas that require “Learning Strategies for Musical Success” and “Developing Musical more work. “The notes were Skill – For Students”. Available on Amazon or email michael@ accurate and your phrasing professional-development.com.au. logical and musical. Shall we look at the dynamics now?” | 15 | www.epta-uk.org HOME
SCORES SECTION Wintry Tunes for Chilly Days Welcome to the new Scores Section of our magazine. This issue’s theme is Wintry Tunes for Chilly Days. Do you or a student of The following pieces have yours have a piece of been published thanks to the creative writing about generosity of our partners at the piano you’d like to share? Hal Leonard Europe. EPTA UK members will receive 15% off Email [email protected] products in their affiliate shop for a chance to be featured in (Musicroom.com) until 30 June the next issue! 2023 with code EPTA15. | 16 | If you’d like to access the collections from which they were taken, please see: 1) Piano Grades Are Go Initial to Grade One (Victoria Proudler, IN Grade to Grade 1) 2) Animal Secrets (Randall Hartsell, Beginner) 3) Standout Solos for Recitals (Melody Bober, Intermediate) 4) Winter Piano Music (Donald Thomson, Advanced) 5) Piano Postcards (Nancy Litten, Intermediate) 6) My Quirky Notebook (Angeline Bell, Intermediate) www.epta-uk.org HOME
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SCORES SECTION Cool as a Puffin 12 With a swagger Words and Music by Randall Hartsell 5 If a puf - fin walked down your own front walk, what a face so sweet and his col - ors bright, his mf 2 3 sight this bird would be. With his or - ange feet and his smile. smile would make you And with man - ners kind and a 6 To Coda suit so neat, his tux - e - do’s fine to see. quick, sound, mind, this 9 3 3 They will nev - er turn on Puf-fins make such great friends, nev - er pick-ing quar - rels. mp 11 3 © 2022 by The Willis Music Co. International Copyright Secured All Rights Reserved | 18 | www.epta-uk.org HOME 1388480_INTERIOR.indd 12 6/17/22 12:04 PM
SCORES SECTION 13 12 3 3 you. Nev - er seek-ing con - flict, peace is what they work for. mf 15 2 Fly - ing in the winds, mak - ing sure his neigh - bor’s hap - py. poco rit. 4 5 17 D.S. al Coda CODA With his friend - ship will last a- mf a tempo 19 3 5 1 3 while. | 19 | www.epta-uk.org 1388480_INTERIOR.indd 13 HOME 6/17/22 12:04 PM
SCORES SECTION 29 Snowy Wonderland Melody Bober Brightly q = 108 5 13 f mp 1 5 45 31 3 4 2 1 1 2 mf 3 7 3 4 1 3 3 mp 5 1 3 © 2022 by The Willis Music Co. www.epta-uk.org International Copyright Secured All Rights Reserved HOME | 20 | 1392099_INTERIOR.indd 29 8/30/22 12:32 PM
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SCORES SECTION 9 First-time Skiing Swing clumsily () ∑ œ1. œ œ œ œ4 œ5 œ4 œ1 œ4 . Angeline Bell & 44 ∑ Jœ1 œ4 . #Jœ3 F œ. # # œœ. œ œ nœ. # # œœ. œ œ œ. # # œœ. œ œ nœ. # # œœ. ? 44 œ œ œ. œ. œ. œ. 5 n œ2 œ1 b œ3 œ1 bœ œ œ œ œ5 . n œJ3 ˙1 1 œ 2 œ œJ5 œ. 1 œ œ œ5 ˙ & œ. œ œ ? œ œ œ. # # œœ. œ nœ bœ. # n œœ. œ nœ œ. œœ. œ œ bœ. # œœ. œ. œ. œ. œ. 9 œ3 # 2 1 œ œ5 œ œ#œ œ. 13 bœ œ1. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ. œJ ˙ œ1 œ bœ œ œ œ œ1 #œ œ œ œ. œ. œœ. & œ œ œ # œ œ œ. ? œ œ œ. œ. œœ. ƒ sub. F # # œœ. œ. œ œ œ. # # œœ. œ œnœ. œ. 3 œ. œ # œ œ b œ œ. 3 2 w14 3 œ1 # œ2 œ1 œ œ4 œ. œ1 #œ2 œ1 #œ œ. Jœ2 œ œ œ #œ œ5 1 œ œ. ‰ Ó & J ? œ œ œ. œ. ##œœ. œ# œ nœ nœ œ. œ. œœ. œ œ œ. œœ. œ œ œ. 5 œœ. ƒç œ. œ. Œ. 3 Œ œ œ œ œ. 1 | 28 | www.epta-uk.org HOME
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teaching First Piano LessonsbyAnthonyWilliams In a series of short articles, Anthony Williams outlines his philosophy behind the content and planning of a young pupil’s first piano lessons. Future articles will offer ideas, thoughts, strategies and resources for nurturing a communicative, creative and independent musician, whilst instilling the essential listening, notational understanding and technical skills needed for future progress. We are A Philosophy Belief in a musical experience nurturing the and you as the right person, musician first, We all love our first piano the expert and mentor, to lessons with a young pupil; the guide them through their the pianist natural excitement that they musical journey, to inspire and second. project when attending their first motivate them, and to help lesson is infectious. Amidst a them to experience music as an natural wonder (and occasionally indispensable part of their life. bewilderment) you can often see in their eyes a powerful curiosity, Tapping into this and giving fascination, belief and, above all, pupils a sense of ownership hope: of their music and delight in piano playing is one of the most Hope that music and the piano important things we can do. We will enrich and be a part of their are nurturing the musician first, lives for ever the pianist second. Curiosity about their lesson, Here are some of the about you, what they will fundamentals that guide my first experience and learn, but also lessons (and continue to guide wanting to know how and why them thereafter): music reaches out to them and how they can reach out to others A) A relationship between through music sound, pitch, rhythm, structure and the pupils’ imagination, Fascination with the emotions, storytelling, colours, instrument, the feel, the touch, and ideas the sound, the look B) A love and experimentation of tonal colour | 30 | www.epta-uk.org HOME
teaching C) An awareness and A lesson with mistakes’ or did it centre around control of rhythm, pitch, expressive and imaginative dynamics and articulation music and playing and interpretation? D) A free and balanced communication at Pupils will want to understand posture and technique why music reaches out to them (including pedals if they can its heart is one and how they can use it to reach reach) out to others. A lesson with that will inspire music and communication at E) A confident awareness its heart is one that will inspire of keyboard geography and a and motivate and motivate them to discover physical freedom around the this and continue, and also keyboard This said, I am hugely one that will engage them and conscious that pupils (and help them to take ownership I admit to getting just as parents) love to go home with of their performances, however childishly excited as the pupils do something tangible. Creating elementary. about sonority, effects, melody, bespoke ‘resources’ rather harmony (however dissonant), than using a ‘one-size-fits-all’ Our role is to be their rhythm and tonal colour, piano tutor is infinitely more guiding light to inspire and exploring how the fingers/arm/ appropriate and personal. motivate them and to help pedal create different timbres. Initially using creative pictures them experience music as an Let them discover for themselves for improvisation, picture games, indispensable part of their life. ‘who’ the piano is; talk of it as a then graphic scores or quizzes best friend and experiment with etc. then gradually refining these Concert ways of playing it. Help them to to reflect some of the underlying pianist, find out how they can engage principles behind notation puts writer, with its sound, with music, with music making at the heart of lecturer, how it can colour their lives, and playing. Behind every activity ABRSM with how they can also enrich should be a deep understanding examiner, and colour yours. of what musical and technical EPTA Piano learning is taking place and Journal Missing so far, you will this can be profound, even in editor and festival notice, is any reference to something that to the pupil adjudicator, Anthony notation. I really don’t think seems far from formal learning. Williams was born in that understanding and reading Essex and studied at the notation is high up in a young The umbilical cord between Royal Academy of Music pupil’s list of priorities; it’s music and emotion, music with Alexander Kelly and certainly rarely, if ever, their and communication, music at Reading University with reason for wanting their first and listening is one that is too Jonathan Dunsby. piano lessons. Instead, pupils easily broken by introducing the are usually driven by a wish challenge of notation too early. Following international to explore, create, imagine, Notation is hugely complex and competition success Anthony communicate and occasionally, can be an immediate barrier both embarked on a career as a too, to imitate what they have physically and musically to a young concert pianist whilst also heard and what has inspired pupil’s relationship with music. establishing an international them to learn. reputation as a piano After every first lesson ask teacher. He has since become Notation will mean nothing to yourself what your pupil has a passionate educator of a young pupil without an initial experienced in their lesson, pianistic musicianship at awareness and understanding what learning has taken place, all ages from beginner to of pitch, pulse, dynamic, and what has been the ‘level advanced. articulation etc. It’s a bit like of challenge’. Was the main teaching a young child to read challenge for your pupil reading Anthony combines his Charles Dickens before they even notes: trying to understand busy freelance career with know what the words mean. rhythm, and repair ‘learned a full-time position at Initially, using free improvisation Radley College, Oxfordshire without the hindrance of a score as Head of Keyboard and will help a relaxed and natural Instrumental Music. technique, remove anxiety and can put this crucial awareness and understanding at the core of the lessons. | 31 | www.epta-uk.org HOME
teaching Teaching Pop Piano by Jonathan Mark Roberts Playing pop music on piano style arrangement of We Don’t student the family of chords can be highly motivating Talk About Bruno from Disney’s relating to this key – C Dm Em for students, enabling Encanto. I could even write it in F G Am (B dim) – as there are them to play their favourite the original key as my student so many pop songs that stay songs and feel connected to could cope with accidentals, within diatonic harmony. For their heroes in doing so. With having already experienced them any that stray outside, you many teachers having had purely in Fun For Ten Fingers. The Adult could use the analogy that all classical training, sometimes it Alfred Piano Course for Beginners the diatonic triads live together can feel daunting to know how to also teaches chords from early on. in a city and any non-diatonic move into the pop piano world of chords are visitors from another teaching, especially as it is very Usually, beginner pop pieces city. You can easily transcribe chord based. I’ve tried to outline are melody only, arranged for a and transpose pieces into C or A here possibilities for a simple Ten Fingers style arrangement, minor. You can also get them to approach that can be developed splitting the melody between label chords based on the degree into professional-sounding the hands. However, the student of the scale they are built from solo piano playing. If there is soon becomes able to move – I ii iii IV V vi viio (or another anything in this article that helps on to melody with a simple LH way, favoured by the LCM’s pop you to feel curious or inspired to harmony, and this can be a good theory syllabus – I IIm IIIm IV teach more pop piano, my job is place to start to work with chords. V VIm VIIdim). This really helps done! with transposing to different So, how do we go about I usually write chord symbols keys and recognising the same teaching pop? I still like to work above the melody when we have chord progressions quickly, in with traditional method books two-part harmony, readying the different keys as well. Rather for initial learners to establish student for an understanding of than seeing what might feel like good reading and foundational the chords being implied. They a random collection of chords skills. You will all have your own can then also play the full triad in to the student, labelling them favourites. I use Pauline Hall’s the LH as another arrangement, gives them a relational meaning and Karen Marshall’s beginner doing so from just looking at the to each other and within the tutor books. We can supplement chord symbol. Hal Leonard has a context of the whole song. I refer with some easy pop melodies as range of super easy songbooks to this later. well and the Big Pop Songbook with chord fingerings suggested by John Thompson is a good for LH chords beneath the Once triads are known, simple resource to move on next. After melody line. Where the chords LH accompaniments can be that, we can add even more are inverted for smooth voice practised such as Root - 5th, up-to-date melodies into the leading between chords, be sure and Root - 3rd - 5th - 3rd, and the curriculum, especially songs that that the student knows and ubiquitous Root - 5th - octave - 5th the student knows, adding extra understands the root position with the melody above in the RH. motivation to practise! I recently chord as well. For progressing students try Root wrote out a Fun For Ten Fingers - 5th - 10th - 5th as well. (See Fig. 1) I suggest trying to work in the key of C major (also A minor) for a little while. Teach the | 32 | www.epta-uk.org HOME
teaching As the chords are initially being learnt in the LH, it is good to play them also in the RH, as it is in fact in the RH where it’s good to have awareness that they are mostly used in pop fingerings are not set in stone arrangements, as the melody is harmonised by chord tones underneath, with an added left- hand bass. You could try working on just by two black keys to find the minor triad. A little one piece and building up the Then link the following to the care is needed with enharmonics harmony to show how a fuller above set - F#/Gb has all black when it comes to Db major arrangement can be worked out keys just like its neighbouring becoming C#m, also G#m minor is from just an initial melody and all-white key F and G triads, more common than Abm. chord symbols. Db Eb and Ab have a white key in the middle and Bb has one Once this information has been You can find arrangements black key followed by two white absorbed, applying it to pieces of the same song in increasing is great as well – try transposing levels of difficulty on websites keys. There are definite learning some C major pieces into other such as Noviscore. patterns here! keys, so the primary triads are Then try taking the chords used and you’ll soon be using all Teaching chords around the circle of 5ths! The 5th 12 major triads. of each chord is the starting note If inversions can be taught WTayesatcohteinacgh Pchooprd sPiinaclnudoe e: xamopf tlheesn leixntktreiadd tinot haerctiircclee. So and practised alongside as Finding the patterns in all 12 C E G - G B D - D F# A etc. well, all the better. A strong major triads: C F and G have only Once the major triads are working knowledge of inversions bwTlhaeicTTtakeeeckkahaeeFycicyignhsh.( 1s, igihSDnnoa mEPrggep sa io)mPnPippdnlooe AlptpePhft h ehiPPaaanmviidnea aaidcnoacndom oloep a xeneimxaxeanmat mompflpteoipopalnrselrltnehestses i ln sliltinitunhndkekkeeaenedbtddot otvtteoojou w aasaatrryrl,tottiiiwticcceillslreeeasy is essential for harmonising and B has one white key followed the 3rd of the chord a semitone melodies with the RH. Fingerings Fig. F1R iSgooo. tm1 eS osmime5p tshliem lpelfet lheRaft n h d a a n3crdcd oamccp5otamhnpiam3nreidmnte nopt toipotniosns often vary for RH chords in Fig. 1 Some simple left hand accompaniment options musical situations as it depends on what the melody note is at (Tonic) the top of the chord, so whilst it’s Fig 2. RRigohott hand 5tethtrads R 3rd 5th 3rd fine to practise a root position R 5th 8ve 5th R 5th 10th 5th triad with LH 5 3 1 and RH 1 3 5, and 1st inversion triads with LH 5 (RTCooonti(R(cTT)oooonntiicc))5th 5th 3 1 and RH 1 2 5 and 2nd inversion R R C 3 m r d a 3j7rd5th5th3rd3rd R 5th 8ve 5th CRm 7 5th 10th 5th LH 5 2 1 and RH 1 3 5, it’s good to C7 RR 5 5thth 1 100tthh 55tthh have awareness that fingerings R R 5 t h5 t h 8 v 8ev e 5 t5hth are not set in stone. Note that Fig 2. Right hand tetrads when playing 1st inversion triads, Fig 2. RigCht hand tetrads 1 2 4 is often used to free up the Fig 2. Right hand tetrads pinky for the melody and when C Cmaj7 C7 Cm7 playing 2nd inversion triads, 1 2 4 C7 Cm7 and 1 2 3 are often used to free C7 Cm7 up other fingers. C Cmaj7 Cmaj7 Next we can move onto the Fig. 3 Diatonic triads (and tetrads) in the key of C major three most commonly used 7th C(maj7) chords in pop. These are tetrads Dm(7) Em(7) F(maj7) (four-note chords). Fig. 3 Diatonic triads (and tetrads) in the key of C major The major 7th can easily be Fig. 3 DiatoCn(imc tarji7a)ds (and tetrads) iDnm th(7e) key of C major Em(7) FFF((mm(maaajj77j7)) ) worked out starting from a major Fig. 3 DCi(amtoanj7i)c triads (and tetraDdsm) (i7n) the key of C major Em(7) triad and extending it to the C(Δ) octave and taking that octave C(maj7)Dm(7) Em(7) down a semitone, so C E G C and taking the top C down to B so we 10 have C E G B = C maj 7 The dominant 7th also keeps the major triad and takes the 7th G(7) Am(7) Bdim(Bm7♭5) down a semitone from the major (A10lso knGow(7n) as \"dominant 7th\") Am(7) Bdim(Bm7♭5) www.epta-uk.org 10 G(7) C(Δ) Am(7) Bdim(Bm7♭5) (A triangleC is(Δ a)lso shorthand for maj7 HOME 10 G(7) and another way of writing it) (Also known as \"dominant 7th\") Bdim(Bm7♭5) C(Δ) Am(7) (A triangle is also shorthand for maj7 (Also known as \"dominant 7th\") and another way of writing it) a(An dtr aiannogt|hl ee 3ris 3w aa lys|o o sf hworritthinagn dit )for maj7 (Also known as \"dominant 7th\") (A triangle is also shorthand for maj7 and another way of writing it)
teaching Working with Lead Sheets I always liked to arrange I remember my own struggles everything in the original key for with building a pop repertoire authenticity, even when it wasn’t as I really wanted to be a lounge pianist with a big repertoire. always this way in the book Many of the pop pieces seemed so long in the books I had. 7th (so two semitones down from Another way to quickly find any They also either sounded too the octave) C E G Bb = C7 major or minor triad would be to simplistic, or seemed over- remember the pattern of intervals: complicated (especially some The minor 7th has the minor overly busy bass lines). For an triad and the minor 7th so again Root – 4 semitones up = major example of length, I have the two semitones down from the 3rd, then three semitones up = official music for The Greatest octave C Eb G Bb = Cm7 perfect 5th – major triad Showman and the hit piece, A Million Dreams, is 12 pages (See Fig. 2 and Fig. 3) 4–3 a winning football score – long and then there are the happy – major additional page turns of repeats, Try to have the student Dal Segno’s, and 1st and 2nd time associate feelings with the sound Root – three semitones up = endings. Who wants to play a of the chords. Some examples minor 3rd, then four semitones up 12-page pop piece on a long might be: = perfect 5th – minor triad gig or teach it for that matter?! I also found it frustrating that Major 7 sounds more jazzy, 3–4 a losing football score – when the melody was changed in laid-back, chilled-out sad – minor additional verses of some pieces (and occasionally a lot), the book Dominant 7th sounds more As touched on already, it’s would often simply say “repeat edgy, bluesy, gritty also good to know the pattern first verse”. I’m a bit more laid- of triads that occurs when we back these days and recognise Minor 7 sounds more mellow, harmonise the major scale: that most people are just happy reflective, also chilled-out to hear a familiar melody and are major, minor, minor, major, not overly worried about or even Come up with your own major, minor, diminished. notice small details, but I always descriptions for how you and liked to arrange everything in your student hear these chords! Some resources to explore, in the original key for authenticity, no particular order (I have most even when it wasn’t always Learn the three inversions of them on my bookshelves/ this way in the book (they are of these chords alongside online): sometimes arranged in ‘easier’ everything else and you’re well keys). An arrangement I have of equipped to start tackling many My first fake book – Hal Leonard Lionel Richie’s Hello is presented lead sheets and watch your (easy level lead sheet book) in the official book in B minor repertoire start building very Discovering Rock Piano 1 & 2 – when the original is in A minor! quickly as you become familiar Schott Music (Grade 3 and above) How strange! with the chord progressions that John Thompson Big Pop appear again and again. Songbook (early learners) Working with lead sheets has ABRSM’s new graded pop been the way for me to develop If your student can learn their books (see my review on p42) a big repertoire and learn pieces scales (just one octave in the RH (Initial – Grade 5) very quickly, even sight-reading would be fine if your students are Graded Popular Music Theory them straightaway. They enable not keen scale players), they can Syllabus – London College Of me to condense what can often then quickly build triads in every Music Exams (Preliminary – be a seven- or eight- (or 12-!) key, and learn to label chords Grade 8) page arrangement into two, in the key – and this helps spot Really Easy Piano Book series three or four sheets; so much repeating progressions in songs Hal Leonard Super Easy easier to perform from. Lead easily i.e. I IV V, ii V I, iii vi ii V I, Songbook series sheets are a musical shorthand, for example. Learning the scales Noviscore website just showing the melody line, helps to ‘think in the key as well’. Sheetmusicdirect website with chord symbols above Chord inversions can also be Piano by Ear by Lucinda showing the harmony needed practised as broken chords as Mackworth-Young to fill out the sound. I wrote one finds in the Grade 1 ABRSM Rockschool Piano syllabus syllabus. (Debut to Grade 8) | 34 | www.epta-uk.org HOME
CONCERT REVIEW my own, first by hand, then Giorgia Bertazzi Solo Piano Recital by later on in MuseScore (the Nobuyuki Tsujii at the world’s most popular notation Queen Elizabeth Hall app) on my laptop. I listened on 6 November to the recordings, worked out the different melody lines by Yvonne Cheng in the verses, and tried to play the pieces as I wanted Ifirst found out about the Japanese pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii to, not restricted by another one late evening when I was studying for my school exams in arrangement, although I did 2010 and came across a magical YouTube video of the then often use them for guidance as 21-year-old Tsujii playing beautifully the second etude, Reverie, well. I used my ears to help me find the rhythms, bass lines, from Kapustin’s 8 Concert Etudes. In the video, he appears on a dark and chord voicings I wanted. I knew when I had the sound I was concert stage illuminated by artificial starlight – the velvety and looking for and then memorised it. Recording yourself is an shimmering accompaniment figure in the high register together option as well, to help remember the arrangement, or adding some with a mellow arpeggiated bass made a lasting impression and I notes on the lead sheet. When it comes to buying sheets, several was hooked on Kapustin’s jazz-influenced piano music ever since. arrangements are often available for one piece, and only the first Listening to Tsujii perform the full set of etudes immaculately page can be viewed, making it hard to know which one to go for. and with even more radiance 12 years later at a live hall was extra It’s a bit easier now with www. sheetmusicdirect.com offering special. The faster movements nos. 1, 3, 5 and 8 were thrilling a subscription where one can view their whole huge library of “super-sonic” experiences for the audience and the remaining arrangements. calmer movements (which also had fast tempi) were a kaleidoscope I wish you and your students happy learning! There are of feel-good, bluesy harmonies, colours and rhythms. thousands of great pop songs to explore; one can enjoy a healthy Contrasting the uplifting Kapustin pieces, which featured at the diet of pop, classical and jazz piano (and for me, adding in end of the programme, the concert began with a more serious rock, blues, heavy metal and pop on guitar). Keep remembering to tone with the enduringly popular Beethoven sonata Op. 27 No. 2, enjoy and have lots of fun!!! “Moonlight”. The ostinato triplets were played simply, and the Jonathan is a self-employed piano, guitar and music theory opening dotted G sharps had a penetrating sound and funereal teacher, gigging musician and composer from Llandudno, quality. The amiable middle scherzo movement carried straight North Wales. He performs on piano every Sunday afternoon on to the stormy third movement, which Tsujii played with a fierce and evening at two four-star venues in county Conwy. relentless drive until the final C sharp minor chord. His performance Please visit and subscribe of the sonata gripped the audience from start to finish. to his YT channel http:// www.youtube.com/@ Tsujii showed a more sensitive side to his playing with Liszt’s jonrobertsmusic and click the “about” tab for more links to Consolation in E, S.172 No. 2 and the Gondoliera in Venezia e his FB, IG, Rockschool teacher profile and Soundcloud pages. Napoli, S.162 from Années de Pèlerinage. The latter was especially delectable – the intricate and cascading ornaments were beautifully phrased and suitably mandolin-like. Tsujii is a Gold Medal recipient of the Cliburn competition (tied with Chinese pianist Haochen Zhang in 2009) and had previously performed Rachmaninoff’s second piano concerto for the London audience at the BBC Proms in 2013, but he is still relatively unknown in the UK, perhaps due to the joint win or a misleading impression that his choices of repertoire are overplayed “competition/ exam pieces”, for example the Ravel pieces which he presented as a set in the second half of the programme: Menuet sur le nom d’Haydn, Pavane pour une infante défunte and Jeux d’eau. In fact, Ravel himself rejected the popularity of Pavane. Having said that, the heartfelt yet refreshingly unsentimental renditions by Tsujii combined with his formidable technique (he was absolutely unfazed by the smashing stretto ending in the Liszt Tarantella from S.162) is infectious, and proves that these great piano solo works are always worth reprising and being performed in concert settings to both old and new classical music listeners. The tremendous performance came to a joyful close with two encores: a wholesome and sensitively played Elsas Brautzug zum Münster (Liszt/Wagner) and an awe-inspiring La Campanella, which brought everyone to a long standing ovation. © 2022 | 35 | www.epta-uk.org HOME
learning ESTA MA in Piano Practical Teaching Please tell us a bit about ESTA as an organisation and about the types of courses you offer. ESTA is a non-governmental organisation and was founded in 1972 in order to promote the highest standards in teaching and to enable the sharing of ideas among teachers and players of all distinctions throughout Europe. We offer our professional development resources to teachers of all instruments and voice, with a range of professional development courses and study programmes. We admire and support the amazing work of EPTA and will be working on joint projects in 2023. Can you give us a short description of the MA in Practical Piano Teaching? This course gives you the opportunity to look at your own teaching technique and specific strategies and techniques you use, in addition to standing back and developing a broader perspective on teaching and learning and music education in general. The course offers a well-structured programme with mentors who are all highly experienced teachers, and a blend of face-to-face and online learning in a master’s qualification fully accredited by University of Chichester. The MA comprises three strands: PG Cert – ESTAPG01, ESTAPG02, ESTAPG03, ESTAPG04 (15 credits each) PG Dip – Teaching Individuals, Creative Repertoire (30 credits each) MA – Dissertation: Teacher and Student Learning Process (60 credits) PG Cert ESTAPG01: ESTAPG02: ESTAPG03: ESTAPG04: PG Dip (15 credits) (15 credits) (15 credits) (15 credits) MA Teaching Learning Developing effective Teaching effective strategies to play curricula technique ESTAPG05 (30 credits) ESTAPG06 (30 credits) Teaching Individuals Creative Repertoire ESTAPG07 Dissertation (60 credits) Teacher and Student Learning Process Who is this course aimed at? One of the course’s strengths is that we have a really diverse body of students, both in terms of where students come from and their level of previous experience. Some students are new teachers beginning their careers and looking to lay sound pedagogical foundations. Others are well-established teachers keen to have an opportunity to take stock, reflect, and look at their teaching from a fresh perspective. A number of professional players have also signed up, looking to deepen their understanding of music education, as have some second-study piano teachers, wanting to develop greater instrument subject knowledge. Whether someone works mainly in a large- or small-group settings, in state or independent schools, individual lessons in a private studio, for a music hub, charity, or junior conservatoire, the course is designed for all teachers wishing to build on their existing practice. | 36 | www.epta-uk.org HOME
learning I understand that the course is entirely online. What special considerations have been taken into account to ensure students are supported and engaged? What might be some advantages of an online format? Teachers are often very busy people, juggling their teaching schedules alongside other playing and family commitments. The online nature of the course offers real flexibility. Each unit has pre-recorded webinars that can be accessed at any time and watched in one sitting or several short bursts, as many times as desired! Webinars are uploaded to the ESTA Education Moodle page, which is the online platform used by the University of Chichester. There, students can find a wealth of online resources, academic articles, and teaching videos, and have full access to the University of Chichester’s e-library resources and study materials. There are also plenty of opportunities to interact with fellow students on chat forums that relate to and further support webinar content, covering all sorts of instrumental teaching topics. Students’ discussions go off in different directions as they share their own experiences, and ask themselves and one another more questions. Recent topics have included when and how to introduce notation, appraising the merits of various tutor books and methods, and reflecting on how prior learning experiences have shaped current teaching practices. There’s plenty of healthy debate and always words of support, too. Students also meet regularly with their mentor to guide them through course materials and help prepare them for the assessments that form part of each unit. Meetings are arranged in small instrument-specific groups, so everyone can benefit from one another’s expertise and experiences. Of course, teaching is a practical activity and we’re delighted that after some very challenging years for both face-to-face learning and travel, we plan to begin the course next year in-person at the annual ESTA Summer School. This will give everyone a chance to meet in the flesh and bond as a group, making the rest of the year’s online interactions feel more comfortable and even friendlier. What sets this course apart from other piano teaching MAs? It’s run by teachers for teachers, by people who work in a variety of contexts and are teaching on a daily basis. The course is rooted in the day-to-day practicalities of teaching with an understanding of the teaching context. This encompasses: reluctant learners; learners with weak aural skills; learners with special needs; young and older learners; exam-driven parents, and all the problems which may confront teachers. Where can we find more information about the course? If you’re interested in finding out more, visit the ESTA Education website: www.estaeducation.co.uk or write to [email protected] Course fees: We feel very strongly about supporting all instrumental teaching and that high-quality courses must be fully accredited and affordable. The fee structure for the 2023/24 academic year is as follows: ESTA PG Cert 1-year course: £3,250 for EPTA members (UK residents only) ESTA MA 2-year course £9,250.00 for EPTA members (UK residents only) Fees include full board and accommodation at the ESTA Summer School. Travel costs from the student’s location to Chichester are not included in the course fee. The summer school is not a mandatory element of the course. ESTA CEO Philip Aird, and Head of department - Piano, Emyr Roberts www.estaeducation.co.uk | 37 | www.epta-uk.org HOME
COMPOSING Composing Rudolph Willemse the final volume. In what became Afrikosmos, I explored in as comprehensive a way as possible the in the Field range of traditional music in sub-Saharan Africa. While I have made transcriptions of my own, I have by Michael Blake also had the luxury of drawing on the fieldwork of ethnomusicologists, all of whom have generously Introduction encouraged composers to make use of it. Since so much of my music draws on other musics, Each of my six volumes follows roughly the same I invariably begin with the material. In this I am not format, with pieces that fall into the following unique, but I identify with composers who work in a genres: studies, pieces focusing on rhythm and similar way. While I may forage for material from a texture, character pieces, dances, pieces exploring wide range of Western music sources – Bach, Haydn, a mode or scale, folksong arrangements and Beethoven, Schubert, Cole Porter, jazz, popular variations, transcriptions, and homages. Most of music – my engagement with the indigenous music them synthesise Western classical composition of Africa has been a particularly fruitful voyage. techniques with traditional African techniques that And as a white South African-born composer, include the anhemitonic pentatonic scale, which is my identification with my birthplace has always a five-note scale with no semitones (for example been important to me in forging a compositional D-E-G-A-B); Xhosa bow harmony, which is basically identity, as it was for Stravinsky, Janáček, Villa- two triads built on the two fundamental pitches Lobos, Silvestre Revueltas, Peter Sculthorpe and of an uhadi bow (for example C-E-G and D-F#-A); notably Béla Bartók, all of whom used indigenous the hexatonic bow scale that results from the music from their respective countries to develop combination of bow chords (C-D-E-F#-G-A - not to their musical languages. be confused with the whole-tone hexatonic scale used by Debussy); interlocking, in which different There are many possible ways to get started on a parts alternate to create a single line and give an new piece, but I find the best one to avoid staring impression of great speed; and polyrhythm, where at a blank sheet of manuscript for hours on end simultaneous contrasting rhythms combine to (and sharpening pencils), is to approach it more like create complex rhythmic textures. a sculptor: filling the page with possible musical material, and then gradually removing notes, From a young aspiring pianist’s perspective, I changing them, cutting out sections, moving them have tried to avoid falling into the trap of “writing around, and so on. I have called this technique down” to them, so that even the simplest pieces recharacterising the material. Then at other times tend to be fairly adventurous and to challenge in an idea is sparked by reading or seeing or hearing ways not always found in educational music. As or even catching the scent of something, and all I discovered from my own teaching experience, these starting points have spawned pieces in my young players have no qualms about experimenting collection Afrikosmos, 75 progressive piano pieces and are willing to try most things, so I invite them composed from 2015–2020. to interpret a graphic score (Sefapanosaurus), strum the strings of the piano (Supermoon), experiment Mikrokosmos and Afrikosmos with harmonics (Ntsikana’s Bell), play in odd times and changing time-signatures (Changing Times Bartók recorded a great deal of music in the field, with Repeating Patterns), finger clicking with one transcribing it, orchestrating it, and developing hand on the off-beat while playing with the other a folk-inflected modernist language, and (Threshing Song), and whistling the tune while Mikrokosmos was a major outcome of his fieldwork. playing (Diary of a Dung Beetle). It had a huge influence on me when I was a young pianist, and as a composition student I found it a Some of the themes running through Afrikosmos vast and invaluable compendium of compositional include ‘song’, ‘homages’, ‘popular music’, techniques. It therefore became a model for my ‘patterning’, ‘cycles’, and ‘musical nuts and bolts’, Afrikosmos. and here I would like to I examine how these play out in some of the pieces across all six volumes. Since 2003, when I wrote a piano piece called iKos’tina, commissioned for the Associated Cycles Board of the Royal Schools of Music’s Spectrum 4 (compiled by Thalia Myers), I had had in mind African traditional music is for the most part a project that follows Bartók’s approach in his constructed in cycles, whether for reedpipe or six volumes, starting with the simplest pieces xylophone ensembles or for solo instruments and working towards the more advanced ones in like the thumb piano and one-string bow. Steve Reich and other minimalist composers have made extensive use of cyclic form, and my | 38 | www.epta-uk.org HOME
COMPOSING earliest African-inspired pieces in the 1970s were in isiXhosa, conjuring up one of the imported transcriptions or paraphrases of Shona mbira music instruments adapted for local use. At the other in which I created new variations on the basic chord extreme, Heaven’s Bow (a mis-translation of ‘arc- patterns of traditional pieces like Taireva (We were en-ciel’ or rainbow) – in Volume 6 – reinterprets talking). Several pieces in Afrikosmos are variations a song from Nofinishi’s repertoire, and that on cyclic patterns from different regions of Africa, complexity is synthesised with contemporary including Uganda, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Western rhythmic techniques and phrasing to South Africa. For example, If I had wings I could create a highly polyrhythmic, texturally varied, and fly is a traditional Ugandan amadinda xylophone sometimes melodically disjunct piece. piece, characterised by interlocking rhythm – one or two players fitting their notes between those Ntsikana’s Bell cast in that centuries-old call-and- of another or others – and use of the pentatonic response song form is an arrangement of Chief scale. In my arrangement, all the parts are of Ntsikana Gaba’s 200-year old Great Hymn, in which course played by one musician (see below). Patterns the overtones of the piano, with bass keys silently in a Heptatonic Field draws on another xylophone depressed and held, resonate when the notes of the tradition, timbila, from Mozambique in south- hymn are struck. While harmonics were the purview east Africa, and once again I explore melodic and only of string players (bowed and plucked) before rhythmic patterns, with some passages in 5/16. the twentieth century, the last 100 years have While these are untypical of timbila music, they are witnessed ways of exploring the piano’s harmonics, very much part of contemporary Western music. both via the keyboard and directly on the strings The biggest challenge for the Western-trained (see below). pianist is keeping focused, staying calm and not missing a beat. Xhosa Music Dave Dargie Although I had African Birdsong been composing with With some 2500 species of bird across the African continent, it seemed natural that Afrikosmos African music for two should include some invocations of African birdsong. In the spirit of Olivier Messiaen, I have decades already, it transcribed many birdcalls and for Afrikosmos I brought together the calls of three different doves was only in 1997 that I in African Doves (Homage to Messiaen) – in Volume 3 – which also reminds us that their call is one of first heard Xhosa bow the most distinctive sounds of Africa. The three calls are used as material - transposed to different music, in a concert in registers, harmonised, fragmented, expanded, rhythmically altered, and seamlessly shifting from Makhanda (formerly one call to another. Grahamstown), On the other hand, Linong tsa lesiba (Song of the Birds) – in Volume 5 – is a study for the left South Africa. On hand which paraphrases the music of the lesiba (meaning ‘feather’), the national instrument of that occasion, the Nofinishi Dywili playing the uhadi Lesotho, the small landlocked mountain kingdom legendary virtuoso in South Africa. This one-string, mouth-resonated bow produces vibrations created by the use of a Nofinishi Dywili (pictured) was performing, and I flattened quill, a harsh, buzzing sound reminiscent of birds, and the resultant scale is limited to a had something of a Damascus Road experience. fundamental and three overtones. The lesiba is played mostly by herdsmen to give signals to The complexity of her rhythmic invention exceeded that of most other bow players in South Africa. Since then the techniques of Xhosa music have become an integral part of my compositional palette – bow harmony, the bow scale, and many of the techniques which the Xhosa people call “putting in the salt”. The short piece I wrote for Spectrum back in 2003, iKos’tina – in Volume 3 – typifies those lessons I learnt then, including alternating two-chord harmony, the hexatonic scale with tiny melodic variations, and asymmetrical phrase structure. The title means ‘concertina’ | 39 | www.epta-uk.org HOME
COMPOSING cattle, and simply for entertainment. While Linong Signposts tsa lesiba is only for one hand, it has quite a spare texture, but still explores devices such as additive A completely extra-musical starting point for rhythm and syncopation (see below). me, which can often get ideas flowing, has been signposts. I photograph and collect them until I Homages may have a use for them, but in the case of Keep left, pass right – Volume 4 – the idea came to me Western art music’s role in my composition is when I was travelling along the N2 motorway in the equal to that of African music and so Afrikosmos Eastern Cape, South Africa, where the sign ‘Keep includes more than a dozen homages, to left, pass right’ appears regularly for motorists; as composers whose music has helped me forge my I was driving I envisaged a piano piece in which the compositional identity: Bach, Grieg, Messiaen, left and right hands did just that, and as soon as I Percy Grainger, Henry Cowell, and three homages to could get to a piano I started improvising to find Robert Schumann – Volumes 4, 5, 6 – whose music I the material that would make the piece. With the have always cherished. An idea came to me walking left hand I set up a motoric accompaniment with in Newlands Forest, Cape Town, as the scent of the two chords with the right hand a falling melody pines transported me back five decades, when as a (unusually not based on the hexatonic bow scale) young boy I took walks there. Scents of Childhood which represents the ‘call’, and every few bars the 1 (Homage to Robert Schumann) takes its material melody is interrupted by the right-hand crossing entirely from Schumann’s Kinderszenen (Scenes over the (unchanging) left hand to play a short of Childhood), using the techniques of cut-and- ‘response’. Notably each ‘call’ begins high again paste (from collage) and chance (from John Cage). and falls, falling melody being a characteristic of Cutting up magazines and making collages as Xhosa music (see below). a young child was something I reimagined in musical terms in the early 1970s already, making Conclusion Five Pieces for Piccolo and Tuba from fragments of orchestral parts for those instruments and This is just a taste of the music to be found in distorting the images in a photocopy machine. But Afrikosmos, and the ways in which I start composing with Schumann, I simply photocopied the score, cut new pieces. There are many other triggers: people, out fragments for one or both hands from pieces places, events, sounds, instruments, activities, throughout Kinderszenen, and then newly combined humour, and most of all, music itself. Antony Gray, them – sometimes different left- and right-hand who premiered the pieces in France and South Africa, parts – to create music which may sound familiar, said of Afrikosmos that “it has given people like me, but is not (see below). In Scents of Childhood 2 I and others, access to this marvellous culture, and used material from Schumann’s Waldszenen (Forest for that I am very grateful”. He has recorded the Scenes) as well, this time making a kind of rondo complete cycle on three discs for Divine Art, due out form, and in Scents of Childhood 3 (Homage to in 2023. [See https://youtu.be/n4JwEZyA48Q] Schumann & Puccini), I added another memorable scent from my childhood – chrysanthemums – by The support of the Rockefeller Foundation for this quoting from Puccini’s string quartet I Crisantemi – project is gratefully acknowledged. A residency at the material overlaid with Schumann to create new the Bellagio Rockefeller Center in June 2015 provided chords which don’t quite resemble either composer. the initial impetus for Afrikosmos and I completed the project five years later in June 2020. They are individually dedicated to friends, colleagues, former students, and some who have passed. Music examples reproduced with kind permission of the publisher South African-born composer and pianist Michael Bardic Edition. Blake studied and worked in South Africa and London, and has lived in rural France since 2015. He is honorary professor in the Africa Open Institute at Stellenbosch University, and directs the annual Sterkfontein Composers Meeting in South Africa. www.michaelblake.co.za www.afrikosmos.michaelblake.co.za | 40 | www.epta-uk.org HOME
teaching A Natural So, we have already RHYTHM, PHRASING, Approach to Music ARTICULATION and DYNAMICS conceptually within reach, so to speak. Let’s add one more ingredient: Introduction IMAGINATION, and, through leading the pupil to LISTEN with increasing intensity and focus, we can by Muriel Levin develop their AURAL IMAGINATION. Through this route we can find true technique, which, for me, is a Ihave chosen ”Music” rather than “Piano branch of Interpretation, i.e. the means to achieve Teaching” because we musicians are all the sound you have previously imagined. working in the service of Music, in our case via the piano, but, whatever the medium, it is as well And this approach can work from the earliest to start with what, as human beings, draws us to stages. Music. Muriel Levin has enjoyed a career of over In a recent workshop, I asked participants 50 years as a teacher, recitalist, and ABRSM what is the first thing we do as a new-born baby. Examiner and Adjudicator. She was a very early The answer given was “cry”; true, but in order to Member of EPTA and colleague of EPTA UK’s late produce that cry, we first must BREATHE. All sounds Founder, Carola Grindea. require preparation, don’t they? Look out for more articles from Muriel as she And, with breathing/crying repetitively, sucking, continues to share her wealth of knowledge! and being rocked, there is RHYTHM: so basic! www.dogsandbirds.co.uk It is not long before we want to make our wishes clearer, so we learn to SPEAK, hence PHRASING and Excellent for group teaching, ARTICULATION. clubs and schools And if we want to have fun, we SING and DANCE! 91 puppet video piano lessons, 3 tutor books and 2 finger puppets Through our interactions with each other, we learn to recognise and use varying DYNAMICS, Animal tiles & staves for notation, according to mood, emphasis, intensity of emotion ear training and composition and, of course, distance. A strong foundation for singing These are basic elements in being human, and and learning music with piano lead us naturally to Music. Learning piano (or any other instrument), so much of our early human “Pedagogically extremely sound” shared experience is already in place; we may be learning a new medium of expression, but music (Fiona Lau, Music Teacher Magazine) itself is not alien to us, and pretty well all potential difficulties can be solved if we bear this in mind... Teachers’ course available online New PP Ad 134 x 89 videos Dec 22.indd 1 07/01/2023 11:08 | 41 | www.epta-uk.org HOME
REVIEWS Reviews Featuring new sheet music, a study in Javanese Gamelan and pop repertoire from the ABRSM Reviews by Jonathan Mark Roberts, Christopher Baxter and Pearl Woodward POPPiano GradesInitial–3 20 graded With five pieces for each grade, Bond theme is sure to be a winner arrangements from Grades Initial–3, audio across age ranges. There is a good PERFORMER! recordings included via a download opportunity to introduce younger 16 graded link, and a wide variety of pop players to music legends Joni POPPiano Grades4&5 arrangements pieces ranging from the 1960s Mitchell (folk/singer songwriter) and through to the 2020s, there is Bob Marley (reggae) at this grade. PERFORMER! something here for all learners to Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah seems enjoy playing and their families to be a popular choice of piece for ABRSM’s Pop Performer: Grades to enjoy listening to. Some of the compilations such as this one. Initial to 3 and Grades 4 & 5 older songs have also appeared in films a few decades later, widening All pieces have been specially ABRSM makes its entrance into their appeal. arranged to fulfil the ABRSM criteria the pop music piano world with the for each grade, so expect plenty of first of two graded “Pop Performer” Initial Grade highlights for me dynamic markings and increasing offerings. include the dance/house track performance directions as the Astronomia – nice to have a piece grades progress, helping ensure Performer is a key word here, as from the current decade, and a cool the most musical performances these arrangements can be used arrangement of Coldplay’s Clocks – possible when these are adhered to. as an option for the fourth piece in who doesn’t love a great riff to show ABRSM’s performance grade exams, off to friends when learning?! Bill I think this will be a very popular should the student choose to Withers’ Lean On Me includes some (no pun intended!) book and a include some pop repertoire in their nice diatonic triads in the left hand. welcome addition to piano teachers’ programme. The books can also bookshelves, especially with the be used for graded pop repertoire, Grade 1 pieces might not be pieces being graded systematically aside from exams. quite as appealing in my opinion, to the requirements of a leading featuring two pop songs from 6–11 exam board and a nice variety and years ago, so neither classics nor range of styles with the genre. particularly current. Adult learners will enjoy Imagine, and Let It Go ABRSM’s second Pop Performer from Disney’s Frozen is still popular book features eight pieces each for with children even though nearly a both Grade 4 and Grade 5 students, decade old now. spanning over seven decades of popular music. Grade 2 opens with the very welcome track from Disney’s The book opens with the most Encanto, We Don’t Talk About Bruno, recent piece, Adele’s Easy On Me and an Ed Sheeran ballad from last from 2021. This is presented in year, so nice and current. Then the original key (F), as are a few a couple of great arrangements other pieces such as Scared to be by Nikki Iles of My Girl – full of Lonely (C#m), featuring current rhythmic interest and Queen’s We artist Dua Lipa, although some of Are The Champions; the latter will the keys of other pieces have been prove especially popular with many ‘simplified’. The great addition learners, I’m sure. Dylan’s Make of ABBA’s Dancing Queen, sure You Feel My Love, now very much to appeal to all ages, might have associated with Adele, concludes been nice in A, instead of G major the Grade 2 section. for authenticity, but it still sounds great. Elton John’s (largely!) For Grade 3 we have pieces instrumental Song For Guy is one of from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 10s and the easier offerings at this grade. 20s, so a nice range. Billie Eilish’s Also featured is the Carole King | 42 | www.epta-uk.org HOME
REVIEWS classic (You Make Me Feel Like) A pianist needed with this being the tradition. In the words of Pitts Natural Woman, the first appearance only arrangement to feature D.S. al himself, the use of western notation of a piece in 3/4 time with an Coda directions. (and indeed the fundamental opportunity to swing the quavers as purpose of this enterprising book) well. John Legend’s All Of Me, one There’s so much to explore in this is a “means of getting to grips with of the biggest pop love songs of the excellent pop compilation and I’m the structure and note-choosing- 2010s, appears in the easier key of sure it will prove a hit with teachers decisions of a fascinating music which E minor. All arrangements for Grade and students alike. is otherwise not easily accessible. It 4 are two pages long apart from provides a window of access to the Dancing Queen (three). Jonathan Mark Roberts unfamiliar through the familiar.” A couple of pop classics start Extreme Heterophony: a study in Although there are many the Grade 5 section, with three Javanese Gamelan for one or more descriptive textbooks and articles pages now being the norm. I find pianists on Javanese Gamelan music, teenagers can be especially keen John Pitts and pieces which are inspired to explore music from the 60s and 2021 by it and seek to evoke its main 70s, and a Beach Boys classic God characteristics, this is the only Only Knows is presented here. One The Paris exhibition of 1889 book I have encountered to date of the biggest female pop artists, brought the exoticism of the that is designed both to give an Whitney Houston, has her 80s Javanese Gamelan to Europe for the overview of the key concepts, disco favourite, I Wanna Dance With first time, and ever since then, the the instrumentation, and the Somebody, showcased with the exposure to this music had provided composition process as well as fun performance direction “High inspiration to many western providing a hands-on approach to energy!” I’m sure teachers will have classical composers, most notably learning and playing the music. This students come to mind for learning Debussy, Ravel, Britten and Ligeti. is achieved through the detailed this one! Current artist Charlie Puth The dense counterpoint, seductive dissection and exploration of one is featured with his hit Attention, harmonies, the exotic tonal particularly notable piece from the from 2017, in a highly rhythmic language and the extraordinary genre, Ketawang Puspawarna. arrangement with lots of staccato sonorities and timbres continue and the left hand at first simulating to be a source of fascination to The piece is dismantled into an electric guitar and later an this day, and in this new book by a number of distinct layers, ottava bassa option to represent John Pitts, we find a novel and very corresponding to the original the funky slapped bass! practical approach to unravelling composition, and detailed and understanding this intricate explanation of the rhythmic and Laura Mvula’s introspective and seemingly impenetrable world. tonal structure are provided. All ballad She, inspiringly the first of the layers are annotated in full song she ever wrote, features While he is quick to point out western notation with additional an interesting arrangement, with many of the limitations and pitfalls directions to further highlight the a right-hand three-note motif of transferring gamelan music to various processes and possible appearing above the left-hand western notation and the well- variations. Many of the layers can melody. There is also a chordal tempered pitch system, Pitts has function as solo piano pieces, or section with some nice voicings. made a very admirable attempt to can be combined into various piano Another singer-songwriter, Sarah make this music accessible to those ensembles with other pianists or Bareilles’ upbeat piano-orientated trained in the western classical along with the recording provided pop song King Of Anything features online by John Pitts. in a shorter two-page arrangement. The material in this book is Alicia Keys’ If I Ain’t Got You is certainly not a collection of simple a great choice, with its instantly piano pieces offering a superficial recognisable intro and a good one taste of the Javanese Gamelan for mentioning major 7 and minor style - it is an in-depth and 7 chords! Vanessa Carlton’s classic detailed study, and users of this piano pop song A Thousand Miles book will be generously rewarded in the original key of B might be by the investment of their time, one for the more confident Grade 5 effort and patience. John Pitts pianist with its cool riffs. The video has done a very impressive job of is worth a watch as well – ‘have providing a pathway into a clearer piano, will travel!’ A classic by pop understanding of this remarkable piano legend Billy Joel concludes world. In the words of Pitts himself the book. A recognisable intro, - “This intriguing, intricate, beautiful some nice chords and an alert and unique entanglement of multiple | 43 | www.epta-uk.org HOME
REVIEWS related layers is the main focus of to be able to fully commit to the the use of an Italian dictionary! this book…” project. Lockdown gave him this Careful attention to small changes rare opportunity. He embraced of pitch and rhythm are needed https://pianoraag.wordpress. the isolation from his normal as Einaudi demonstrates his com/extreme-heterophony-a- busy schedule and wrote 12 new minimalist style. study-in-javanese-gamelan-for- solo piano tracks showcasing his one-or-more-pianists-2021/ distinctive musical style, for this Note - Some earlier pieces are new album. rearranged to be accessible to pianist Christopher Baxter in the lower grades, by Chester, Underwater is a manifesto for life prefaced by Einaudi, containing Underwater – Ludovico Einaudi and a statement for the time when companion exercises and practice – an album of 12 piano pieces the world around him was quiet and notes, which are useful. [Chester] still during the pandemic. composed from his isolation during Pearl Woodward the COVID pandemic He explained, “It came naturally, more than ever before. I felt a sense Frederick Viner - Keeping On / I first heard the music of of freedom to abandon myself and Something she’d like Ludovico Einaudi some 20 years let the music flow differently. I Solo Piano ago, hearing tracks from Giorni on didn’t have a filter between me and the radio channel Classic FM. My what came out of the piano; it felt Earlier this year, I became first response that it was beautiful, very pure. The title, Underwater, acquainted with the enterprising soothing, meditative and relaxing, is a metaphor – it is an expression composer, Frederick Viner. As well music my pupils would enjoy of a very fluid dimension, without as working towards a PhD at the performing. interference from outside.” University of York and hosting a very informative and entertaining Einaudi’s musical influences are There are 12 pieces in the YouTube channel (https://youtube. wide-ranging, eclectic, and through collection, all between three and six com/c/FrederickViner), he has a all styles and genres, though minutes long, and are typical of his prolific catalogue of works and minimalism is a noticeable feature style. The titles are evocative and of his writing. His piano music is the whole piano album is simply simple, melodic, tonal and classical beautiful! in its phrasing, as well as gentle and accessible, meditative and calm. Titles from the Album: Einaudi’s popularity is based Luminus Rolling Like a Ball largely on his solo piano albums, Le Onde [1996], inspired by Virginia Indian Yellow Flora Woolf’s novel The Waves, and by I Giorni [2001], following on from his Natural Light Almost June travels around Africa. Swordfish Wind song On 21 January 2022 Ludovico Einaudi released Underwater, his Atoms Temple White first solo album for a long time. He had wanted to write a solo Nobody Knows Underwater piano album for several years but needed the right environment His piano pieces are often structured around an initial simple short chord pattern, which develops to a high point before ending in simplicity. Left-hand patterns are often large broken chords, so those with very small hands may find performance of the originals tricky without some careful attention. Pitch range is wide, encouraging movement around the piano. Dynamics are gentle and slow to change, rarely rising above mezzo forte. A gentle tempo adds to the calm, meditative style. Good sustained pedalling technique is required, the left hand often playing broken chord patterns requiring careful attention to technique. There is some occasional use of the una corda pedal in his music, and some Italian directions requiring | 44 | www.epta-uk.org HOME
REVIEWS accolades to his credit, including an Both Keeping On and Something INVITATION ever-growing body of piano music, she’d like are highly appealing to much of which has been recorded performers and listeners alike Do you have any items and published to considerable - the writing is as original and you'd like us to review acclaim. inspired as it is idiomatic and for the magazine? Or coherent. These pieces come highly would you be interested Something she’d like was recommended for their originality in becoming a reviewer composed in 2020 and is dedicated and craftsmanship, and delving yourself? We'd love to to Viner’s late grandmother. It is further into Frederick Viner’s music hear from you. For more instantly accessible, yet its two will certainly reap rewards. These details, please contact pages are full of subtle surprises. two pieces and the many others are This is music which at once feels available via the website: ?our editor, Talia Girton familiar, yet is highly original www.frederickviner.com and personal - enticing harmonic ([email protected]). shifts and rhythmic intricacies Christopher Baxter give the piece depth of character but without compromising the simplicity of its sentiment. I am confident that the She in question would like this piece… in fact, I’m sure most people would like it. Keeping On, composed in 2021, is a suite of five pieces, each with its own unique character and charm. The first piece, Coffee To Go, is a stylish jazz waltz with quirky use of model, harmony, and stylish syncopations. Subtle variations and embellishments give the music a spontaneous, improvisatory quality. Nodding off follows, which is gently rocking and meditative, tonally ambiguous but harmonically rich. Crossroads is minimalist in flavour, with discreet melodic changes over a 7/8 ostinato, requiring detailed tonal shading and refined control of touch. The most intricate piece in the set is the fourth, Northbound - delicate semiquavers navigate through the ambiguous harmony throughout, with melodic threads entwined in an almost Schumannesque fashion. Again, this piece demands refined tonal control, as well as nimble fingerwork to negotiate the intricate figurations while maintaining the finesse crucial to the piece. Melancholic intimacy pervades the final piece, Winter Waltz, and the unpredictable harmonic detours are novel, yet organic. The exploration of a variety of textures gives the music an underlying degree of finesse and sophistication, but without detracting from its elegant and expressive nature. | 45 | www.epta-uk.org HOME
CORPORATE NEWS Making our business your business Faber Music Finchcocks Around the scheduled performance with David, guests Introducing the new level in the As all teachers are aware, adult will have chance to spend the day Lang Lang Piano Method learners and performers are a very polishing their pieces and working different kettle of fish to children. on feedback on one of our nine The international superstar At Finchcocks we welcome a variety grand pianos. pianist Lang Lang returns with his of pianists, from adult beginners latest publication The Lang Lang to “returners” - as well as life-long Find out more at finchcocks.com Piano Method Preparatory Level. devotees and professionals. A Aimed at 5–10 year olds, the series common theme across the board, We are pleased to share that progresses from complete beginner and topic around the dinner table, is EPTA Members have access to an to around Grade 1 level, designed performance nerves. exclusive 15% discount code with to inspire the next generation of Corporate Member Hal Leonard pianists with Lang Lang’s passion Adult learners approach their Europe! From first lessons, school and enthusiasm for the piano. practice and performance with concerts, the latest graded exam a far harsher inner critic than a materials or for those returning to Alongside existing levels 1–5, the child. This can cause a real barrier music later in life, Hal Leonard’s Preparatory Level introduces the to fluency, confidence and, most piano catalogue enables life-long basics of music and the keyboard importantly, enjoyment! music-making for everyone. through diagrams, activities, fun games and online audio. This book Finchcocks has come up with a Hal Leonard’s Classical Piano precedes Level 1, making it the new launch pad to tackle this: our Sheet Music Series and Disney ideal introduction for complete Performance Evaluation Days! They arrangements offer affordable beginners, featuring cartoon Lang come with the following options: repertoire with playback recordings Lang to bring the book to life! for a step-by-step approach to Day offering: including morning having fun, all whilst learning The entire series comprises six practice, Saturday lunch and piano. From Bach to Ludovico books progressing at a steady afternoon “exam”. Einaudi’s Underwater: Extra Edition, rate to help students have a fluid the catalogue suits the needs of learning experience from book to Extended Friday–Saturday every modern musician and their book. Creatively composed pieces offering: including plenty of teachers. develop students’ hands equally practice time, lunch on both days, a for optimal playing and dexterity. two-course dinner and an overnight You can now take advantage of a Exclusive performances from Lang stay on the Friday, and the Saturday special 15% discount on all sheet Lang are included from Level 1 afternoon “exam”. music from Hal Leonard Europe’s onwards. affiliate partner Musicroom.com, by Saturday will provide opportunity using code EPTA15. Buy the entire series with 20% off to play either repertoire only or with code LANGLANGPREP. Valid a full mock exam consisting of Offer ends: 30 June 2023 from 1st February to 1st March 2023 repertoire, sight-reading, aural and only at fabermusic.com. scales to our Music Director David Hall. Guests will then receive verbal and written feedback (not scored), to give an idea of whether they played well enough to pass a formal exam – and what they can do to improve. Repertoire from any grade or exam board is welcome. | 46 | www.epta-uk.org HOME
CORPORATE NEWS EPTA UK is delighted to welcome Universal Edition (London) Yamaha the Musiq Group as a Corporate Member. The Musiq Group provides Universal Edition is proud to be Yamaha’s latest TransAcoustic™ piano lease and hire solutions representing PWM Edition and its and SILENT Piano™ arriving early that are accessible, affordable new concept of Music from Chopin’s 2023 and entirely straightforward, thus Land which is a project to expand making very expensive instruments the educational repertoire for Yamaha’s revolutionary available to all. teachers of piano. TransAcoustic™ and SILENT Piano™ enable the pianist to play an A large part of their work is The campaign presents a wide acoustic piano, at any time and supplying fleets of new pianos to range of Polish music: from pieces at any volume. Following recent education settings such as the by Chopin and Wieniawski plus developments in technology, Royal Northern College of Music, 19th-century Polish composers, Yamaha has been working on the Southampton University, the including Paderewski and Bacewicz latest models and these much- Royal Conservatoire of Scotland to composers of educational music: anticipated pianos are due to be and Harrow School, to name but Garścia and Rybicki, Cofalik and available in the UK from early 2023. a few, as well as providing pianos Iwan. Fifty educational videos to venues, festivals, performers, featuring renowned teachers The new TransAcoustic™ Piano music teachers and their pupils analyse individual pieces and TA3 and SILENT Piano™ SH3 are across the UK. They can also offer highlight their usefulness in the recommended for those wanting a selection of pianos from stock at learning process of young piano to enjoy advanced TransAcoustic™ very affordable lease and hire rates. students. and muting technology on a higher All pianos are thoroughly looked quality piano, whilst maintaining after, cosmetically sound, and The videos are available in six the resonance and rich sound of an ready for anyone to play, from the language versions: English, French, acoustic instrument. youngest beginner to the seasoned German, Italian, Japanese and professional. Their team of 20+ Polish, and recorded by pianists What is TransAcoustic™ and technicians nationwide look after from five different countries. The SILENT Piano™? the instruments and all have been objective of the project is to expand regularly tuned and serviced where the educational repertoire in piano The TransAcoustic™ allows the required. tuition. A wide range of varying player to adjust the volume whilst difficulty will benefit teachers of enjoying the authentic touch and If you might be interested for both beginners and more advanced feel of an actual acoustic piano. The your own teaching space, or would students. SILENT Piano™ is equipped with like to help your students acquire a muting technology; while in the proper or better instrument, please universaledition.com Quiet mode, which is also available get in touch. Equally, if you are https://pwm.com.pl/ on TransAcoustic™ pianos, the connected to an educational setting en/ page/Music_from_ hammers stop just before striking or performance space that you feel Chopin%E2%80%99s_Land_2020. the strings when keys are pressed, may benefit from a new piano then html and no sound is emitted from the please email office@musiqgroup. piano. With this technology players co.uk or call 01227 637670. can practise any time of day or night, no matter their surroundings www.musiqgroup.co.uk and without disturbing others. For more details, features and specifications, please visit uk.yamaha.com | 47 | www.epta-uk.org HOME
Piano Exam Pieces 2023 & 2024 Grade +audio In PExiaamnoPieces 8Grade Piano Exam Pieces 2023 & 2024 ABRSM Initial Grade S2e0lec2t3ed&fr2om02th4e syllabus +audio EPxaiamnPoieces2S0Ael2eBc3Rte&SdM2fro0mG2t4rhaesdylelab8us allPl3up9isIeanciuetidsialo tGrraacdkes of Plus aalul d3i9opGtireraaccdekses8of SCAN ME! HOME
Regional News ABOUT EPTA UK PIANO TRIO SOCIETY The Piano Trio Society will be hosting another of its popular Piano Trio Days next year when we invite Piano Trios from conservatoires around the UK to receive tuition from distinguished tutors. Details are as follows: Sunday 5 March, from 10.30am to approx 5.30pm Clarendon Muse, 70 Rickmansworth Road, Watford, WD18 7JF (part of Watford Grammar School for Boys) Tutors: Michael Bochmann MBE, Nicholas Roberts and James Kirby Charge: participating trios £45, audience members free Application forms: contact Christine Talbot-Cooper on [email protected] and a form will be sent to you with further details. Regional Organisers BELFAST HERTS / BEDS SCOTLAND E John McParland, 028 9058 3997, Christine Walker, Gavin Stewart, [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] BRISTOL KENT SCOTLAND W Daniel Lloyd, [email protected], Nancy Litten, 01622 682330 Emma Sinclair, 07799 100867, 07504 303517 [email protected] [email protected] BUCKS/BERKS LANCASTER SHEFFIELD Richard Heyes, 01234 712599 / Yvette Price, 07932 962360 Pearl Woodward, 0114 266 0399, 01582 414818, [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] LONDON N / E SURREY CAMBRIDGE Marta Maroto, Julie Cooper, 0208 397 5655, Ilga Pitkevica, 01954 210189 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] LONDON S SUSSEX E CARDIFF Frederick Scott, Kevin Smith, 07583 251118, David Pert, 029 2052 0736 / [email protected] [email protected] 07786 998454, [email protected] LONDON W SUSSEX W CHANNEL ISLANDS Alberto Portugheis, 020 7602 9515 Sarah Plumley, 01903 883265 Alan West, 01481 249371 / [email protected] [email protected] 07781 411119, [email protected] MERSEYSIDE SWANSEA DERBY Bernie Hailwood, 0151 342 6918 Hyelim Morris, 07949 684401 Beate Toyka, [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] NORFOLK WEST MIDLANDS DEVON Benjamin Howell, Philippa Rainbird, 024 7667 4118, Ekaterina Shetliffe, 07505 884271 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] or Matthew Preston, [email protected] WESSEX EAST MIDLANDS Lynda Smith, 01722 325807, Susan Grange, NORTH EAST [email protected] [email protected] Janet Nicolls, 0191 281 8048, [email protected] YORKSHIRE CEN ESSEX Simon Burgess, 0113 287 6126 Theresa Chapman, NORTH WEST [email protected] [email protected] Victor Lim, or Sharon Goodey, [email protected] YORKSHIRE N [email protected] Simon Burgess, 0113 287 6126 OXFORD [email protected] GLOUCESTER Julie Craven, 01235 765728, Pippa Harrison, [email protected] Matthew Palmer, [email protected] [email protected] | 49 | www.epta-uk.org HOME
ABOUT EPTA UK New members Bursaries Esther Brudenell Lucy Snailham Rebecca Imgrueth There are two bursaries available Full Professional Full Professional Full Professional to EPTA UK members. Swansea Bristol London We offer bursaries at the beginning of each academic year Louise Graham Ruth Snelling Ingrid Gale for EPTA UK members embarking on Full Professional Full Professional Full Professional CPD, and for talented pupils of EPTA UK Oxford Hertfordshire London members who may be having difficulty in paying for their piano lessons. Yee Chiu O’Reilly Kin Ling Lau Nicola Neimer Full Professional Full Professional Full Professional To apply for a bursary, please West Midlands West Midlands London download a form from the Members’ Area or ask the EPTA UK office to send Charlotte Michelle Buckman Vivien Shrimplin you one. There should be a financial Tomlinson Corporate Full Professional ‘need’ to qualify to be eligible and all Full Professional Kent London decisions in this respect are made by Oxford the EPTA UK Management Committee. Robin Forbes Stephanie Barlow Applications for bursaries are accepted Becks Johnson Full Professional Full Professional up to 30 June and will be assessed Full Professional North East Wessex throughout July. London Laraine Levin Michael Hegarty ■ Mark Ray Memorial Fund Jonathan Liebeck Full Professional Friends of EPTA Full Professional Gloucester Scotland East The Mark Ray Fund was established for London members wishing to embark on Continued Helga Penny Professional Development (CPD) to further Friends of EPTA their skills in piano teaching. North East ■ John Bigg Scholarship Fund Spring Into Dalcroze 2023 This scholarship fund helps musically- talented students with the cost of piano 2ND TO 5TH APRIL 2023 tuition with an EPTA UK teacher. Scholarships RNCM MANCHESTER are awarded only to applicants who show true commitment to the piano as their first and (REGISTRATION 2ND APRIL FROM 4.30PM) preferred instrument. Nominations are invited for a limited number of bursaries for 2022-23. WWW.DALCROZE.ORG.UK A minimum standard of approximately grade 5 is expected. The bursaries will be awarded on the basis of a letter of recommendation from the teacher together with a letter of intent from a parent or parents and a letter of support from another professional person (e.g. school teacher, doctor) who is familiar with the family’s circumstances but is not a relative. Applicants should have been studying the piano for at least two years and must be under 18 years of age. | 50 | www.epta-uk.org HOME
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