Studio Recital Inspiration!

My studio's recital on Friday night was a rousing success! The performances that my students gave were truly inspired. It's such an honor to be working with young musicians who understand the payoff of hard work at their instrument.

I use studio recitals as an exciting opportunity for my students to share the pieces they've polished with their peers, friends, and family in a safe and supportive environment. Without fail, these events prove to be excellent inspiration that leads to hard work and dedicated practice.

Please enjoy a few highlights in this brief video:



I try to arrange the order of performances in such a way where all levels of piano playing are mixed together. In this program, performances from my students at Michigan State were interspersed with younger students who might not be as experienced with performing. Kalil Olsen, the young student that my undergraduate pedagogy class has been teaching, performed right after two experienced pianists who played major works by Chopin and Schubert. I find that my students and those in attendance enjoy the variety and diversity of performances.



How do you format your studio recitals?

Studio Recital

My studio is presenting a recital this Friday evening. If you are in the area, I'd love to have you join us. All levels of pianists will be presented playing interesting and thought-provoking musical selections. Please click on the following facebook event for further information: www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=44812500663&ref=mf

Moving Through The Sound

Rachel is a very talented student of mine with a very natural and very strong physical approach to the piano.  In a recent lesson, Rachel and I worked on the concept of "moving through the sound," that is, being sure that each note, phrase, and every movement at the instrument has an organic fluidity in the fingers, hands, wrists, elbows, and the even the entire torso to create sounds that are bold, but also singing.  Please watch her first attempt at some of these concepts.

Bartok Redux in Undergraduate Piano Pedagogy

Here's Kalil, from just a few days later, playing "Imitation and Inversion" one more time for Stephen Armstrong, an undergraduate piano performance major at Michigan State University.  Notice how his sense of phrasing and line has improved---one of the goals my piano pedagogy class set forth for him during our last class.  

Please excuse the jumpy video...I'm still learning how to edit movie clips correctly!