Upcoming Performances and Presentations

Happy Fall from East Lansing! The 2009-2010 academic year is underway here at the Michigan State University College of Music with many exciting events and opportunities happening on a weekly basis. Look for frequent updates and new articles on teaching piano here throughout the year.

I'll be making the following appearances during the fall, winter, and spring months. If you are near any of these areas, and are interested in attending, I would like to meet you. Please send me an email for further information.

-Recital with Janine Gaboury, horn, October 11, 2009, MSU Music Building Auditorium, East Lansing, Michigan

-Presentation at Michigan Music Teachers' Association State Conference, "Using Video Technology to Improve a Student's Awareness," October 12, 2009, Bay City, Michigan

-Preview Lecture for The Ahn Trio Recital, "The Art of Learning Brand New Music," October 15, 2009, Wharton Center, East Lansing, Michigan

-Recital with Melanie Helton, voice, October 23, 2009, "Absolute Music" Chamber Music Series, Absolute Gallery, Lansing, Michigan

-Mozart Piano Concerto in D Minor, K. 466, October 24, 2009, with Michigan State University Symphony Orchestra, Wharton Center, East Lansing, Michigan

-Recital and Masterclass, January TBD, 2010, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

-Recital with Paul Roczek, Professor of Violin at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, February 4, 2010, MSU Music Building Auditorium, East Lansing, Michigan

-Presentation at Vivace Music Club, "Improvisation in the Classical Style," February 8, 2010, Evola Music, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

-Recital with Janine Gaboury, horn, and Phil Sinder, tuba, February 28, 2010, MSU Music Building Auditorium, East Lansing, Michigan

-Recital, Masterclass and Piano Pedagogy Presentation, April 14, 2010, The University of Alabama at Huntsville, Huntsville, Alabama

-Recital, Masterclass, April 16, 2010, The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Chattanooga, Tennessee

Auditions at MSU for the 2010/2011 academic year begin at the end of January. Please send me an email if you are considering becoming a part of our exciting musical community.

-Derek Polischuk

Monster Piano Concert

Happy Spring from East Lansing!  It's the last week of what has been a very exciting semester in the piano department at the Michigan State University College of Music which, in addition to the stimulating piano pedagogy activities outlined in previous posts, was also recently highlighted by a visit from renowned pianist and pedagogue Russell Sherman, Distinguished Artist-in-Residence at the New England Conservatory, who gave an inspiring performance of the Liszt Transcendental Etudes and a moving masterclass last week.

 

We're celebrating the end of the academic year with a rousing "Monster Piano Concert" this Sunday at 3pm at the Wharton Center on the campus of Michigan State University.  Eight pianists, including me, Panayis Lyras, Deborah Moriarty, Alan Nathan, Ron Newman, Kyomi Sugimura, George Vatchnadze and Ralph Votapek, will be performing 8-piano arrangements of great works.  Here's the program:

Brahms:

Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80

Bach: 

Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring

Aria

Sheep May Safely Graze

Wagner:

Tannhäuser Overture

Saint-Saëns:   

Danse Macabre, Op. 40

Dvořák:   

Slavonic Dance in D major, Op. 46, No. 6

Slavonic Dance in G minor, Op. 46, No. 8

Chabrier:   

España

Joplin:   

The Entertainer

Stoptime Rag

Sousa:   

Stars and Stripes Forever

Additionally, three of my students, Albie Feeny (1st prize in the 9th and 10th grade division), Nolan Feeny (first prize in the 5th and 6th grade division), and Rachel Symanzik (first prize in the 3rd and 4th grade division) will be performing movements from classical period Sonatas and Sonatinas as winners of their respective divisions in the Eileen Keel competition held earlier this semester.   This performance will also be at the Wharton Center, and will begin at 2pm.  Tickets are available from Wharton Center's box office by calling (517) 432-2000, or (800) WHARTON.  Here's a link with more information: https://www.whartoncenter.com/boxoffice/performance.aspx?pid=684

I hope you'll join us---judging by our rehearsal last night, this should be a lot of fun!

Graduate Seminar Update

We are now almost 3 months into our Graduate Seminar in Piano Pedagogy with student-subject Melody Gruber, so it's been a while since you've had the chance to see her progress.  Please see the following clip for highlights of some of Melody's very quickly progressing playing, as well as some beautiful teaching by Justine Sasanfar and Ann Chen, both students in this Seminar.

MSU Piano Pedagogy Masterclasses at the Cornerstone School

On February 26th I accompanied four students from the Piano Pedagogy program at Michigan State University to the Cornerstone School Nevada campus in Detroit Michigan. The Cornerstone Schools are private schools in urban Detroit with flourishing academic and arts instruction under the guidance of passionate and skilled teachers, and through the support of business leaders and private and corporate donors in the Detroit metropolitan area. Cornerstone is certainly an inspirational model and a beacon of hope in a part of our country that desperately needs this. Please see their website: www.cornerstoneschools.org

A flourishing class piano program exists at Cornerstone, taught by Sarah Boyd and by Marina Ionescu while Sarah is on maternity leave. Marina is a graduate of the piano pedagogy program at Michigan State University. Sarah and Marina have done an exceptional job of teaching technical fundamentals, musicianship, and artistic sensitivity to each of their students. My piano pedagogy students tried to add an additional level of finish and polish to some of their performances through a series of masterclasses for students in 6th, 7th and 8th grade piano. Please see the following video for a few highlights:



This is my second time taking my students to Cornerstone, and I cherish this opportunity for them to practice the art of giving a masterclass that is in many ways an entirely different skill than teaching a private lesson. In meetings that preceded our visit, we discussed the ways that skillful masterclass teaching is unique, including limiting the discussion to large musical principles, engaging students, teachers and observers in the audience while at the same time addressing the needs of the performer, and providing the performer with an opportunity to immediately find inspiration in on-the-spot improvement in what can be a stressful and high-stakes experience.

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What are your experiences with masterclass teaching? What are some of the characteristics of a truly great masterclass?

Jazz Transcriptions as Repertoire

Our jobs as piano teachers have many dimensions. We train ourselves to properly teach our students a vigorous and effortless technique. We act as mentors to our students in both their musical lives and their larger existence as a young person in a confusing world. We provide our students with positive performance opportunities. We attempt to help our students be good stewards of their musical talent by cultivating it in a way where they might share it with people who don’t get to hear music often. Yet, too often, we negatively influence our students’ musical horizon by not allowing them to explore, discuss, study and perform music they listen to that might not be from the standard classical repertoire.

I have found great pedagogical value in introducing my students to the recordings of the great jazz pianists.  A quick google search for "jazz piano transcriptions" turns up music for Bill Evans, Bud Powell, "Fats" Waller, Jelly Roll Morton, Keith Jarrett, and Thelonious Monk.  Noah Symanzik, a very talented middle-school student in my studio, has been studying a transcription and recording of "Dinah" as played by Thelonious Monk from the album "Solo Monk."  Listen to an excerpt of Monk's playing, and then Noah's.  Noah is doing an admirable job of playing in an authentic style, honoring the tradition of this great pianist and composer, while at the same time learning about a type of music that might be out of the realm of the traditional piano lesson.

I encourage you to think outside of the box when it comes to repertoire for your students with the hope of making them more well-rounded while at the same time continually stoking their motivation through the study of music that they truly love.

Dinah - Thelonious Monk