Autumn 2023: Recordings
Sandman’s Castle: The Solo and Duo Works of Vincent Ho is an exceptional collection of works by the award-winning composer, with outstanding performances by artists Dame Evelyn Glennie, Vicky Chow, Ben Reimer, Susanne Ruberg-Gordon, and Beth Root Sandvoss. From the opening “Nostalgia,” which beautifully captures...
A Quick Look at Independent Music Teaching: What Pianists Should Know
Discovery homeSign up for email updatessubmit a question Special thanks to Jason Sifford, chair of the NCKP 2023 Independent Music Teaching committee, for this post. Why is independent teaching important for pianists today? Today’s emerging professionals and young parents are the first to be born...
NCKP 2023: Committee Programming Previews
NCKP: The Piano Conference will be in-person at the Westin Chicago Lombard from Wednesday to Saturday, July 26–29, 2023, and online on Friday to Sunday, June 9–11, 2023. The conference has a compelling array of topics covering all aspects of piano teaching, learning, and performing....
Winter 2023: Recording Reviews
Winter 2023; Vol. 14, No. 4
Uncommon Voices: Women Composers from Eastern Europe Natasha Stojanovska, pianoNavona NV6440[Total Time 69:55]navonarecords.com This album includes works by six women, including two Phantasies by the performer. In these works, Stojanovska uses rhythmic frameworks and rhapsodic filigree emanating from Macedonian music, cast in a tonal/modal pitch...
Utilizing Improvisation and Percussion Activities in the Piano Lesson: Special Guest Q&A with Jason Sifford
Discovery homeSign up for email updatessubmit a question This week we invited our followers to submit questions for Jason Sifford about utilizing improvisation and percussion activities in the piano lesson. Today, Jason is answering those questions in advance of our creative music making webinar, “Incorporating...
Summer 2022: New Music and Materials, Recordings
New Music & Materials: Grade Level Descriptions DREAMS AND IMAGINATION: 10 ORIGINAL PIANO SOLOSarranged by Carolyn Miller, S 1-2 “It is my hope that students will mentally paint a picture in their minds of what the title describes before performing the pieces.” Student’s imaginations will...
Winter 2022: First Looks: Recordings
Winter 2022; Vol. 13, No. 4
ARCANA: ALEX SHAPIRO Adam Marks, piano Innova 041 Total Time [79.58] innova.mu This album presents the collected piano works by composer Alex Shapiro. The music is perhaps best summarized in the liner notes to the pieces that give the album its title: “Arcana explores the painfully...
How do you use technology in the study of advanced literature?
Keyboard Companion Autumn 2007; Vol. 18, No. 3
Working with advanced students is challenging for many reasons, not the least of which is the issue of time management. As the students become more advanced, they tend to work simultaneously on both longer pieces and a greater number of pieces. For this reason, lessons...
Autumn 2020: Recordings
Autumn 2020; Vol. 12, No. 4
Frederic Chopin’s music is among the most performed and oft-recorded of its genre. This presents an interesting challenge for modern pianists: how might one approach the music of a composer whose performance traditions are so well-established? Here, Viv McLean invites us to explore the complex and...
Summer 2020: New Music & Materials
Summer 2020; Vol. 12, No. 3
Emilie Lin has arranged five traditional melodies in her publication Hearts of Asia: Chinese Folk Songs, published by FJH. The first four pieces have lovely, cantabile melodies which are divided between the hands. They also have simple, beautifully written duet parts which could be played...
9000 Teaching Pieces on YouTube: The University of Iowa Piano Pedagogy Project
November 2012; Vol. 4, No. 6
This century’s technology provides many tools for keyboard teachers, students, and parents. Internet MIDI, Skype, blogs, YouTube, and many other innovations bring new ways of learning music at the keyboard. The University of Iowa Piano Pedagogy Project on YouTube is an ambitious undertaking Dr....
Spring 2021: First Looks: Recordings
Spring 2021; Vol. 13, No. 1
E PLURIBUS UNUMLiza Stepanova, PianoNavona NV6300[Total Time: 55:23]navonarecords.com E Pluribus Unum is an extraordinary compendium of works by nine American composers with immigrant backgrounds, including five women. Perhaps the most direct representation of immigrants’ journeys is provided by Venezuelan-American composer Reinaldo Moya, whose “The Way North” consists of supremely evocative vignettes...
Winter 2021: First Looks: Recordings
Winter 2021; Vol. 12, No. 5
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN: THE COMPLETE PIANO SONATAS PLAYED ON PERIOD INSTRUMENTS Paul Badura-Skoda, fortepianoArcana A203 | 9 CDs[Total Time: 10:06:09]OUTHERE-MUSIC.COM As deeply insightful and brilliant Badura-Skoda expectedly is in this collection of reissues recorded between 1978 and 1989, perhaps the principal interest here is the use of seven of the pianist’s own...