In this issue
January 2019; Vol. 11, No. 1
January 2019: Editor’s Page
Celebrating Ten Years of Clavier Companion: Returning to Our Roots and Embracing Change If we do not change, we risk failing to grow and evolve as human beings.…
January 2019; Vol. 11, No. 1
January 2019: Piano News
MusicEdConnect Online Conference 2019 Sessions Announced Registration is underway for an innovative and informative online conference. On February 1-2, 2019 more than twenty presenters will give sessions on…
January 2019; Vol. 11, No. 1
Spencer Myer: A 21st-Century American Pianist
Setting the Scene Spencer Myer emerged as a concert pianist of note upon winning three important competitions shortly after the turn of this century. In 2004, he placed…
January 2019; Vol. 11, No. 1
January 2019: Questions and Answers
Q: What professional development opportunities are available online? Are any of these offered by the Frances Clark Center? A: Your biggest challenge is not finding opportunities…
January 2019; Vol. 11, No. 1
January 2019: Recordings
Mendelssohn's chamber works are musical conversations of supreme sophistication. Artymiw and Rosen offer a captivating recording of the composer's complete works for cello and piano, and…
January 2019; Vol. 11, No. 1
January 2019: New Music Reviews
(S3-4) Nocturnes in Minor: An Artistic Intermediate/Late Intermediate Collection for Solo Piano, by Jeanne Costello. As a young pianist, I remember playing my first Chopin nocturne…
January 2019; Vol. 11, No. 1
January 2019: Book Reviews
Managing Stage Fright: A Guide for Musicians and Music Teachers,by Julie Jaffee Nagel. Julie Nagel possesses a rare combination of skills. She has two music degrees from…
January 2019; Vol. 11, No. 1
January 2019: Book Review: A Dictionary for the Modern Pianist
By Stephen Siek: Rowman & Littlefield, 2017, $89.98 After the excellent reception for his biography of Tobias Matthay (England's Piano Sage, Scarecrow Press, 2011), Stephen Siek took…
January 2019; Vol. 11, No. 1
The Neglected Consolations of Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt's beloved Consolation No. 3 in D-flat Major from the Six Consolations S.172, is a character piece frequently performed by the advancing pianist in recital and…
January 2019; Vol. 11, No. 1
January 2019: Poetry Corner
Contributing Editor: Richard Zimdars Poem by Virginia Hamilton Adair The Birds Preach to St. Francis [Variation on a Theme by Liszt] What could he tell them…
January 2019; Vol. 11, No. 1
Whose Assignment Is it Anyway?
It happened again this week. I had used the word "heartbeat" to suggest the way the left- hand chords in the B section of Burgmüller's Ballade…
January 2019; Vol. 11, No. 1
How Sleep Impacts Learning (And Why We Should All Sleep More!)
Healthy Playing, Healthy Teaching, Vanessa Cornett, Editor A common refrain among teachers in the developed world is that twenty-first-century students are over-scheduled, anxious, and unable to focus…
January 2019; Vol. 11, No. 1
The Road to Kindness: Encouraging Greater Generosity of Spirit in an Overly Competitive World
The habit of comparing ourselves (and being compared) to others is not restricted to the world of music. Starting shortly after birth, our physical attributes, talents, and…
January 2019; Vol. 11, No. 1
January 2019: Pupil Saver: The Thrill of the Risk
My student Katie, 17, enjoys playing the piano as much as she loves playing soccer. From what I hear, she is an aggressive, risk-taking soccer player.…
January 2019; Vol. 11, No. 1
The Whole Piano is Mine! Keeping Today’s Beginners Engaged Through Attractive and Motivational Repertoire
When I began teaching in the United States as a fresh artist-teacher graduate of the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, I soon recognized that to…
January 2019; Vol. 11, No. 1
Feel the Beat: Building a Strong Rhythmic Foundation for Musical Success
As piano teachers, we strive to instill a love of making music in our students. The inevitable process of making mistakes along that journey, however, creates challenges…
January 2019; Vol. 11, No. 1
Counting Out Loud: A Fresh Look at a Traditional Practice Tool
I give my piano students many tools to improve their practice, such as logging their time and playing their music backwards, but one of the most…
January 2019; Vol. 11, No. 1
Steps to Parnassus: Preparing Students to Play Advanced Masterworks
All learning of complex knowledge and sophisticated skills must be approached by first learning more limited and simplified versions of what students are eventually needing to master. The nature…
January 2019; Vol. 11, No. 1
Adaptive Piano Lessons: An Incredible Adventure
According to dictionary.com, to adapt means "to adjust, or modify fittingly to requirements or conditions."1 Although the demands are many, piano teachers routinely adapt instruction to meet the needs of their…
January 2019; Vol. 11, No. 1
January 2019: Keyboard Kids
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