by Penelope Roskell, pianist and Professor of Piano and Piano Pedagogy at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance

If we reflect on the language that we use in our teaching, we will probably notice that many of the words we use imply a rather serious, one might even say tedious view of life: practise hard, exercises, repetition, accuracy, evenness, examinations – no wonder so many students find piano playing boring compared to the fun of playing with friends or computer games!

I think we all need to remind ourselves frequently of the possible alternative words: ease, beauty, flow, flourish, caress, communication, fun, delight, and, most importantly perhaps, playfulness. I personally don’t remember ever having heard ...

Franz Peter Schubert was born in the Habsburg capital of Vienna on January 31, 1797. He died there on November 19, 1828, having lived only 31 years, 9 months, and 19 days.

In his all-too-brief life, Schubert created a body of music the size and quality of which leaves us shaking our heads in wonder. In the last sixteen years of his life, from the age of 15 to 31, Schubert produced, among other works: 9 finished and “unfinished” symphonies; 10 orchestral overtures; 22 piano sonatas; 6 masses; 17 operas; 637 songs; over 1000 works for solo piano and piano four-hands; around 145 choral works; 45 chamber works, including fifteen string quartets and one string quintet.

The tiny (about 5′ 1″), pudgy, be-spectacled ...

Since 1979, Benjamin Zander has been the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic. He is known around the world as both a guest conductor and a speaker on leadership — and he’s been known to do both in a single performance. He uses music to help people open their minds and create joyful harmonies that bring out the best in themselves and their colleagues.

A leading interpreter of Mahler and Beethoven, Benjamin Zander is known for his charisma and unyielding energy — and for his brilliant pre-concert talks.

Sue Fox of the London Sunday Times says of Zander:

“Arguably the most accessible communicator about classical music since Leonard Bernstein, Zander moves audiences with his unbridled passion and enthusiasm. ...

Most people, especially if they never took music lessons or didn’t take them seriously, think that there are only a very few careers for people with music skills: performing (usually as part of a professional orchestra or famous solo performer) or teaching music at school and/or private lessons. However, there are several more careers that have far less recognition but are at least as important, if not more so, since they serve many more people. Besides school music teachers, college professors, private music teachers, and performers, here are some other careers connected to music:

Piano tuners and technicians, which are still needed since millions of people still have acoustic pianists, especially large schools, churches, and some ...

Stile Antico

Saturday, April 21, 8:00 PM

Church of St. Mary the Virgin

Chambermusiciantoday.com

NEW YORK - Miller Theatre's Early Music series, which regularly presents concerts at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in midtown Manhattan, concluded its season with a concert by the English vocal ensemble Stile Antico. It was the group's last concert of their Spring American tour, and featured a program that was described from the stage as a "whistle stop tour through the music of the Renaissance." Indeed, in a single evening the group covered a wide range of repertoire that encompassed the entire chronology of Renaissance polyphony.

The program included a number of works that choral music aficionados would consider its ...

This is not a post about how to transcribe piano music for a full orchestra, or ensemble, but rather some thoughts on how imagining certain instruments and visualising sounds can help shape piano music, creating an exciting and contrasting sound world.

I often remind my students that the piano can be “any instrument you want it to be”: a trumpet, a cello, a bass drum, shimmering violins, mellow woodwind, a pure soprano voice. And beyond, to the sounds of the natural world: rain dripping, ice creaking, birdsong, fluttering wings, sighing trees, a dog barking, a horse’s hooves. Some students just look blankly at me – and then at the piano. “It’s just a piano”, they seem to be thinking. “How ...

On May 5 and 6, pianist András Schiff's Perspectives continues with a pair of concerts—including a Carnegie Hall Family Concert—with the Salzburg Marionette Theater.

Read Schiff's charming explanation of how this "strange" collaboration came about, then watch what's in store for Zankel Hall audiences.

The collaboration with the puppet theater of Salzburg is strange indeed. But it came about because of this wonderful work of Claude Debussy, La boîte à joujoux, which is a unique composition. I don't know of another piece of music from a great composer for puppets and piano alone.

We did this piece many years ago at my festival in Mondsee [Austria], when Boris Berman played the piano. Philippe ...