I’ve created a very specific list of piano performance criteria that can be applied to any student, at any level, playing any piece. This list contains what I believe to be the components of any great performance, whether it’s given by the tiniest beginner pianist or the most accomplished recitalist.
What do we do when pushy parents insist on an exam being undertaken when they don’t leave enough time in a child’s day for the practice to be done?
Last month there was a discussion on Facebook about the Suzuki method. However, it was not the usual Suzuki discussion, which consists of traditional piano teachers lamenting the lack of sight reading skills in Suzuki students…
Piano teachers are no longer an isolated breed. With webinars, online memberships, blogs and Facebook pages, we have never been so connected or informed. So bother to get off our bottoms and actually turn up to a conference or workshop, if we can get everything we need online?
For those of you who have been receiving the Blitz email newsletters, you’ll know that the much anticipated iphone app ‘ScaleBlitzer’ has finally been released. After more than a year of blood, sweat and [many] tears, Abe Cytrynowski and I have produced what we think is the ultimate tool for teachers and students in the […]
I found out from Warrick Dobbie’s email broadcast the other day that there is a fantastic new site which enables AMEB candidates to share their experiences (good or bad), always to the sympathetic ears of others who have experienced similar things! From their site: To start a new thread, Teachers, Parents and Australian Music Examinations […]
Welcome to version 2 of BlitzBitz, my occasional musings on teaching, publishing, Theory, Musicianship, Music Craft, Piano, the AMEB and anything else that springs to mind. I look forward to using this forum to share ideas and experiences.
Well, it’s official… students no longer have to write out a whole folk song in Theory and Musicianship exams! They still have to memorise the folk songs set for study, but will be tested in other ways, such as recognising a fragment or adding in correct phrasing. Personally, I think this is much better! Teachers […]