The first concert I’ve been involved with for a long time is coming up on Saturday! I’ve kept it to one shortish solo piece from me as well as playing for two 10-minute sets from singers, to keep it manageable. Lots of other lovely performers are contributing, so I’m sure it will be a really lovely event!
I’m taking a bit of a break from performing. It’s the common case of feeling that with wanting to spend time preparing my teaching I don’t have enough time to really prepare in the way I’d want to for concerts. For me it’s a question of having enough time to really get inside pieces, whether that’s as an accompanist or as a solo pianist. For solo piano performance I’m only really able to take pieces where I want them to go when I can memorize them reliably, and unless I already know the pieces this does seem to take forever! I’m sure I’ll get back to it before too long though. My next project will be Schubert’s magnificent final piano sonata, in B flat major – that will be a real labour of love for me. Keep an eye on my concerts and events page for details of when I have more performances coming up!
This workshop was originally planned for 8 Feburary 2020! Happily, it can now go ahead on Saturday 3 September at Brighton Unitarian Church in New Road, Brighton. I can now confirm that it will run 12-3pm, with a break for lunch. Here’s more details:
This will be a workshop combining advanced piano technique with Alexander Technique, featuring not only me but wonderful Alexander Technique teacher Mimmi Elvinsson - you can find out more about Mimmi and Alexander Technique here:
http://www.yourbodyandvoice.co.uk/
After a brief introduction from me and an introduction to Alexander Technique from Mimmi this will take the format of half hour individual sessions working on short passages of music and ways to approach them involving Alexander Technique with feedback from both Mimmi and me. We hope these will be interesting to observe as well as take part in! To be a full participant will cost something like £35. If you'd like to just observe this will be £15.
There's a long tradition of combining Alexander Technique with musicianship. I'm a great believer in this, and have developed a particular strategy for incorporating an Alexander Technique approach into practice, which I think other people may find helpful. For me it turns practice into something which is always concerned with making playing feel physically easier and more enjoyable at the same time as enhancing all aspects, technical and musical, of pianism. The idea is to find a way of simultaneously working on your playing, your posture and the way that you move, how you relate to your surroundings, and other dimensions Alexander Technique brings to the table. So I hope it will be of interest to lots of you!
Do please let me know if you'd like to take part or observe, and do also please forward this to anyone else you know who might be interested.
Looking forward to this afternoon's concert with top warbler Deirdre Arratoon, deferred from March but still legitimately on the theme of Spring! Lots of other wonderful and varied English song, and piano pieces by both Fanny and Felix Mandelssohn.
I've been singing the praises of remote teaching on here - I have found this method to be surprisingly effective. But it's exciting to be able to announce that I'm gradually phasing face to face lessons back in! I've missed the particular energy of this kind of teaching. Following government guidelines, for the time being this can only be for children, in support of their general education. But do please get in touch if you’d like face to face lessons - all being well, in April the restrictions are likely to be lifted further, so let me know if you'd like to be on my waiting list for this. At the moment I have a limited number of post-school slots available for children, and more availability earlier in the day, for adults. Some evening slots are possible too. Alternating between remote and face to face lessons is also a very good option!
