Happy New Year

Happy New Year to you all and may 2013 be a great year for you and for your music making.
Many thanks for all the Christmas good wishes, cards and gifts; I appreciated them very much.
Don't forget to watch the New Year's Day Concert from Vienna tomorrow: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00glnh8

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everybody!

I have enjoyed playing Christmas songs and carols with you, solos and duets, and hope that you will have fun with them during the Christmas break.

If you get bored during the holidays you might like to try one of the following:

1. Put on your own informal concert for your friends and relatives: sort out a programme of your favourite pieces, design and make a programme, practise introducing your music and bowing and get your parents to record it for you. Let me know how it goes.

2. Write your own Christmas song, either totally original or use existing words and add a new tune to something such as Away in a Manger or Deck the Halls.

3. Download the music for your favourite tune, Christmassy or not, from www.musicnotes.com or www.greatscores.com  and learn it.

4. Work out your favourite melody by ear and then add an accompanying LH using chords 1, 1V or V.

5. Have a look at my Pinterest board for more music and piano-ish ideas: http://pinterest.com/fionalau/piano-teaching-ideas/

Congratulations!

Congratulations to everyone who played at tonight's Christmas Piano Concert. It was lovely to hear you all play- well done!

Also congratulations to Jennifer Baker and Elena Deighton, who passed their grade 1 and 3 piano exams with Distinction, to Alexander Greenwood who took his Prep test, and to Jennifer Marshall who passed her grade 5 theory exam. Hooray all round!

Christmas Concert!

Hi everyone, the Christmas Concert is next Thursday so keep practising over the weekend! Details are below in a previous post. I'm looking forward to hearing you all!

Competition Winners!

Congratulations to all pupils who took part in the Chelmsford Competitive Festival last Saturday; Alys, Josie, Alice, Rebecca, Jennifer, Abbie and Elena. They all got placed in their classes and the following were winners:

Jennifer - Griggs Trophy

Elena - Brian Trophy

Alice – Roberts Trophy

Alys- 14 and under, Set Piece Class

Josephine – Hoffman Trophy and the Roots Trophy

Christmas Concert!

I will be holding a piano pupil Christmas Concert on Thursday 13th Dec from 7.30, at the Salvation Army Hall, Baddow Road, Chelmsford, CM2 ODL. The Salvation Army look after us really well and they have a beautiful Kawai grand piano. You can park in the nearby Meadows car park.

Admission will be £1 per non-playing adult and 50p per non-playing child, to cover costs. Please RSVP as soon as you can.

This site offers a good guide to preparing for a concert or recital: http://voices.yahoo.com/how-help-child-prepare-piano-recital-485432.html

I would just add that if the audience clap- and they will- YOU MUST BOW! Remember bow and think "what's that on the tip of my shoes?" and up. That's all there is to it.

I am looking forward to hearing everyone play!

Week beginning Monday Nov 5th

Piano lessons start up again after the half-term holiday so remember your music and do that practice!

It's also time to think about Christmas music, so bring any you have and we'll get into the spirit of things in time for the concert- see previous post for info on all this.

Exam dates are here and I have sent candidates the information. There's more support from ABRSM exams here : http://gb.abrsm.org/en/exam-support/preparation-for-exams/

Good luck to those who are taking theory exams on Wednesday and a reminder that on Saturday 10th from 4-5pm there is the competition prep session, at my house, featuring: Beethoven, Bertini, Wedgwood and others.

Christmas Concert.

This year's Christmas Piano Concert will be on Thursday 13th December at 7.30 pm in the Salvation Army Hall, Baddow Road, Chelmsford. Save the date!
The admission fee will be £1 per adult and 50p per non-performing child.
Pupils selected to play could perform a solo, a duet or a Christmas carol or song. The Salvation Army always look after us well and this is a lovely opportunity to perform and get into the Christmas spirit. I will send you more details and an official invitation/ RSVP in the practice diaries.


We will be playing lots of Christmas carols and songs after the half term holiday; if you don't have any Christmas music the following are good:
For Piano Adventures: Primer pupils Piano Adventures Primer Level Christmas Book, and then for each level there is a Christmas Book. Don't go for a higher level as it's useful to learn these quickly! Each Hal Leonard Level also has a Christmas Piano Solos book in its Hal Leonard Student Piano Library series.

Competition Preparation Session

When: Saturday 10th November.
Time: To be confirmed. pm.
Where: At my house.
Who is invited: Primarily pupils but parents are also welcome.
Purpose:To understand the competition format. To prepare for the competition. To play through pieces.
You will also get my top tips and guidelines!

Piano Season on BBC Radio 3

The BBC's Piano Season is now about half way through. It includes many programmes on BBC Radio 3 and BBC4 about pianists and the piano and features several TV and radio  presenters taking piano lessons for the first time and then sharing their experiences. I am teaching Ray Clark, the Breakfast Show host of BBC Essex, and he broadcasts snippets of our lessons on his show!

For further details about Piano Season:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/radio3/2012/09/piano-season-on-the-bbc.shtml

Cathedral School Piano Pupils!

There won't be lessons next Wednesday 10th October. Lessons will be made up (it's a long term) so keep playing and practising!

Piano enthusiast trip!

My colleague and I are arranging a trip to Honfleur, to include a visit to the Satie Museum. We will go via Eurostar, probably for two days at the end of Feb- beginning of March. Approx cost will be £230. If any of you are interested in coming with us, do contact me.

Satie's entry in wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Satie

Listening to a piano lesson!

As part of the BBC's Piano Season, I am one of several piano teachers from the European Piano Teachers' Association (EPTA), giving lessons to presenters from local radio stations. My(complete and absolute) beginner is the very brave Ray Clark from BBC Essex. Here is a brief extract from Ray's show, with snippets from his first lesson:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00xv0nf

If you want to listen to one of your child's lessons, let me know and we'll arrange it. Also if you want to have lessons, contact me!

Guides to playing in competitions and auditions.

If you have a competition or audition coming up, check out my guides on the guides and reviews page.

Chelmsford Competitive Festival Link

http://www.chelmsfordcompetitivefestival.org/

Lost Middle C?

Just in case you have forgotten where middle C is over the holidays:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR_cwELdtHk

Do enjoy singing along!

Practice, Playing and Performance

Pupils at the Cathedral School have new practice charts on which they are encouraged to write in how many minutes they practise for on each day. I will be compiling a league table of winners in many categories. Good luck with this and let me know how it goes!

Older pupils have been given a questionnaire asking what they would like to achieve this term and to list some pieces they would like to play.

A reminder that the closing date for the Chelmsford Competitive Festival is Saturday 22nd September.

Benefits of piano playing!

I always knew playing the piano was good for you; this article explains it all!

http://www.steinway.com/news/articles/piano-for-body-mind-and-soul/

Songs of Great Britain and Ireland and Treasured Classics

Two books of grade 1-3 piano music. Songs of Great Britain and Ireland are simple but effective arrangements of folk-tunes and Treasured Classics consists of arrangements of favourite themes from the classics; both great for enjoyment, recitals, sight-reading practice and pure pleasure. Available from me and at:

http://www.dehaske.com/product/detail/40544/songs-of-great-britain-and-ireland

http://www.dehaske.com/product/detail/40543/treasured-classics

Lessons in September!

To my pupils, students and their parents,

Lessons, for school and private pupils, will begin the second week back after term starts i.e. week beginning Monday 10th Sept. I will be emailing you soon to confirm lesson dates and times. Enjoy the final days of the holidays and I look forward to seeing and hearing you soon!

Happy Birthday Debussy!

Happy birthday Mr Debussy. Schirmer Performance Editions have brought out a selection of pieces suitable for late intermediate to early advanced pianists/ grade 5 + level: http://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.do?itemid=296711&lid=0&keywords=debussy+harding&searchcategory=00&subsiteid=64

Other intermediate pieces by Debussy include: "Le Petit Negre"- this is written in the style of a cake-walk dance and has irresistible rhythms in the outer sections with a contrasting more lyrical section. It is an impressive and fun piece; "The Girl with the Flaxen Hair"- provides an introduction to Debussy's more mature style(described as Impressionist or Symbolist) and his other Preludes and is approx grade 5 + level.

After you have tackled these pieces and been lured into the marvelous piano sound world of Debussy you might like to explore: "Suite Bergamasque" (Prelude is on ABRSM's 2013-14 grade 8 piano syllabus), "Estampes" and "Preludes" books one and two.

I have found that Marguerite Long's "At the Piano with Debussy" offers interesting insights into Debussy's piano music and Roy Howat's " The Art of French Music" is a fascinating and essential book for anyone interested in French piano music and has a very erudite and useful chapter entitled Debussy and the Orient where he discusses Debussy's "harmonic chemistry". Fabulous stuff!

Piano Adventures Primer Level Guide for Teachers

Some of the best teaching videos I have ever seen and a great guide to the Primer Level: http://pianoadventures.com/guide/index.html

Chelmsford Competitive Festival.

I have added the piano section syllabus classes under the heading Chelmsford Competition. Have a look and see what classes you might like to enter.

New pages: Links and Diploma info

I have added two new pages; 1.Useful links for parents, pupils and teachers 2. Diploma pupils info.

Review-Practicing the Piano

Do check out my review of Nancy Breth's "Practicing the Piano" on the reviews page. If any of my students would like a copy I will send off a bulk order- just let me know!

For Teaching Diploma Students.

If you are contemplating taking DipABRSM teaching, this is a link to David Barton's excellent Top Tips:

http://www.davidbartonmusic.co.uk/top-tips-for-teaching-diplomas

Here's a link to some of the best teaching videos I have ever seen and a guide to Piano Adventures Primer Level:

http://pianoadventures.com/guide/index.html

Hello!

Hi, welcome to my piano blog! This is primarily for my pupils, students and parents and will be a great way for me to share piano related stuff with you.

I hope you are having a great holiday and have enjoyed the Olympics- I have! Here's a link to the Chariots of Fire theme tune which was played at the medal ceremonies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-7Vu7cqB20&feature=related

Can any of you work out how to play it by ear?