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Guest post by Javen Ling, founder of Alternate Tone Music School, Singapore

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“I do not have the potential to be a great pianist as I don’t have long, slender fingers”

Long, slender fingers do not necessarily make you a better pianist. While longer fingers may be an advantage in playing certain repertoire with large stretches, short, fat fingers are also an advantage when it comes to playing other music

Some of the world’s greatest pianists have small hands and stubby fingers. Instead of worrying about how your genetics have not provided you with your ideal fingers, start to work developing your technique and learn to accept your physical limitations. If a piece of music is not particularly well-suited to your hand, find a way to work around it. Every pianist eventually has to learn to live with their limitations and adapt to them.

Great pianists come in all shapes and sizes. There is no specific type of finger size or length that determines your potential.

“When I start learning a new piece, I should work from the beginning to the end”

Typically, most people will learn the piece from beginning to end and continuously practice until they can play the entire piece well. The problem with this method is having the discipline to push forward when music gets harder to play. As you approach a section that you’re unfamiliar with, you might be tempted to stray away from that and repeat the part in which you are comfortable with, rather than working on the difficult sections.

The most efficient way is to learn the most difficult sections first. This allows you to spend more time on the most difficult sections, rather than avoiding them or leaving them until later in your practicing. Thus when you start learning a new piece, scan through the composition, and determine which section/s appears the most difficult and start working on it first. As you become familiar with the harder section, you will tend to practice it more and under practice the easier sections.

“I don’t see any need to practice hands separately”

Professional pianists continue to practice hands separately even after playing a piece for 25 years or more! Many people are usually taught to practice hand separately first in order to reach their end goal of playing their hands together.

The benefit of practicing your hands separately is that you can focus on note-learning, technical sections and nuances of voicing and phrasing that might be overlooked if you practice hands together. So don’t forget about practicing separately once passed the initial phase of learning a passage. Use it as a tool to polish and improve your playing.

“Never look down at your hands when playing”

Most piano teachers encourage their students not to look at their hands. Firstly, this activity can slow down their learning, especially sight-reading skills as it inhibits them from looking ahead in the score. Secondly, students should not be too reliant on looking at their hands to find the right keys. Thirdly, the action of continually looking up at the sheet music and down at your hands can make you dizzy and might make it difficult to keep track of where you are at in the music.

An occasional glance down at the hands is PERFECTLY FINE. The trick is to not move your head too vigorously, but rather to just glance down at your hands quickly before looking back up at the sheet. By that I mean keeping your head perfectly still and just look down your nose at your hands. Lastly, of course, you should know the sequence of the keys well enough to locate them easily!

“I can easily learn the piano on my own”

With YouTube and Google, it is easy to pick up any skill via the Internet.

You can certainly teach yourself about music theory, history and techniques via the internet; however, a teacher’s experience is invaluable in helping you to improve your playing skills and technique, and advise you on common mistakes. In the long run, this will probably save you time and accelerate your learning.

Many people think that by taking piano lessons you have to go through graded piano exams. That is not the case. It really depends on what you are looking for. If you are interested in becoming a piano teacher or a piano professional, then it is advisable to take exams and diplomas. However, if you just want to learn for leisure, you don’t need to take exams and you can play repertoire which you enjoy, whether classical music, jazz or pop. Alternate Tone music school in Singapore specialises in teaching contemporary music and offers personalised lessons, which means you get to play your favourite music no matter what level you’re at!

If you’re still convinced you can get there without any professional help, that’s absolutely fine! There are many great and talented musicians who did not undergo any formal training. But in my opinion, the piano is definitely harder to learn on your own because of the structure of the instrument and its repertoire. If your goal is to play well, I definitely recommend having a good piano teacher to guide you through your piano studies.

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Featuring……

Gergely Bogányi | Simon Callow | Alistair McGowan | Peter Donohoe | Mark Bebbington | Dr Anna Scott | Mystery Guest and many more

Olympianist Anthony Hewitt cycles through the night, live-streamed to the foyer

Tickets from £1!

Friday 3 March, 7.30pm – Saturday 4 March, 7.30am

Town Hall Birmingham

Inspired by the all-night jazz sessions at Birmingham’s Town Hall in the 1950s and 60s, Birmingham Conservatoire has put together a nocturnal pianothon of epic proportions featuring some of today’s greatest pianists, superb guest artists and supremely talented students.

The 12-hour through-the-night voyage of discovery takes place at Town Hall Birmingham on Friday 3 March, from 7.30pm and features over twenty pianists including guest artists Gergely Bogányi, Simon Callow, Alistair McGowan, Peter Donohoe, Mark Bebbington and Dr Anna Scott. A mystery guest of international stature plays Beethoven’s last three sonatas, and The Olympianist, Anthony Hewitt, cycles through the night from his London home (with pictures screened live in the foyer), to arrive at dawn and play Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit. As Anthony Hewitt says, “Playing Ravel’s wonderfully descriptive Gaspard de la nuit poses pianistic challenges at the best of times, let alone at 7am after having cycled 125 miles through the winter night!! But I think I can do it, with the right ‘cyclogical’ approach!”

Olympianist Anthony Hewitt
Alistair McGowan
Simon Callow
Gergely Boganyi

The evening begins with the award-winning Hungarian pianist Gergely Bogányi playing the complete Chopin Nocturnes and other highlights include Beethoven’s three last piano sonatas performed by the Mystery Guest, Messiaen’s The Garden Warbler from Peter Donohoe and John Ireland’s Sarnia from Mark Bebbington. Impressionist and amateur pianist Alistair McGowan – whose rekindled love of the piano is an inspiration for anyone who learned as a youngster to start playing again – will play music by Satie and Grieg. In the early hours, celebrated actor Simon Callow gives a rare performance of Tennyson’s epic narrative poem Enoch Arden, in a setting for narrator and piano by Richard Strauss, with pianist John Thwaites. Dr Anna Scott takes a look at ‘Brahms as he might have heard it’, student Nafis Umerkulova plays Schumann’s First Piano Sonata on a historic instrument made by Clara Schumann’s cousin W Wieck, and prize-winning pianists and tutors from the Conservatoire’s own ranks are showcased throughout.

Head of Keyboard Studies at Birmingham Conservatoire, John Thwaites says, “I wanted to put together something that was shocking in its audacity, youthful in its exuberance and, in its totality, offering the finest night of piano playing anywhere on the planet this year! The inspiration for an All-Nighter comes from the Swinging Sixties, when Birmingham Town Hall regularly hosted All-Night Jazz Festival gigs, pictures of which still adorn the lower bar. These sessions were filled with young people and students and, to encourage them, tickets for our All-Nighter start at just £1.”

This unique event will have three Steinway concert grands, period pianos and harpsichords. Bar and catering all night!

The Piano All-Nighter is at Town Hall Birmingham on Friday 3 March, 7.30pm until Saturday 4 March, 7.30am. For further information and details of how to book, visit www.bcu.ac.uk/concerts

***

John Thwaites selects some highlights:

Piano-playing means Chopin and all-nighters need Nocturnes. The complete Chopin Nocturnes are played by Gergely Bogányi, winner of the 1996 Franz Liszt Competition in Budapest and one of the most exceptional pianists of our times.

Peter Donohoe gave the British Premiere of Messiaen’s La Fauvette des Jardins in 1977 having studied it with the composer and his wife in their Montmartre apartment. The panoramic ‘day in the life’ of a garden warbler seemed fitting for this event and Peter is joined by his wife Elaine, who he met for the first time at that first performance.

Audiences are guaranteed to be knocked sideways when the Mystery Guest steps on stage to play Beethoven’s last three Sonatas.

In the early hours, we add poetry to the mix, welcoming the celebrated actor Simon Callow in a recitation of the Victorian melodrama Enoch Arden by Alfred Tennyson in a setting by Strauss for narrator and piano, with pianist John Thwaites. Callow’s lifelong passion for classical music has included producing opera and performing with orchestras around the world and makes him the perfect casting for this monumental work which has echoes of Robinson Crusoe and Ulysses. This is followed by the Birmingham premiere of Rzewski’s De Profundis (after Oscar Wilde) for speaking pianist.

Margaret Fingerhut, Daniel Browell, Pei-Chun Liao, Di Xiao, David Quigley, John Thwaites, Julian Jacobson also feature in this marathon – more pianists than can be heard anywhere on a single night!

Prize-winning pianists from the Conservatoire’s own ranks are showcased throughout, presenting some of the greatest masterpieces for the instrument.  Domonkos Csabay, who won the 2016 Brant International Piano Competition, plays Schubert’s last great Sonata in B flat D960. Lauren Zhang, a Birmingham Juniors student who won the 2016 Ettlingen International Competition for Young Pianists, plays a Transcendental Study by Lyapunov, and Róza Bene, who was joint winner of the 2016 Anthony Lewis Memorial Competition, plays Couperin.

Birmingham is increasingly a centre for historically-informed performance practice and in this context Dr Anna Scott will perform late Brahms as the composer himself might have heard it played. It’s more than a little thought-provoking, so prepare to be scandalised, and to further enjoy the playing of Gyorgy Hodozso, a Weingarten Scholar in Birmingham and Dr Scott’s latest prodigy. There’s also a chance to hear Schumann’s Piano Sonata No 1 in F sharp minor, played by Nafis Umerkulova on a piano made by Clara Schumann’s cousin, W Wieck.

Mark Bebbington is particularly celebrated for his interpretations of British music. He’ll play Sarnia by John Ireland, the British composer who has left the single greatest body of solo piano music.

Finally we welcome impressionist and amateur pianist Alistair McGowan whose rekindled love of the piano is an inspiration for anyone who learned as a youngster to start playing again. He’ll play Satie (a composer whose life and work he has studied in detail) and Grieg before introducing his good friend, ‘The Olympianist’ Anthony Hewitt, who will cycle through the night from his London home to play Ravel’s masterpiece of nocturnal virtuoso pianism Gaspard de la Nuit.

After that, only the magnificent organ of the Town Hall can provide a fitting close: Messiaen’s Dieu Parmi Nous.

Piano All-Nighter is at Town Hall Birmingham on Friday 3 March, 7.30pm until Saturday 4 March, 7.30am. For further information and details of how to book, visit www.bcu.ac.uk/concerts

Source: press release

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81qtgtkexyl-_sy355_Best known for his orchestral music and songs, Ralph Vaughan Williams (RVW) is not immediately associated with music for the piano (with the exception of the piano part of his song cycle On Wenlock Edge. But this new disc from SOMM demonstrates his skill and imagination when writing for this instrument.

Mark Bebbington, a champion of British piano music, is renowned for bringing lesser known or rarely-heard repertoire to light and this disc contains the first recording of the Introduction and Fugue for two pianos, written in 1947 and dedicated it to the famous two-piano team Phyllis Sellick and Cyril Smith. It is a work of Bachian polyphony, carefully-crafted counterpoint, rich orchestral textures and echoes of Debussy and Ravel in some of the filigree passagework, as well as English folksong idioms. There are even hints of Messiaen in some of the harmonies.  It’s the most substantial work on the disc and is handled with precision and sensitive colouration by Bebbington and Omordia. Beautifully paced, it combines moments of exquisite delicacy contrasting with grand statements and dramatic interludes, in keeping with its Baroque model.

The other longer work on this disc is a transcription for two pianos of the ever-popular Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, arranged by Maurice Jacob and Vaughan Williams. In this version it has a spareness which allows interior details to come to the fore and is more intimate than its orchestral cousin. The sparser textures reveal the Renaissance harmonies more clearly, reminding us of the inspiration for this work.

The rest of the disc is occupied with short works, including the Fantasia on Greensleeves (also recorded for the first time), A Little Piano Book and the Suite of 6 Short Pieces, works for junior piano students, which although miniature in scale reveal so many of the attributes of RVW’s musical language and innate lyricism which make his work so enduring and popular. But these are not mere trifles: the slower movements are reflective, tinged with melancholy.

The opening track, The Lake in the Mountains, also written for Phyllis Sellick, proved to be RVW’s last work for solo piano. Haunting and mysterious, it is a piece of great charm and is thoroughly pianistic in its structure and serene character.

 

Complete Piano Music by Ralph Vaughan Williams

The Lake in the Mountains for solo piano
Introduction and Fugue for two pianos *
‘Ach bleib’ bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ’  JS Bach BVW 649 arr. Vaughan Williams for solo piano
Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis for two pianos (arranged by Maurice Jacobson and Vaughan Williams)
Hymn Tune Prelude on ‘Song 13’ (Orlando Gibbons) for solo piano
Fantasia on Greensleeves – Piano duet —  adapted from the Opera ‘Sir John in Love’ *
A Little Piano Book (solo piano)
Suite of Six Short Pieces for piano solo

Mark Bebbington solo piano
Mark Bebbington & Rebeca Omordia, two pianos/piano puet

* World Premiere Recordings

Comprehensive liner notes by Robert Matthew-Walker

SOMM0164

Further information here

 

 

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Who or what inspired you to take up the piano and pursue a career in music?

I think for me, music and the piano emerged from the fog of my earliest memories because the piano was always in the house for as long as I can remember. My mother was teaching in a music college but also at home, so in that sense the piano, and especially music, were always there. It started as a sort of game with my mother: that was the trigger.

As for this whole music “career” business, I didn’t know until I was about 10 or 11 that I adored the piano. I loved music more than the instrument to begin with and then the love of the instrument came at a later stage. So I knew I wanted to do something with music but not whether I would or could be a concert pianist. But from about the age of 10, I switched to a better teacher and all of a sudden I had this tremendous interest in the instrument. Then I won a children’s competition in Poland and one thing led to another…

I can’t point to an earth-shattering moment when I knew “this is what I want to do” – it was more of a gradual, organic process.

Who or what were the most important influences on your musical life and career?

The most significant teachers (and this is not to do any disservice to other people from whom I received advice) and musical influences would be Dmitri Bashkirov with whom I studied in Madrid, and Ferenc Rados, who I studied with in Budapest, and wherever else we would meet. Those two are really the most significant musically speaking. But then I have received a lot of inspiration and ideas from Andras Schiff, for example, and Alexis Weissenberg, who, when he was still alive, gave me some very important impulses. Then there are conductors, like Semyon Bychkov, who have given me a lot of inspiration and advice, so I must say I feel very fortunate. It’s always been purposeful, because I seek out these people to learn something from them and that has been incredibly fruitful and stimulating. But when thinking about music and playing music, Bashkirov and Rados have been the most significant.

What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?

Well let’s start with the fact that music is difficult and the piano is a bloody difficult instrument to play! On the one hand it’s challenging, but on the other hand, it’s what keeps it so incredibly interesting and vital to continue, otherwise life would be terribly boring. Playing music on an instrument with one’s body is an extremely challenging occupation. Then there’s the fact that as an instrumentalist, you are forced to reflect on everything inside yourself – psychological limitations, fears, advantages, disadvantages. So staring at your reflection day in day out with such great intimacy and with the purpose of self-improving is also a challenge but is one that I nevertheless love and think is a great way of reaching a better understanding of oneself.

Other challenges include not allowing oneself to be distracted by the so-called “business” of a musical career and everything that that entails, to maintain a good level of mental and spiritual energy, trying to improve every day, learning new repertoire, getting better, and so on.

I think this balancing act is quite hard. And as everybody knows, the so-called “music business” is challenging because it comes with a lot of hurdles, but at the end of the day, it’s not the most significant thing in the world. To keep the soul in balance is a challenge, but generally balance is difficult to find in life! And what is important to know is that this balance is ever-changing.

How do you make your repertoire choices from season to season?

Eclectically (!) which I think is important and also in some ways purposeful. It has to start with something that deeply interests me: for example, the Transcendental Études are an interesting challenge for myself but one that I hope I can make interesting for audiences too because it’s not just for me.

It also comes from particular personal interests. I hate programming that looks like “Oh here’s another piece I learnt so let me play that for you”, so eventually there needs to be some kind of coherence or connection or inner logic which isn’t necessarily musicological or historical. This then influences what I choose, what goes well with what, a bit like making a menu… Alexis Weissenberg once said to me, “nothing betrays the personality of the pianist better than the way he puts together his recital programmes and the height of his stool at the instrument” and I think there is some witty wisdom in that comment. Especially in the case of concertos, less so with recital repertoire, I’ve been quite open to external impulses or suggestions from a conductor. There are a number of concertos I would not necessarily have thought of learning but then you fall in love or become intimately associated with the piece. So I enjoy external influences in that sense. But essentially I don’t agree to do anything that I don’t like or can’t believe in.

What is the special fascination of Liszt’s Transcendental Études for you?

It’s multi-faceted: I think Liszt is a great fascination because as modern pianists we owe the majority of our musical and pianistic lives to him in the sense that he has shaped our hands through the pianistic advice he has created, and he influenced the majority of what is played since his time. Everything that came later – Busoni, Rachmaninov, Debussy, Prokofiev – is the result of everything that Liszt came up with during the 20-25 years he was occupied with the Transcendental Études in their various incarnations. So the Transcendental Études are the Everest of piano literature, but also a distillation of Liszt as a pianistic experience. But obviously we owe him far more than the pianistic experience: there are the musical inventions, without which we would not have Wagner, Strauss, Mahler, Debussy, Busoni etc. There’s also the whole business of performing recitals as a soloist which we owe largely to Liszt – as Busoni said, “Liszt is the tree and we are all branches of that tree.”

It’s also a personal project. I wanted to take the “Transcendental Études journey” in order to self-improve through working on it and pursuing it as a cycle as I don’t think it is a random collection of 12 studies. It’s also of course so much more than a technical journey. Arthur Friedheim, an important student of Liszt, said something like “I had the privilege and honour of walking in the footsteps of the great” and I think the sentiment relates to Liszt, and essentially all the other great composers that we play. We get to follow in the “finger steps” of these great minds and spirits that have walked the keyboard, and in that sense it’s really a tremendous experience to be in touch with history in this way. But it’s not just a question of digging archaeologically; it’s about making the music, and therefore history, alive again so it can be felt in the air until it dissipates. This is one of the great privileges of being a performer. When playing Liszt, it’s the most amazing experience when you let him take over your hands, body and mind.

Having said that though, this wasn’t the intended outcome. When I started studying the Transcendental Études a year before I recorded them, I wasn’t certain whether I would be able to play them let alone very well. Everything began to emerge as I went further along the journey.

Do you have a favourite concert venue to perform in and why?

There are very divergent styles of concert venues – old concert halls, such as the Musikverein, are incredible. Boston Symphony Hall is also of this kind. Those two could easily be named as favourites. Then there are the great American halls of the turn of 20th-century and the 1920s – Carnegie, Severance Hall (Cleveland), Orchestra Hall (Chicago). There are also some really excellent new venues, but they are hard to compare to the old ones because of the different mentality towards sound.

Symphony Hall in Birmingham is also wonderful, and I quite like the hall in Copenhagen and the KKL in Luzern … but it would be hard to say if I prefer a particular hall. They are all different animals and it’s wonderful to have the variety.

What do you consider to be the most important ideas and concepts to impart to aspiring musicians?

Generally, at the risk of sounding condescending, I do feel it’s important to share one’s experiences because they may resonate with a person who is on an earlier but similar path to yourself – and this is one of the reasons why I started teaching relatively early at the age of 26. I am not sure whether it’s possible to “impart” curiosity but it’s important to stimulate it along with a love of what we do. Love and curiosity are almost one and the same thing or at least are closely related.

The curiosity about the big and small aspects of we do – how your index finger may depress that one key, curiosity about the repertoire, the culture, what role music and art can play in our lives – these are all a big part of that. If someone is not curious, you cannot impart curiosity. But when someone is curious, I think it is our responsibility to nourish and stimulate it.

The multifaceted pianist Kirill Gerstein has rapidly ascended into classical music’s highest ranks.  With a masterful technique, discerning intelligence, and a musical curiosity that has led him to explore repertoire spanning centuries and styles, he has proven to be one of today’s most intriguing and versatile musicians. His early training and experience in jazz has contributed an important element to his interpretive style, inspiring an energetic and expressive musical personality that distinguishes his playing.

Mr. Gerstein is the sixth recipient of the prestigious Gilmore Artist Award, presented every four years to an exceptional pianist who, regardless of age or nationality, possesses broad and profound musicianship and charisma and who desires and can sustain a career as a major international concert artist. Since receiving the award in 2010, Mr. Gerstein has shared his prize through the commissioning of boundary-crossing works by Timo Andres, Chick Corea, Alexander Goehr, Oliver Knussen, and Brad Mehldau, with additional commissions scheduled for future seasons. Mr. Gerstein was awarded First Prize at the 2001 Arthur Rubinstein Piano Competition in Tel Aviv, received a 2002 Gilmore Young Artist Award, and a 2010 Avery Fisher Grant.

Kirill Gerstein’s full biography

(photo: Marco Borggreve)