FingerTips for Pianists


Book Description

Part of the enjoyment of playing the piano is the challenge it brings. FingerTips for Pianists is the ideal companion. It provides tips and strategies to help you achieve new skills and advance your technique. It troubleshoots any tricky bits and systematically looks at ways to approach or correct them.




Mastering Piano Technique


Book Description

(Amadeus). This holistic approach to the keyboard, based on a sound understanding of the relationship between physical function and musical purpose, is an invaluable resource for pianists and teachers. Professor Fink explains his ideas and demonstrates his innovative developmental exercises that set the pianist free to express the most profound musical ideas. HARDCOVER.




The Complete Pianist


Book Description

"Roskell's new and unique approach to piano playing is based on the use of natural, ergonomic movement, which helps both health and technique. Includes music examples, exercises, and access to more than 300 online video demonstrations.With an introduction and appendices"--Publisher's description




My First Piano Adventure: Lesson Book A with CD


Book Description

(Faber Piano Adventures ). Written for ages 5 and 6, My First Piano Adventure captures the child's playful spirit. Fun-filled songs, rhythm games and technique activities develop beginning keyboard skills. Three distinguishing features of the Lesson Book A make it unique and effective for the young 5-6 year old beginner. 1. A strong focus on technique embedded in the book through playful technique games, chants, and carefully-composed pieces that gently lead the child into pianistic motions. 2. An outstanding CD for the young student to listen, sing, tap, and play along with at the piano. The orchestrated songs on the CD feature children singing the lyrics, which has great appeal to the 5-6 year old beginner. The CD becomes a ready-made practice partner that guides the student and parent for all the pieces and activities in the books. 3. The fanciful art features five multi-cultural children who are also learning to play. These friends at the piano introduce basic rhythms, white key names, and a variety of white and black-key songs that span classical, folk, and blues. Young students will listen, sing, create, and play more musically with Nancy and Randall Faber s My First Piano Adventure, Lesson Book A. The Lesson Book introduces directional pre-reading, elementary music theory and technique with engaging songs, games, and creative discovery at the keyboard. Young students will enjoy the multi-cultural "friends at the piano" who introduce white-key names, basic rhythms, and a variety of songs which span classical, folk, and blues. Ear-training and eye-training are also part of the curriculum. The Fabers' instructional theory "ACE" - Analysis, Creativity, and Expression, guides the pedagogy of My First Piano Adventure. Analysis leads to understanding, creativity leads to self-discovery, and expression develops personal artistry. The CD for this book offers a unique listening experience with outstanding orchestrations and vocals. The recordings demonstrate a key principle of the course: when children listen, sing, tap, and move to their piano music, they play more musically. View Helpful Introductory Videos Here




Fundamentals of Piano Practice


Book Description

This is the first book that teaches piano practice methods systematically, based on mylifetime of research, and containing the teachings of Combe, material from over 50 pianobooks, hundreds of articles, and decades of internet research and discussions with teachersand pianists. Genius skills are identified and shown to be teachable; learning piano can raiseor lower your IQ. Past widely taught methods based on false assumptions are exposed;substituting them with efficient practice methods allows students to learn piano and obtainthe necessary education to navigate in today's world and even have a second career. See http://www.pianopractice.org/




The Foundations of Technique


Book Description

The Foundations of Technique is about putting into practice everything that you wish to do at the instrument. This new and innovative approach to technique is for everyone interested in improving their piano playing and teaching. It includes information and exercises that are as relevant for beginners and intermediate players as for post-graduate students and professional concert pianists. Based on the long-standing, successful series of 'Masterclass' articles written for International Piano magazine, The Foundations of Technique focuses on the foundations and basic principles of a healthy and reliable technique.




Piano Notes


Book Description

Charles Rosen is one of the world's most talented pianists -- and one of music's most astute commentators. Known as a performer of Bach, Beethoven, Stravinsky, and Elliott Carter, he has also written highly acclaimed criticism for sophisticated students and professionals. In Piano Notes, he writes for a broader audience about an old friend -- the piano itself. Drawing upon a lifetime of wisdom and the accumulated lore of many great performers of the past, Rosen shows why the instrument demands such a stark combination of mental and physical prowess. Readers will gather many little-known insights -- from how pianists vary their posture, to how splicings and microphone placements can ruin recordings, to how the history of composition was dominated by the piano for two centuries. Stories of many great musicians abound. Rosen reveals Nadia Boulanger's favorite way to avoid commenting on the performances of her friends ("You know what I think," spoken with utmost earnestness), why Glenn Gould's recordings suffer from "double-strike" touches, and how even Vladimir Horowitz became enamored of splicing multiple performances into a single recording. Rosen's explanation of the piano's physical pleasures, demands, and discontents will delight and instruct anyone who has ever sat at a keyboard, as well as everyone who loves to listen to the instrument. In the end, he strikes a contemplative note. Western music was built around the piano from the classical era until recently, and for a good part of that time the instrument was an essential acquisition for every middle-class household. Music making was part of the fabric of social life. Yet those days have ended. Fewer people learn the instrument today. The rise of recorded music has homogenized performance styles and greatly reduced the frequency of public concerts. Music will undoubtedly survive, but will the supremely physical experience of playing the piano ever be the same?




Fundamentals of Piano Technique - The Russian Method


Book Description

(Piano Instruction). Fundamentals of Piano Technique was developed by Leon Conus (1871-1944) and Olga Conus (1890-1976) during many decades of teaching and performing, and through association with the most prominent Russian musicians of the time including Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, and Medtner. The exercises in this method are concise and efficient, focusing on the elements of good playing: control, touch, nuance, and musicianship. This book can be used by students at all levels of development, and with all shapes and sizes of hands. The preparatory exercises allow students to begin using the book within their first year of lessons. A systematic approach allows the hands to develop gradually, avoiding dangerous tension or muscle damage. Topics include: preparatory exercises; extension exercises; five-finger exercises; flexibility of the thumb; trill exercises; scales & arpeggios; wrist development; double notes; and more.




Technical Exercises (Complete)


Book Description

This edition is comprised of 86 different technical exercises composed by Liszt during 1868 to 1880. Liszt intended these highly challenging exercises to build greater performance skills in virtuoso pianists. The complete series consists of twelve volumes, each one dealing with a different pianistic problem. This edition has been compiled from the original set to present the exercises in a reasonable length without harming the essence and effectiveness of the original work.




Music at Your Fingertips


Book Description