Speaking the piano : reflections on learning and teaching / Susan Tomes.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tomes, Susan, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Tomes, Susan.

Tomes, Susan--Education.

Piano--Instruction and study.

Piano.

Pianists--Scotland--Biography.

Pianists.

Piano teachers--Scotland--Biography.

Piano teachers.

Education.

Scotland.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

ix, 267 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

[Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK] ; [Rochester, NY, USA] : The Boydell Press, [2018]

Summary:

"In Speaking the Piano, renowned pianist Susan Tomes turns her attention to teaching and learning. Teaching music encompasses everything from putting a drum in a child's hands to helping an accomplished musician unlock the meaning and spirit of the classics. At every stage, some fundamental issues keep surfacing. In this wide-ranging book, Susan Tomes reflects on how her own experience as a learner, in different genres from classical to jazz, has influenced her approach to teaching. She tells us how her performing career has given her insight into what young performers need to know, and how discussions with students have fed into her own practice. She describes the brilliant and intriguing teachers whose masterclasses opened her ears to the many ways in which music can be brought alive and communicated. This is a book to appeal to a wide range of readers - pianists of every level from beginner to professional, piano teachers, musicians of all kinds, and the broader community of music-lovers. In a passionate contribution to the ongoing debate about the place of music in education, Susan Tomes argues that this most inspiring of arts can play a unique role in personal development."--Dust jacket flap.

Contents:

Section One: Teaching. Enlisting the imagination

Pretending to be other people

Why don't people play better?

Grappling with the instrument

Words and signs

Tempo is character

Connecting the beats

Sensing the style

Imagery, positive and negative

Different physiques

The inescapability of one's own nature

What we talk about in lessons

The benefit of hindsight

Fusion cooking

'You'll find the black notes play louder than the white ones'

'For me this is like jazz'

Is playing the notes enough to reveal the music? To sway or not to sway

How important is it to hear the sound?

Section Two: Learning. Beethoven among the Alpine flowers

Not all those who wander are lost

The sound of two hands clapping

Music lights up the brain

Epilogue

Index.

Notes:

Includes index.

ISBN:

9781783273256

1783273259

OCLC:

1019954061