Both the scope of materials to be used and the sequence, or order of presentation, are crucial to the success of the student at each stage of development. Students should understand so clearly what they are doing during the lesson that they can literally teach themselves for the rest of the week.1     —Robert Pace My father, Robert P...

Q: I currently have a new beginner who appears to have perfect pitch. While she has her back turned to the piano, I can play any pitch and she can repeat it exactly, without yet knowing key names. In addition, she can play any simple early-elementary piece by ear after one hearing, without any reference to reading. How can I help her overcome ...

In the September/October issue, awardwinning biographer and former BBC producer Dr. Alan Walker shared discoveries and reflections on the life and work of Franz Liszt. Dr. Walker also discussed the early years of his own career and his evolution as a biographer and a leading Liszt authority.  How has Liszt's reception evolved since his death?&...

Our musical, mystical mojo Why would someone decide to take on the study of piano in the adult years? Researchers have taken on this question many times. According to Maslow, it is "self actualization." Schlossberg says it is because of some sort of transition in our life—perhaps the student was recently widowed, retired, or suffers from "empty nes...

For teachers brave enough to ask students to perform their first improvisations, the excuses are all too familiar: "I don't know what notes to play", "I don't feel the rhythm", "It's too hard", and--eventually--just plain "I can't do it".  There are many factors preventing students from at least trying to make something up, among them ner...

Easy-to-intermediate level twentieth-century teaching works Marga Richter has said she might be characterized as the ultimate "accidental" composer (no pun intended), although, in her own words, some of her music is exceedingly, even obsessively chromatic. Richter was born in Reedsburg, Wisconsin, into a musical family. Her mother, Inez Chandl...

In the Spring of 2011, Clavier Companion sponsored its fourth annual Collegiate Writing Contest. College students at any level from any country in the world were invited to submit 1,500 word essays on a pedagogical topic of their choice. The grand prize was publication of the winning essay in Clavier Companion. The esteemed panel of judges was comp...

Response to The Robert Pace Keyboard Approach  Editor's Note: Clavier Companion has invited the authors or representatives of each method series reviewed to respond to that review in the following issue. The response to last issue's review of The Robert Pace Keyboard Approach is presented below.  Robert Pace, who passed away in September ...

It has been said by many that in music, rhythm is what happens between the beats. That is true, yet those words don't sufficiently communicate what we actually experience in rhythm. Much of what we teach is from notation, an inherently artificial and scant symbolic representation of music. These two facts conspire to create a problem: you can't fai...

The first program notes I wrote were for my college senior recital. I learned a great deal and enjoyed the process so much I continued to write them for all my solo recitals. In more recent years, I have spoken directly to the audience about the music in a type of "verbal program notes," but they are also thoroughly researched and planned.  In...

I am spending the summer in the house where I grew up. This is the same house where my parents were married shortly after World War II. My aunt and uncle, who lived next door, witnessed this simple ceremony. A black and white photo of the event, which I cherish, takes on significance through its relation to a world-changing event. My father su...