We tend to think of rubato as being largely associated with the romantic period, but elements of what we would call rubato can be traced back to as early as the 9th century! It was an established part of  music performance in both the baroque and classical periods. This week’s blog post explores the origins of tempo rubato and how composers such as CPE Bach and Mozart incorporated it within their works.
This week’s guest blog post features an article on finding musical expression when learning new pieces by Ken Johansen. In this post, Ken suggests practise methods using examples from various pieces featured within his…
In some Romantic music it may be appropriate to change tempo slightly when the musical idea changes, even if this is not specified in the score. This is just one…
Some years ago I was invited to give a class on scales and arpeggios for a piano teachers’ association. There was one advancing student who was really struggling with them…
One of the things that really gets my goat is the totally erroneous statement that the harpsichord is incapable of expression. Many famous and influential pianists who should know better…
...what bestows upon the performer the status of artist and on the performance the status of art, is the real, full-bloodied possibility of the performer finding a better or at…
When I was on the selection committee for the 11th Unisa International Piano Competition, we listened to two solid days of audio recordings, one after the other. Our selection of…
Some years ago, I had the privilege of sitting in on some lessons taught by a colleague who specialised in teaching talented youngsters. Because she also had a background in…
If you gave an infinite number of monkeys an infinite number of typewriters, would they eventually produce the complete works of Shakespeare? This favourite question of barstool philosophers seems relevant…
Articulation in music is understood to mean the way notes are connected or grouped - this involves accentuation and, to some extent, rhythmic inflection. While François Couperin was an obsessive control…
