Piano Study Centre Piano Lecture and Master Class

Opportunity to All Piano Students Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced Levels

Date: Saturday 22nd November from 4.00pm – 6.30pm

Location: In Central London near Russell Square

Theme of Lecture: The Craft of Practising

(Free to our students)

Please send e-mail: [email protected] to register your interest

Send text message or Phone: 07950 491461

Professor: Philip Fowke

Pianist, Professor and Senior Fellow of Keyboard at Trinity College of Music

(Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance)

The Craft of Practising

Philip Fowke writes:

Gordon Green, my revered and much beloved teacher, used to refer to the craft of practising. This made an impression upon me, all the more vivid when he likened the pianist to a master joiner with his box of tools, sharpened, polished and oiled. As the joiner adds to his collection of tools over the years becoming accustomed to some yet discovering new ones along the way, so the pianist has to build up a box of treasured tools to facilitate the process of learning and practising.

Philip Fowke discusses what we mean by “practice”, what it entails, the analysis of fingering, the avoidance of needless repetition, and strategies for overcoming technical or musical problems. The myth of legato fingering will also be addressed as will the inappropriate use of the word “tension”. Economy of movement, choreography of the keyboard and posture will also be discussed.

Extra information from PSC

Famous British-born pianist Stephen Hough’s piano teacher was Gordon Green. Stephen and Professor Philip studied with the same piano teacher. You might be interested in learning about Philip’s views on The Craft of Practising learned from his teacher Gordon Green.

See the following links http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Hough#Biography

……..Hough holds a Master's degree from the Juilliard School where his studies were assisted by the receipt of the first ever Royal Philharmonic Society Julius Isserlis Scholarship for study abroad. He has studied with Heather Slade-Lipkin, Gordon Green, and Derrick Wyndham…….

Heather Slade (Hough’s first piano teacher) studied with Gordon Green http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heather_Slade-Lipkin

……………….As a result, Heather Slade came to the attention of the celebrated piano professor Gordon Green, (who had studied with , a student of Busoni and Teresa Carreño, thus having piano descendancy from Carl Reinecke, Felix Mendelssohn, , , Anton Rubinstein, Frédéric Chopin, Paderewski, Theodor Leschetizky, Carl Czerny, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, , Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Muzio Clementi, Gluck, and Bach) with whom she then studied at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM)……….