Spring 2023 Conference Our Spring conference was focused on "Foundational Piano Skills." The guest speakers were Penelope Roskell and Bradley Sowash.
Penelope Roskell shared some of her newly devised exercises for elementary pianists which introduce all of the fundamental movements that are at the heart of good piano technique. Ms Roskell also shared information about her new book The Complete Pianist, by Edition Peters.
Bradley Sowash presented practical tips for teaching the blues to all ability levels from a master improvisation teacher including primary chord patterns, boogie-woogie, walking bass, authentic blues scales, riffs and licks to prime the improvisational pump! Bradley Sowash is the author of the popular piano method books: That's Jazz.
Penelope Roskell Zoomed in from London to present.
Bradley Sowash visited the Ohio University piano lab to present to students and members of OhioMTA SE.
Fall Conference 2022 Our Fall Conference topic was "Contemporary Piano Music for Children". Kristiina Junttu Zoomed in from Helsinki Finland.
Kristiina Junttu is working as a piano and chamber music teacher in East-Helsinki Institute in Helsinki, Finland. She has specialized in pedagogical training, giving regularly both seminars in continuing education for teachers and master classes for students in music schools and conservatories in Finland and abroad. She has also developed innovative teaching and training methods especially directed for instrumental learning at early stages including using group lessons together with individual ones and use of improvisation as a part of learning process. As she has studied with György Kurtág, she has given master classes concentrating in Kurtágs piano music collection Játékok. She received her doctoral pedagogical degree from the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki. György Kurtág’s Játékok brings the body to the center of piano learning by Kristiina Junttu This presentation described the pedagogical speciality of Játékok (Games) - a collection of piano music by the Hungarian composer György Kurtág. György Kurtág (born in Lugos, Romania in 1926) is well known as one of the most highly esteemed contemporary Hungarian composers. Kurtág's musical language is aphoristic, and his “explosive miniatures” can be seen as a synthesis of many different elements: the idioms of contemporary classical music, his Hungarian folk-music inheritance, and many strands arising from the classical repertoire of previous centuries. Játékok is a collection of short piano works, composed for pianists of all ages. It was designed to supplement traditional teaching material. In Játékok, Kurtág combines the teaching of basic piano playing technique with the development of musical expression. It also offers a fascinating insight into the world of twentieth-century music. The main pedagogical ideas in Játékok are the use of the piano as a toy as well as the use of the whole body for playing. Kristiina presented Kurtág’s contemporary approach to teaching the piano especially in the early stages. I showed fascinating examples of how using Játékok as part of the teaching material can help to awaken the possibility for children to experience music and movement in a sensitive way. Finding quality for body movement can reinforce musical experience and improve musical hearing. Her primary interest was bringing the body to the center of piano learning, to hopefully broaden the ways in which we can approach piano teaching in the early stages.