Join us for an exciting day of workshops, presentations and discussion with fellow piano teachers.
Workshops:
Yohondo: A presentation on the use of technology in piano lessons. Yohondo for iPad is the fun, bite size way to learn your piano pieces. For the classics and for the ABRSM piano exams.
Casio:Product Demonstration of the latest digital pianos. Teachers may acquire an instrument on a free loan for evaluation purposes. Sign up on the day with Casio.
All That Jazz: Composer Heather Hammond presents “ALL THAT JAZZ: Contemporary Repertoire for Young Pianists”. A session on everything you need to get your students (from early stages to around grade 5) jazzin’, swinging, rocking & generally having lots of musical fun!
The workshop will include playing Boogie & Blues, Jazz, Pop, Ballads, Reggae & Latin American styles. We’ll also look at technical aspects, such as chords, composing & improvising using Blues Scales & Modes. Some ideas for using the features available on electronic keyboards in lessons will also be discussed.
British Association of Performing Arts Medicine (BAPAM): Drusilla Redman presents a Posture Clinic with guidance on how to check your students’ posture. Drusilla will also address the issue of Performance Anxiety and Tension.
CLIC Sargent: Helen Lye will be talking about Practice-a-thon, CLIC Sargent’s UK-wide fundraising campaign for young musicians. CLIC Sargent encourages schools, youth clubs and groups across the UK to hold their own event and raise money for young cancer patients. Students are sponsored to practice their musical instrument, arrange a concert or organise a music marathon!
SoleMate Piano Footstool: Naomi O’Brien will be demoing her great new product and these will be on sale at a discounted rate for attendees on the day. SoleMate is a revolutionary footstool that helps children achieve the correct posture when playing the piano.
Please note lunch is not included but there are several nearby establishments or you may bring your own lunch. Tea and coffee is provided.
Join us for an exciting day of workshops, presentations and discussion with fellow piano teachers. You can read a review of last year’s event [here].
Casio: Product Demonstration of the latest digital pianos. Teachers may acquire an instrument on a free loan for evaluation purposes. Sign up on the day with Casio. http://www.casio.co.uk
All That Jazz: Composer Heather Hammond delivers a session on jazz music for young pianists. There are many books available of Heather’s popular music for young instrumentalists. These include collections for piano, clarinet, saxophone and flute at various grades all published exclusively by Kevin Mayhew Publishers. The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, Trinity Guildhall and London College have all included Heather’s pieces in their exam syllabuses. Heather also plays electronic keyboard and often writes pieces for the Yamaha Keyboard Club magazine. Pieces used during the session will be available in advance for you to preview. http://www.heather-hammond.co.uk/styled/
Yohondo: A presentation on the use of technology in piano lessons. Yohondo for iPad is the fun, bite size way to learn your piano pieces. For the classics and for the ABRSM piano exams. http://www.yohondo.co.uk
Drusilla Redman presents a Posture Clinic with guidance on how to check your students’ posture. Drusilla will also address the issue of Performance Anxiety and Tension.
Rosa Conrad: Rosa is a London-based composer with a wide range of repertoire for piano including duets and solo pieces, and is passionate about the early stages of music learning. Rosa will be leading a duet and creative ensemble workshop at the event. Explore how to get your beginner students engaged with harmony right from the start, through enjoyable activities which create a sense of ownership of the piece and a deeper understanding of music.
Rosa will be demonstrating from her duet books and the first book in the ‘Fun Games and Party Pieces’ series. She will show how the creative techniques outlined in this series can be applied to any piece the student plays, and at any level of study. Audience participation encouraged!
[Sample Solo Piece] [Sample Duets] http://rosaconrad.com/
CLIC Sargent: Helen Lye will be talking about Practice-a-thon, CLIC Sargent’s UK-wide fundraising campaign for young musicians. CLIC Sargent encourages schools, youth clubs and groups across the UK to hold their own event and raise money for young cancer patients. Students are sponsored to practice their musical instrument, arrange a concert or organise a music marathon! http://www.clicsargent.org.uk/
SoleMate Piano Footstool: Naomi O’Brien will be demoing her great new product and these will be on sale at a discounted rate for attendees on the day. SoleMate is a revolutionary footstool that helps children achieve the correct posture when playing the piano. http://www.neverboreddesign.com/solemate-2
Please note lunch is not included but there are several nearby establishments or you may bring your own lunch. Tea and coffee is provided.
UPDATE: The next Casio Piano Teachers’ Workshop takes place on Sunday 27 September 2015. [More Info].
I recently hosted a one day workshop for piano teachers in London. The event was sponsored by Casio and they brought along a range of their digital pianos for us to use throughout the day. The course was based around the new ABRSM syllabus Alternative List pieces. Tim Barratt from ABRSM and Graham Fitch led two workshops on Grades 1 to 7 pieces.
On a grey and rainy Sunday piano teachers arrived at Cecil Sharp House, London NW1 to take part in an EPTA/Casio One-Day Workshop for Pianists and Piano Teachers organised by Lorraine Liyanage. It was my first visit to this venue, the home of the English Folk Dance and Song Society and the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, I found it to be well suited to such an event. The spacious Trefusis room, opened onto a very good cafe, and in engaging Casio as sponsors Lorraine ensured the presence of many high quality digital instruments for teachers to play.
Casio Workshop in Camden, November 2014
Sponsored by Casio and Pianist Magazine
Casio Workshop in Camden, November 2014
Casio Workshop in Camden, November 2014
Casio Workshop November 2014
Music, Me, Piano
Chris Stanbury from Casio
Chris Stanbury from Casio
Chris Stanbury from Casio
The day started with a workshop led by Tim Barratt, Head of Keyboard at Dulwich College and a teacher at the Junior Academy. He began by giving teachers an interesting insight into the selection process of a syllabus in which he is involved. He then discussed pieces on the ABRSM Alternative List, playing all options and covering one piece from grades 1-4 in detail. This stimulating session included singing in the aeolian mode, shaping students’ tone through analogies to orchestral instruments, and using imagery to convey to a student how a melody is projected over its accompaniment. He also covered developing good staccato technique, rhythmically accurate playing and marking notes during practice. This was a lively and interactive presentation with many teachers volunteering to play pieces, clap and sing. It was an inspiring start to the day.
After a coffee break Dan, from Casio and Chris, a teacher at the London College of Music | The University of West London, presented the instruments. This was a surprisingly interesting session and not at all the sales pitch one might expect from sponsors. Not only were we given some interesting technical insights but as a piano teacher Chris was able to include some creative ways to use technology to support students’ learning.
Frances Wilson then spoke about Professionalism in Piano Teaching. In her honest style she led a very open discussion sharing her own experiences and drawing on her research. This covered all sorts of practicalities from teaching environment, web sites, social media, security clearance, fees, terms and conditions and professional bodies. To quote her “Be in charge of your own professional destiny and maintain your integrity”. Naturally this sparked many interesting conversations amongst colleagues over lunch. [Read The Presentation]
Frances Wilson
Frances Wilson
Casio Workshop November 2014
Casio Workshop November 2014
Casio Workshop November 2014
Graham Fitch, pianist, teacher, adjudicator and writer, arrived for the afternoon session. In the same format as Tim, Graham dealt with pieces on the alternative lists from grade 4-7. We were treated to colourful descriptions like, thickening textures should be felt as you would feel the slight resistance in a spoon when stirring a thickening roux sauce, for dynamic markings, piano actually means mp in melody + pp in accompaniment, and naturally mp+pp=p, for intonation, listen with your fingers. He also discussed harmonic rhythm, a mapping tool for levels of intensity in notes, finger exercises and Russian crescendos. This was an engaging and insightful workshop and Graham offered many hints which are sure to appeal to students when helping to develop their expressive playing.
Finally there was a summing up of the day by Lorraine and Frances, with time for general discussion and an informal performance opportunity. Topics for future workshops were considered and based on this day I strongly encourage teachers to attend these.
All in all the day was well organised. There was a good variety of sessions, the venue was well chosen and I felt the size and scale of the event gave it the huge advantage of feeling organic. Meaning all sessions were free to unfold in a natural way and there was time to deal with any questions or issues which were raised, and points of interest. I spoke to many colleague during the day and the feedback was all positive with everyone commenting that it was enjoyable and useful.
Lorraine invited me to attend this workshop, with my series of Piano Practice Workbooks. I had many opportunities throughout the day to talk to teachers on the important issue of practice. The books received many favourable comments, “very impressive, beautifully laid out, this is very useful, I like this message, great idea I will put that into practice right away, I like the extra sections it is great to have all this in one book, this sits open nicely on the music desk, it is so colourful and appealing, and, this is the best practice notebook I have seen.”
Roberta Wolff LRSM, ATCL
Pianist, Teacher and Author of Music, Me, Piano Practice Notebooks
