FROM HOT CROSS BUNS TO LES ADIEUX

INGRID CLARFIELD  -  FROM HOT CROSS BUNS TO LES ADIEUX

Ingrid says in the convention book “Inspiring artistic performance should be an integral part of piano study from the first lesson. “

I stuck with the Teaching Artistry and Technique track for Pedagogy Saturday because it’s been a passion of mine for years, and I’ve presented “Teaching Artistry from the Beginning” to several Minnesota Local Teachers Associations for the past few years. I was eager to find out what Ingrid Clarfield’s stand on it was. But first, I stood in a long line at Starbucks for coffee! First things first, you know.

I walked in on the session a few minutes into it, and Ingrid was saying, “Teach artistry from the beginning stages of learning a piece, even with beginners.” She went on to demonstrate (with her LH helper Alejandro Cremaschi) from repertoire pieces, focusing on the ends of phrases. I always think of Marvin Blickenstaff saying “the last note of the phrase is the quietest.” If we could just drill that into every student and check to see they apply it to every phrase, how happy would we be with our student’s artistry? I’m convinced we need to harp on it a little more after hearing students this past judging season. Ingrid and Alejandro use many repertoire pieces to demonstrate elegant phrasing over and over.

I loved her suggestion to use the words “Big Fat Arm Circle” when the student is performing pentascales. I tried to get a picture (but was too far away) of the cute cartoon character on the screen flexing Big Biceps as she demonstrated how to play a pentascale artistically with a crescendo and decrescendo.

Some of the repertoire pieces used to demonstrate were from William Gillock, Dennis Alexander (Forest Murmurs) Brahms Opus 118, Beethoven Sonata Opus 2 No. 1, Chopin Waltz Opus 64 No. 2

VOICING   Some interesting thoughts regarding voicing:

·       Teach to voice the top not of RH (or LH) in the simplest of patterns.

·       “BURY” sections that repeat

·       When the student doesn’t even know where the melody is! (using Clementi Op. 36 RH repeating octaves)

·       They must listen to professional orchestral records to understand the sounds of orchestra instruments to be effectively color sounds and make their playing mimic orchestral sounds.

Ingrid Clarfield ended exquisitely, with “Arioso for Right Hand Alone” by Dennis Alexander from Keys to Artistic Performance Book 3. Long sigh . . .