Exploring creative approaches to performance practice with Pam Wedgwood, Andrew Higgins and Roy Howat
A day in the life of a piano teacher is a diverse one, unlocking the potential of students at all levels and helping them to achieve success in their performances. This day of workshops will improve your teaching skills with tips and techniques to develop stylistic playing with all students, from beginners to advanced level.
- Learn to teach a wide range of music styles with authenticity, focusing on performance practice to help your students achieve high marks in exams.
- Discover new approaches to a range of repertoire from the classics to contemporary jazz!
- Learn directly from some of the country’s leading educators, composers and pianists whilst exploring new techniques and repertoire.
- A wide range of publications from Faber Music, Alfred Music and Edition Peters will be available to browse during the day. Start putting the ideas into practice straight away with some new material – choose one title from each publisher to take away with you as part of the course fee.
Throughout the day you will have the opportunity to network with fellow teachers, discussing ideas and sharing best practice. Toast to new friendships and new skills over a glass of wine at the end of the day as you listen to a short recital by internationally renowned pianist Daniel Grimwood.
Date and venue:
Saturday 24th May 2014, 09:30-16:15
Faber Music Event Space, Bloomsbury House 74-77 Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DA
Convenient Central London location in the heart of Bloomsbury next to the British Museum
Timetable:
09:30 Welcome/coffee
10:00 Session 1: Pam Wedgwood (Faber Music) demonstrates how you can transform your teaching methods to develop the rounded musician, ensure stylistic playing - and make the learning process fun! Pam talks about teaching the early stages of learning the piano and focuses on accessible repertoire for beginners. She also looks at and developing the character of different musical styles, especially using her own toe-tapping, irresistible compositions as a springboard to performing jazz and pop repertoire.
11:15 Break
11:30 Session 2: Andrew Higgins (Alfred Music) suggests how standard lesson book and classical repertoire can be exploited to produce a more personal approach to learning. How accepting the written text as a springboard for the exploration of musical concepts - a means rather than an end - and applying these ideas away from the score, can lead to more expressive and unique performances, as well as providing a gateway to composition and improvisation.
12:45 Lunch (provided)
14:00 Session 3: A fascinating ‘before and after’ session with Roy Howat (Edition Peters), featuring music by Chopin, Ravel, Fauré and Debussy. With his immediately engaging, erudite, witty and informative style, Roy Howat will illustrate the sometimes revelatory impact of editorial and source research on performing the music of these great composers.
15:30 Short recital by internationally renowned pianist Daniel Grimwood (refreshments provided)
16:15 Close
Cost:
Introductory ‘early bird’ price £25 (including VAT) if you book by Friday 2nd May. Normal price £30. Includes refreshments for the day and three complimentary publications from the host publishers.
Booking:
Click here to download the booking form and return this with your payment to the address provided. If you have any further questions about the course, please email academy@fabermusic.com. Spaces are limited so book early to avoid disappointment. Please note that places will not be confirmed until payment has been received.
Small print: Faber Music reserves the right to cancel this event if there is insufficient take-up. Notice will be given by Monday 12th May. Please note that no compensation will be given for transport costs booked before this date.
About the presenters:
Pam Wedgwood
Pam Wedgwood is recognised around the world as one of the UK’s most prolific and successful composers of popular repertoire. She has over 200 publications with Faber Music, including the best-selling Jazzin’ About, Up-Grade! and After Hours instrumental series, the Recorder World method and best-selling method It’s Never Too Late to Play Piano. Pam's latest series, Piano Basics, pulls all her teaching experience and music together in her own tutor. Pam has inspired teachers in many workshops in the UK and overseas.
Andrew Higgins
After studying piano at the London College of Music, Andrew Higgins graduated from the University of Surrey, specializing in Composition and Performance with musicology. Andrew spent 15 formative years touring the world as a session musician and music producer in the 1980s and, with several albums behind him at that point, decided to devote more time to composition and to teaching the piano. Several of his piano students have since gone on to study at specialized Music Schools or at university level and one of his former students is now a concert pianist in his own right. Andrew now works extensively with Alfred Publishing in the UK and Europe, promoting their ideals of musicianship through workshops and lectures, and meeting with teachers, performers and their students to discuss piano teaching techniques.
Roy Howat
Roy Howat is internationally known as both scholar and pianist. His teachers included Vlado Perlemuter, who worked closely with Fauré and Ravel, and Jacques Février, who worked closely with Ravel and Poulenc. His largest editorial initiative is the highly-acclaimed Edition Peters series of Fauré piano and chamber music, now extending (in co-edition with Emily Kilpatrick) to cover Fauré’s complete songs and vocalises. Roy is also one of the co-founding editors of the Paris-based New Complete Debussy Edition, and co-translator and editor of the English edition of Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger’s classic text, Chopin, Pianist and Teacher. Concerts, lectures and masterclasses regularly take him around the world, and he currently holds the posts of Keyboard Research Fellow at the Royal Academy of Music and Research Fellow at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Daniel Grimwood
“He has all the virtuoso velocity and firepower, and then some”
(BBC Music Magazine)
Daniel Grimwood is one of the most original musicians of his generation. With a repertoire ranging from Elizabethan Virginal music to composers of the modern day, he is a pianist of rare versatility, whose exceptional talent is internationally renowned. He enjoys a solo and chamber career, which has taken him across the globe, performing in many of the world's most prestigious venues and festivals, including the Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Purcell Room in London, the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, Symphony Hall Birmingham, the Three Choirs Festival, the Rachmaninoff and Gnessin Halls in Moscow, the Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall in New York, as well as concert halls in Germany, Austria, Italy, The Netherlands, Slovenia, Estonia, Taiwan, Azerbaijan, Egypt and Lebanon. Although primarily a pianist, he is frequently to be found performing on harpsichord, organ, viola or composing at his desk. Grimwood is a passionate exponent of the early piano, and has given a recital of Chopin’s Etudes on the composer’s own Pleyel piano.
Daniel Grimwood is represented by Edition Peters Artist Management. For more information please visit www.danielgrimwood.co.uk
Partners:
Faber Music Academy
The Faber Music Academy gives musicians a unique opportunity to connect with, and learn from, the very best internationally renowned educationalists and composers from esteemed publishing house, Faber Music. The inspirational methods of writers such as Pam Wedgwood, Paul Harris, Lin Marsh and Dame Fanny Waterman have transformed the lives of the millions of musicians who have come in contact with them through their books, workshops and master classes. The Faber Music Academy is founded on excellence: its aim is to deliver transformative professional development – through workshops, master classes, intensive courses, and online support – that will inspire the musicians and teachers who attend, and create an international community where best practice is shared and celebrated.
Delegates of previous Faber Music Academy courses have said:
“An inspiring weekend and a wonderful opportunity to share ideas and experiences. As a self employed teacher I find it so valuable to have opportunities like this to develop my teaching. Look forward to future events!”
(Ruth Ballantyne, Musicians’ Union Hub Rep)
“I enjoyed the refreshing insights into different ways of teaching.”
(Marc Weide)
“I feel that I have been given an extra boost that will help supercharge my teaching.”
(Paul Sharp)
“I was motivated to make many changes to my teaching practice. There were loads of new ideas as well as encouragement for some things I do already.”
(Andrew Cruickshank)
Alfred Music Publishing
Alfred Music Publishing is the world’s largest educational music publisher, producing educational, reference, pop, and performance materials for teachers, students, professionals, and amateurs, spanning every musical instrument, style, and difficulty level. Alfred’s home office is located in Los Angeles with domestic branches in Miami and New York as well as centres around the world, including Australia, Germany, Singapore, and the United Kingdom.
Formed in 1994, Alfred UK initially operated from small premises near Birmingham working with local dealers and teachers to develop sales and marketing platforms for the promotion of Alfred products throughout the UK. In 2001 Alfred UK moved from Birmingham to work with Faber Music at their distribution centre in Harlow to provide a superior service for customers, leading to a sharp growth in sales activity and an expansion of Alfred’s activities in Scandinavia and Europe. Alfred UK comprises four hand-picked, tightly knit professionals delivering exceptionally high standards for the music industry.
Edition Peters
The classic Edition Peters brand, with its iconic green-border covers, has been synonymous with the very best classical music since it was introduced in 1867. This ground-breaking series revolutionized the music market, introducing practical editions at affordable prices and, since then, has developed into a comprehensive collection spanning the complete history of Western music. Recent additions to the piano catalogue include landmark Urtext editions of Chopin, Ravel and Fauré, produced in collaboration with many of the world’s leading musicologists.