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By Piano Addict, on May 15th, 2012  Inspired by Steven Nachmanovich’s book, Freeplay, my friend and mentor, Dr. Lisa Zdechlik talks a lot about galumphing as we learn. (you know- the playing part of playing piano) We galumph when we take a tricky passage and practice it in rhythms, or improvise on it, or create an exercise from it and transpose it all over the map.
This year, I have quite a few transfer students who have struggled with large leaps (10ths and more) in the LH while the RH is busy with intricate passagework. Waltzes, stride, and ragtime all require this skill. Advanced classical culprits include Liszt’s Waldesrauschen and Chopin’s Scherzo in C# Minor, where courage, accuracy, power, and speed are all crucial.
So, we started galumphing. First, we took the basic motion of the LH and played it randomly all over the keyboard. Accuracy was out of the equation and feel was everything. Next, we added the RH while still playing random intervals in the LH. We kept refining until the LH was again accurate.
Unfortunately, that process wasn’t always totally successful. So, we reversed it and improvised with the RH while playing the written LH. This was much harder for everyone. The task of keeping an improvised RH part galumphing along over the LH leaps resulted in the need to review the basic motion steps from the previous paragraph and a few meltdowns.
I needed to find a gateway to the skill. Something that was so basic that students could galumph with just the right amount of frustration.
(Yes, there is a right amount of frustration. Without it we don’t ask questions and grow. But, as they say, that’s another blog.)
Then, at 2:04 am, it came to me. Hanon. Here were the perfect repeated patterns under which the LH could galumph to its hearts content. We galumphed randomly using two half notes, then two quarter notes, and finally two 8ths per measure. We used octaves, then 10ths, and increased the intervals from there.
We started with the 5th finger and went upward. We started with the thumb and went downward. We kept the thumb note the same and changed the lower note and then reversed things, keeping the bass note and changing the upper one.
A great thing started to happen. Students began to create their own patterns and galumph with them. Some of them even reversed the hands. Quite a few of them found delight in getting back at Mr. Hanon. And, because they relaxed into playing with the skill their pieces got better too.
Have you galumphed today?
By Piano Addict, on May 11th, 2012
By Piano Addict, on May 8th, 2012  Well, it’s that crazy time of year again and you know what that means. Summer is almost upon us! Is reading in your plans? If so, here are some juicy pianistic treats to dive into. Do you have more books to share? Please, please do!
Midnight Arpeggios: An Illustrated Philosophy of Practicing and Music, M.J. Murphy (available for Kindle and Nook; iBook coming soon)
Mr. Langshaw’s Square Piano: The Story of the First Pianos and how they caused a Cultural Revolution, Madeline Goold
Piano Forte: The Colonial New Zealand Piano, Kristine Moffat
The Piano Lesson, August Wilson
The Secret Piano: From Mao’s Labor Camps to Bach’s Goldberg Variations, Zhu Xiao-Mei
Alice’s Piano: The Life of Alice Hertz-Sommer, Melissa Muller & Reinhard Piechocki
Memoirs of a Secret Pianist: Learning the Piano Later in Life, Robert M. Fells
for kids…
Hit the Right Note, Basher & Dan Green
Piano Piano, David Cali & Eric Heliot
Pictures at an Exhibition, Anna Harwel Celenza (also check out Rhapsody in Blue, Bach’s Goldberg Variations and more by this author)
Lulu’s Piano Lesson, Arlene Alda
My Friend the Piano, Catherine Cowan
By Piano Addict, on May 6th, 2012
By Piano Addict, on April 30th, 2012 One of my Facebook friends recently shared a few words of advice to aspiring musicians by pianist, singer, songwriter, and producer, Ben Folds. This earthy collection of thoughts struck a chord with me. Also, I find it entertaining and awesome that he wrote it while on a flight to Boston.
The advice applies to . . . → Read More: PA Shorts: Opportunity Knocks
By Piano Addict, on April 28th, 2012 In this SuiteLinks: How to drop a piano, traditionally, Goode & Zacharias at Carnegie Hall, Tracing New Zealand’s first piano, The joy of Enoch Smith, A tale of survival, and more!
MIT students observe traditional piano drop
Music making and empathy
6 year old Autistic boy a piano sensation
Clare Fischer on Piano Jazz
Finalists . . . → Read More: SuiteLinks: April 28
By Piano Addict, on April 24th, 2012 A gonga post by John Terrauds of Musical Toronto made me sit up and take notice last week. In it, he wrote about his experiences taking on a group of students for a teacher on leave. Working with these students caused him to reflect on lessons as toil, duty, and obligation through rigid adherence to . . . → Read More: Duty or Joy?
By Piano Addict, on April 20th, 2012 In this SuiteLinks: Buzz Aldrin in Recital, Pianos in the electronic age: an amusing view from 1979, Interview with George Li, Jenny Q Chai’s past and present, and more!
New Orleans’ piano from a master
Aline Bartissol: Feel the music
Nakamatsu & Manasse: The power of two
Buzz Aldrin in Recital
Piano notes for charity
. . . → Read More: SuiteLinks: April 20
By Piano Addict, on April 13th, 2012 Do pianos eat things? Some technicians I know think maybe they do. I received a great question from PA reader, Josh about quite an unusual something he and his technician found inside his piano.
I have a 1910 Jewett Upright Piano. Recently I had the keyboard pulled to repair some various felts and repair keys. . . . → Read More: PA Shorts: What Has Your Piano Eaten Lately?
By Piano Addict, on April 13th, 2012 In this SuiteLinks: Prutsman’s many hats, Two pianists on the wrong side of the law, Hearing forks drop at Le Poisson Rouge, Recreating Beethoven’s own sound, Glasnost at Carnegie Hall, Creativity & imagination from TTBK, and more!
Piano in a Factory reflects different China
Recreating Beethoven’s own sound
Michael Brown makes a strong impression
Many . . . → Read More: SuiteLinks: April 13
By Piano Addict, on April 9th, 2012 Here is the promised part two of Joy in the Mail wherein we piano addicts take a look at two more upcoming releases by artists Yuja Wang and Behzod, Abduaimov.
Fantasia: Yuja Wang
Yuja Wang literally has her wings on for this new recording—black feathery ones to be exact. Fantasia is a collection of 18 . . . → Read More: Joy In The Mail Part 2: Yuja Wang & Behzod Abduraimov
By Piano Addict, on April 7th, 2012 In this SuiteLinks: A shocking review, A Raga pianist, 17 yr. old’s invention inspired by music lessons, No apologies from Yuja Wang, Death on the bench, Mano a mano, Strong jazz fusion voice from Hiromi, All about the encore?, and more!
Pianist, 21, learns to play with LH after stroke
Book Review: the Goldberg Variations . . . → Read More: SuiteLinks: April 7
By Piano Addict, on April 3rd, 2012 Last Saturday I had the privilege of judging the piano portion of an arts competition in Northern Arizona. I heard 28 pianists play 48 pieces—everything from Cobb’s Chocolate Soldier to Chopin’s Etudes. But wait there’s more!
Not only did I write comments and choose winners (normal parts of adjudicating), I also gave each pianist a . . . → Read More: Body Parts, Chocolate, & Equality
By Piano Addict, on April 1st, 2012 In this SuiteLinks: An android Glenn Gould?, Piano music of the Holocaust, Saint-Saens’ secret revealed, Women behind Chopin, Six Shot Six String, More on the new Mozart piece, 3 pianos – 3 locations, and more
Upright symbolizes struggle for democracy
Music for 3 pianos: 21st Century style
Ullmann’s piano sonatas: music of the Holocaust
A . . . → Read More: SuiteLinks: April 1
By Piano Addict, on March 27th, 2012 The mailman brought me a bundle of great joy a couple of weeks ago, when he handed me an packet of promotional materials and CDs from Decca. Upcoming releases by Yuja Wang, Jorge Luis Prats, and Behzod Aburaimov were included and I have been treated to quite the concerts on my weekly commutes. So, here . . . → Read More: Joy In The Mail Part 1: Jorge Luis Prats, Live in Zaragoza
By Piano Addict, on March 25th, 2012 In this SuiteLinks: Ax shares the spotlight, Physician shares love for music, Newly discovered Mozart, Gerstein dances, Goldbergs remixed, Indicators for a contrapuntal economy, and more! Last week, Deceptive Cadence focused on the Goldbergs. Be sure and check out all the posts on the Goldbergs when you click on the Goldbergs remixed link below.
Yarn/Wire . . . → Read More: SuiteLinks: March 25
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Inspired by Steven Nachmanovich’s book, Freeplay, my friend and mentor, Dr. Lisa Zdechlik talks a lot about galumphing as we learn. (you know- the playing part of playing piano) We galumph when we take a tricky passage and practice it in rhythms, or improvise on it, or create an exercise from it and transpose it all over the map.
