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4 Star 30 piece challenge accompanying analysis award CNCM covid-19 duet ear training exam festival group class harmony history injury keyboard harmony keyboardist keyboard player Kiwanis Music Festival master class memorization motivation NAC online lessons Ontario Registered Music Teachers' Association ORMTA Ottawa pandemic pedagogy performance piano planning practising program notes RCM recital repertoire Royal Conservatory of Music rudiments scholarship sight reading technique theory University of Ottawa whiteboard
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2017 Kiwanis Music Festival
We are into the fifth and final week of the Ottawa Kiwanis Music Festival. For the month of April in locations across Ottawa, performers of many different musical disciplines – piano, voice, woodwinds, brass, strings, and more! – have been turning in great performances. The festival is a chance to gain performing experience and receive…
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Peter and the Wolf
The Royal Conservatory of Music recently released new theory books for each of their piano levels. They correlate and support the skills students are learning in sight, ear, repertoire, and technique. And now, each level contains guided listening assignments and music history. At a recent group performance class I presented Peter and the Wolf by…
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Season Stats
I have been teaching piano for 20 years, and this past season was my biggest ever. Some highlights: the season launched with 37 students studying piano (beginner to grade 10), rudiments, keyboard harmony, and history my Intermediate Keyboard Harmony student won an ORMTA-Ottawa Scholarship for highest mark our secret partner duet project for group class…
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Inside the Music
On Sunday, April 7, 2013, the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra is hosting a variety of FREE activities. At 2:30 pm, the OSO will hold an open rehearsal for the following night’s concert, A Russian Celebration. At 4 pm, there is a musical show-and-tell in the NAC lobby, where you can learn about some of the instruments you saw. Light…
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Pssst…have I got a deal for you
Did you know that the National Arts Centre has a program called Live Rush™ that allows students to buy last-minute tickets to most NAC Dance, Theatre and Music performances for only $12. Students can purchase up to two tickets online or in person from 10 am the day before right up until 6 pm on the day of…
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Everything Old is New Again
Johann Sebastian Bach’s two volumes of the Well-Tempered Clavier have sometimes been called the pianist’s Old Testament. They are excellent examples of Bach’s amazing ability to write in contrapuntal style. As such, they remain an important part of teaching repertoire. Timeless, really. Equal temperament tuning had just been “invented” in Bach’s time (1685-1750), and our…
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An Evening in Grenada
Ah yes, a trip to sunny Spain was just what I needed at this time of year. And I was there for a moment. On Sunday afternoon I attended a master class at the University of Ottawa School of Music in collaboration with the Ottawa Branch of the Ontario Registered Music Teachers’ Association. La soirée dans…
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O Canada
If you visit Parliament Hill around mid-day during the week, you will hear the Peace Tower Carillon ringing. This large instrument of tower bells is played approximately 200 days a year by the Dominion Carillonneur. From September to June each year, the carillonneur performs from noon to 12:15, playing a different programme each day. In July and…
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Listen Up!
The hallmark of a good pianist is the beautiful tone they create when they play. I recently attended a workshop presented by clinician and pianist Marc Durand called Technic: Understanding the relationship between the piano and how one uses the body. Marc Durand teaches at the University of Montreal and the RCM Glenn Gould School in…
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Just when you think you’ve seen it all
…something new comes along. One of the goals of entering the music festival is to gain performing confidence and experience. It’s about developing the ability that “the show must go on” no matter what. And performing live is unpredictable. Until yesterday I thought I’d seen it all: music falling off the piano, performers falling down…
