The Pianist's Guide to Practical Scales and Arpeggios: As They Occur in Pieces You Want to Play

The Pianist's Guide to Practical Scales and Arpeggios: As They Occur in Pieces You Want to Play - Paperback

$33.68
$33.68
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The Pianist's Guide to Practical Scales and Arpeggios: As They Occur in Pieces You Want to Play
  • The Pianist's Guide to Practical Scales and Arpeggios: As They Occur in Pieces You Want to Play
The Pianist's Guide to Practical Scales and Arpeggios: As They Occur in Pieces You Want to Play - Paperback

The Pianist's Guide to Practical Scales and Arpeggios: As They Occur in Pieces You Want to Play - Paperback

by Neil Stannard
$33.68
$33.68

Book Overview

Rarely do scales and arpeggios occur in music the way we learn them in books, that is, until now in this book. When we encounter a scale or an arpeggio in a piece of music, we should be prepared to first notice that it is a scale or arpeggio, or part thereof, and consider it on its own terms. Does a particular routined fingering work here? How can we efficiently negotiate its twists and turns? I promise you the scale in your piece will not proceed innocently from G to shining G with a prescribed fingering and no detours. At least, not very often.But, really I hear you ask, are scales and arpeggios a necessary part of our pianistic diet? Well, yes and no. We need to understand the topography of the keyboard and elementary keyboard harmony in order to navigate the keyboard's shoals and depths. Since we propel our hands laterally up and down the keyboard by means of certain navigational tools, of which the thumb is one, how when and where to activate the thumb has always been and remains a primary issue. So a clear feel for the relationships of white to black keys and the appropriate digits for depressing them is essential. Learn the patterns. But do we really need to drill these learned patterns on a daily basis as, for example, in a technical exercise? Once learned and worked-in to the point of being automatic, it is no longer necessary or even desirable to repeat them in their root positions for the purpose of gaining finger "strength" or "agility" or "independence." (If you find this notion intriguing, have a look at Piano Technique Demystified: Insights into Problem Solving, 2nd Edition.") So instead of blindly drilling scales hands together, in rhythms and with varying articulations-or whatever devices we have heard about since childhood-why not practice them as they appear in the music? Here you will find nearly 800 such examples, just waiting to be explored.
ISBN9781503344730
Author Neil Stannard
PublisherCreatespace Independent Publishing Platform
GenreYoung adult
FormatPaperback
PublishedMarch 2015
LanguageENG- English
Pages318
Weight1.0 lb
Target AudienceAdults
Print SizeStandard Print

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About Neil Stannard

Unlike life, playing the piano is easy and doesn't hurt. This mantra has carried Neil Stannard through what might seem to others like several lifetimes-performing as a collaborative pianist, soloist, symphony bassist and, through it all, a dedicated teacher. He took part in the first Taubman Institute at Rensselaerville, NY, and though he does not represent the Institute, he has participated in many more at Amherst, studying privately in New York with Edna Golandsky for many years. He has performed internationally with such artists as David Shifrin, Hermann Baumann, Leona Mitchell, Eugenia Zukerman, Clamma Dale and Christiane Edinger in venues from London to Moscow, including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the White house, Vienna's Muiskverein, Berlin's Hocshschule and Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow. He has taken part in the Great Performers at Lincoln Center series, the Berlin Festival, the Vienna Festival, Tage Neue Musik, Marlboro and the New Port Festival. And yes, he has taught continuously through all that. After graduating cum laude from the University of Southern California, a scholarship student of Muriel Kerr, John Crown and Jacob Gimpel, he received a Naumberg scholarship for double bass to the Juilliard School (MS), during which time he performed in the American Symphony with Leopold Stokowski and in the Marlboro Festival Orchestra with Pablo Casals (Columbia Records). It was during this time that he made his New York recital debut at Carnegie Recital Hall as a pianist with violinist Christiane Edinger. Later, he studied piano on a German government grant with Gerhard Puchelt in Berlin, completed a doctorate in piano at the University of Arizona with Nicholas Zumbro and for 13 years taught graduate and under graduate piano at the University of Texas at El Paso, where he was a tenured professor. He now lives and teaches in Los Angeles, where he writes, paints, captures life in photos, plays the cello and, oh yes, still plays the piano with abandon.

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