Workshops How Did They Teach? Ideas from the past about Keyboard Instruction
How did Bach teach his many children? Do we know how Mozart taught Hummel? Did Beethoven like the way Czerny taught his (Beethoven's) nephew, Carl? Was Clara Schumann's father a good piano teacher? What sort of teacher was Chopin? This workshop will present what we know about how the famous keyboard artists and composers of the past taught, complete with musical examples played on harpsichord and piano.
Turns, Shakes, and Backfalls
A presentation of the history of keyboard ornamentation from very early sources through the eighteenth century, with attention to the differences between the Renaissance and Baroque practices and between French and Italian styles, followed by a discussion of practical ornamentation problems.
The Influence of the Dance in Baroque Music
A presentation of the most common dance rhythms, analyzing their rhythmic structure, demonstrated in music performed on harpsichord and/or organ, utilizing fingering and other aspects of the technique of this period.
Le bon goût
How to achieve a lively and authentic performance of French classic music, including matters of registration, articulation, ornamentation and particularly the dance rhythms, utilizing quotations from both the harpsichord and organ treatises of the period.
How Did Bach Play?
A discussion of the known material on J. S. Bach's keyboard technique, with particular emphasis on the pieces with original fingering and the material on his hand position and approach to the keyboard, with application to his most popular works.
What's New Is What's Old in Keyboard Technique
A survey of the important schools of keyboard playing up to and including that of J. S. Bach, with demonstrations on organ and harpsichord of hand position, touch, articulation, fingering, and special means of expression.
The Challenge of Today's Music
Performance problems particular to twentieth century music giving special attention to rhythmic complexities, such as mixed meters, poly-rhythms, and graphic notation, with examples from appropriate pieces.
Franck on American Organs
A brief biography of César Franck followed by a discussion of the performance problems in his music, with particular emphasis on how to interpret his registrations for the Cavaillé-Coll organ on American instruments.
Louis Vierne: the Man and His Music
The fascinating and tragic life story of Vierne, including a discussion of the performance problems in his music as well as that of his teachers Franck, Widor, and Guilmant, his colleague Tournemire and his students Dupré and Duruflé.
Piano Technique at the Organ
A survey of the development of the piano and its impact on organ playing and composition in the nineteenth century with a discussion of the works of Mendelssohn, Liszt, Brahms, Franck and others.
The Eight Short Preludes and Fugues BWV 553-560
Eighteenth-century performance practice with particular emphasis on touch and articulation as it affects the rhythmic life of the music as described in Dr. Soderlund's edition of the works, published by Wayne Leupold Editions.
For more information contact ssoderl@mills.edu.