Archive for the ‘Teaching’ Category

Channel 4’s ‘The Piano’

Posted by Susan Tomes on 27 February 2023 under Daily Life, Inspirations, Teaching  •  1 Comment

I’ve been watching Channel 4’s new series, ‘The Piano’, in which amateur piano-playing members of the public put themselves forward to come and play an upright piano in the foyer of one of Britain’s main railway stations. Unknown to them, watching behind the scenes are two judges, the Chinese virtuoso Lang Lang and the singer-songwriter […]

More about Radu Lupu

Posted by Susan Tomes on 25 April 2022 under Inspirations, Musings, Teaching  •  2 Comments

A couple of readers said they’d like to hear more about Radu Lupu. I only met him a few times and didn’t know him well, but I vividly remember the impression he made. When I went for my lessons, I was probably focusing on trying to play each phrase as beautifully as I could. It […]

Remembering a lesson with the great Radu Lupu

Posted by Susan Tomes on 19 April 2022 under Concerts, Inspirations, Teaching  •  2 Comments

Very sad news today that the great pianist Radu Lupu has died. He was probably the first ‘favourite pianist’ I chose for myself rather than taking my teachers’ choices on trust. I tweeted something about having once had a couple of lessons with Radu Lupu when he was living in London. In response, American pianist […]

Piano Power

Posted by Susan Tomes on 24 August 2021 under Daily Life, Musings, Teaching  •  4 Comments

Recently I’ve heard or coached a number of amateur pianists whose playing I haven’t heard for 18 months, or before All This started. I had been afraid that everyone’s playing would have fallen apart, but actually my impression was that lockdown has enhanced rather than degraded the skills of the people I’ve been listening to. […]

Education via electronic communication

Posted by Susan Tomes on 7 June 2021 under Musings, Teaching  •  Leave a comment

As the university year draws to an end, some of my friends who teach at universities have been reflecting sadly on the experience of doing their job online for an entire year. Many of them did all their teaching without ever meeting their students in person. Everything was done by Zoom and the like. Poor […]