A performance of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, as played by a young American in Moscow in 1958, has never been forgotten in the former Soviet Union.

The pianist, Van Cliburn, who died at the age of 78 on February 27 in Texas, was competing at the time in the first-ever International Tchaikovsky Competition.

Just 23 years old, he was a long-shot entry. But right from the start it became clear that despite the great divide between Soviet citizens and Americans, something special was happening.

By the time the competition was drawing to a close, Cliburn was the audience favorite, not just in Moscow but across the Soviet Union, as the event was broadcast on state radio. When the judges announced Cliburn had won, music lovers celebrated openly, despite the official chill in Soviet-U.S. relations.

#tchaikovsky #performing #concerto #VanCliburn #competition #TchaikovskyCompetition #war

In 1942 piano teacher Harold Rhodes, then in the US Army Air Corps, developed a miniature piano for hospitalised soldiers to play. It was made from bits of old planes and became known as the “Xylette” or “Air Corps Piano”.

Some years later (1959) Rhodes and Clarence “Leo” Fender (of electric guitar fame) set up a joint venture to produce an amplified version of this wartime instrument. It now used vibrating metal rods (or tines) as the sound source and eventually evolved into the now legendary Fender Rhodes electric piano.

#HaroldRhodes #xylette

When Lang Lang was nine, his father told him to kill himself. Four years before, his father had decided that his only son should become the No 1 classical pianist in China. He gave up his job as a policeman and took his son to live in Beijing, leaving Lang Lang’s mother behind, planning to get the child into the prestigious Central Conservatory of Music.

However, his teacher in Beijing, nicknamed Professor Angry by Lang Lang, had other ideas. “Professor Angry didn’t like me and she always gave me a hard time,” he remembers. “One afternoon she said that I had no talent, that I shouldn’t play the piano and I should go home. She basically fired me before I could even get into the conservatory!”

#langlang #conservatory #biography #beijing #learning

“It inspires you, it grows your imagination, it nourishes you in places that go beneath words and beneath pictures and images… it’s something that kind of polishes your soul.”

In his first book, the harrowing memoir Instrumental, the concert pianist James Rhodes made clear the role that music played in saving his life.

For his second book, How to Play the Piano, Rhodes decided to pass on a short-cut to his readers; creating a guide that would enable anyone – whether they had learned the instrument before or not – to play a well-known Bach prelude in six weeks. “It’s deceptively simple, and there are so many ways you can play it,” he enthuses of the piece.

#JamesRhodes #methodology #learning #bach #prelude #memoir #book

Jarrod Radnich performs his arrangement of a three-movement fantasy suite of music from the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN hit movie series and as featured at Disneyland! This new work is part of Jarrod's Virtuosic Piano Solo Series, with three distinct stand-a-lone movements ending with... well, see for yourself!

#JarrodRadnich #disney #pirates #cover #movie #theme #PiratesOfTheCaribbean

The making of a Steinway piano is a time-honored process involving the hands of many skilled craftspeople over the course of almost a full year. Steinway & Sons pianos are built in just two factories worldwide - one in Astoria, NY and one in Hamburg, Germany.

#Steinway #MakingOf #BuyPiano #tour #build #Hamburg

Not invented by, but rather named for Domenico Alberti, who used this device extensively in his own keyboard sonatas, the Alberti Bass is a moving figure in the bass or left hand of keyboard music, derived from a three-note chord. It is particularly common in the piano sonatas of Haydn, Mozart, Clementi, Beethoven and Schubert where one can find numerous examples of its use.

For the pianist, the challenge in playing an Alberti Bass effectively is to create a dynamic accompaniment which sounds natural and fluid, and which also confirms the intended harmonic effect. Physically, a soft mobile wrist with some lateral rotary movement which prevent the notes sounding dry and monotonous.

#AlbertiBass #DomenicoAlberti #teacher #method #technique

Everyone who has ever stop pursuing a dream after finding it impossible should watch this Russian teenager born without hands giving a piano masterclass.

Alexey Romanov, 15, learned how to play “River Flows In You” by South Korean pianist Yiruma despite having no fingers with which to tinkle the ivories.

Romanov taught himself by listening to how the chords sounded, before performing a concert with the Kazan Chamber Orchestra La Primavera and stunning the conductor.

#AlexeyRomanov #SpecialNeeds #inspiring #yiruma #LaPrimavera #amazing #KazanChamberOrchestra

How many pianos does Steinway produces in a year?

? Making of a Steinway in 3 mins!

Making a Steinway is a time-honoured process and somethings are better when made by hand.

#steinway #BuyPiano #teacher #parent #SteinwayGallerySingapore

“Story-telling is not only essential in music-making - it’s essential for humanity; it’s essential for evolution.”

The 2019 Performers(‘) Present symposium, themed Telling Stories, saw the sharing of a rich spectrum of knowledge and experiences in musical and artistic practice. Over the course of four days, the symposium community (with individuals representing over 20 nationalities) explored issues and ways forward for what we do as musicians, artist-researchers and institutions in the 21st century.

A huge thank you to our ConNext, Orchestral Institute of Asia and other partner institutions; participants; as well as all who made the symposium possible.

Hear from key symposium speakers and relive what went on!

#yst #ystmusic #ystconservatory #nationaluniversityofsingapore #InspiredByConNext #OrchInstituteAsia