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Beethoven 2027
with Sarah Beth Briggs
In this important year for one of the greatest ever composers of piano literature (200 years since his death) this course aims to explore both his best known and loved repertoire and hopefully some of the less frequently performed, but superbly crafted compositions.
I would suggest that participants bring 10 – 15 mins of music in all. This may be two movements from contrasting sonatas, a set of variations, a group of bagatelles – most importantly, something you really love playing.
My primary teaching aim is to enable each of you to develop your skill set allowing you to express your own musical personalities while always understanding that the composer’s wishes should be central to all musical performance. The score is always the starting point for all discussion (it’s too easy with access to huge numbers of recordings online to base interpretations on performances by others!)
My training has naturally informed the way that I teach and my two main teachers had very different styles.
Denis Matthews’ teaching was revelatory, with significant focus on music outside the piano repertoire. He helped me to understand that in order to be a fine pianist, one needed an appreciation and understanding of a whole variety of music from string quartets to opera. A deep stylistic awareness was at the heart of his teaching, particularly in baroque and classical repertoire, and we spent time working on immaculate phrasing (often facilitated by thinking in terms of vocal lines) achieving a vast range of different textures (frequently imitating orchestral instruments) and clarity of pedalling. Much of his teaching included fascinating cross referencing. Arrau pupil, Edith Fischer, brought different qualities: a real attention to beauty of sound and how to build chords from the bass; how to achieve a fine legato, paying special attention to the transfer of sound and weight from one note to another, and many other technical ‘tricks’ that have proved invaluable in my playing career. Much of my own teaching centres around these important points.
I am deeply committed to trying to uncover as much as possible about how the composer intended his/her music to be played, so prefer Urtexts as a starting point. (Editors adding phrase marks/dynamics etc which are often incorrect can prove very unhelpful).
As a great advocate of the modern grand piano and the depth and variety of sound that can be produced from it, we’ll work on the subtleties of sound from the smallest pp to the weightiest ff and learning how best to use the body as well as the fingers to create these contrasts. All this is central both to my own playing and to my work with students.
I see myself as a ‘performer teacher’ who has learnt much of what I can valuably pass on by ‘doing’, and feel that aspiring performers can get a particular benefit from learning from teachers who are regularly performing themselves.
Most importantly, music making should be something enjoyable and even fun – I encourage people to laugh in my concerts (at appropriate moments) so I hope we’ll have many a giggle along the way!
