How can we help our piano students play their Baroque pieces expressively? What can we do to help form an emotional connection between our students and their music of the 17th and 18th centuries?

Articulation is one of my favorite ways to explore creativity in the works of Johann Sebastian Bach and his contemporaries. But, given that most of the music for keyboard from that time has no slurs or other articulation markings, how can pianists decide what to do?

Below are my “Rules of Thumb.” They are not actual rules, but should be considered guidelines to help students try various options and explore possibilities. I had the opportunity to record a session for the ISMTA Virtual Conference, which was uploaded this week, to explain…

I’m going to come right out and say it: I don’t usually read blogs. (Podcasts are my jam!) So it seems like an exercise in navel gazing to start my own.

However, the pandemic and other life circumstances in the year 2020 have forced many hours of pondering upon me. And one thing is clear: I would love for my teaching to have more reach and influence than it currently does.

So, with conflicting emotions and far too many ideas swirling in my brain, I shall now proceed to start my blog in the manner that I always knew I would begin such a project: discussing the phrase

TEACH JACK LATIN.

My dear professor during my undergraduate years, Dr. Karin Edwards, began our piano pedagogy class by dissecting this statement; she also used it to frame further discussions. In a pedagogy class, students learn how to Teach. Ideally, they learn best practices for communication, how to evaluate curriculum, and gain understanding of philosophies of how to pass on the tradition of performing music at our instrument.