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Ornaments and Fingering (Recording)

Price range: $80.00 through $150.00

  • Loo Bang Hean
  • 6 x 60-min sessions
  • Completed

Description

In this course, Bang Hean discusses two essential topics when it comes to piano playing – ornaments, and fingering.

In the first part, he explores the various issues when dealing with ornamentation, addressing commonly asked questions such as, ‘do I play this on or before the beat?’, ‘begin the trill on the upper or principal notes?’, ‘how many notes do I play in this trill?’, ‘ can we vary the speed of ornaments’ etc. There will also be discussion on stylistic matters as well as the techniques involved.

In the second part, the course focuses on fingering, and how fingering choices can solve technical challenges as well as enhance the musical effect of a passage. Aspects to be discussed will include stylistic matters, various composers’ preferences and principles, the expressive qualities of individual fingers, solving technical issues via effective fingering etc.

Musical examples will be provided, and they would be drawn from standard piano repertoire as well as selections from current exam pieces. Some examples from the current Grade 8 exam syllabus will be examined in depth.

Instructor

Since his return to Malaysia after studying at the Royal College of Music, London under an ABRSM scholarship as well as postgraduate studies in Italy, Bang Hean has made regular appearances in solo recitals, chamber concerts as well as concerto performances. He has appeared in most major concert venues in Malaysia and has been featured as a soloist with various local orchestras, the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO). An active chamber musician, he collaborates frequently with various instrumentalists and vocalists, and is a frequent guest pianist at the MPO chamber concert series. Bang Hean has performed abroad in countries such as England, Italy, Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Cambodia and Korea. Bang Hean has frequently been invited to adjudicate, examine, and conduct masterclasses and in various countries. A frequent presenter for ABRSM, he has presented seminars around South East Asia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and China, India and the Middle East.

Outline

There will be two parts to the course:

Part 1 (weeks 1 to 3) deals with matters of ornaments including:

  1. Functions of ornaments
  2. Stylistic issues
  3. Technique
  4. Musical context in ornament realizations

Part 2 (weeks 4 to 6) discusses the use of effective fingerings including:

  1. The importance of fingering
  2. Principles of fingering
  3. Chopin and Debussy’s views on fingering
  4. Baroque fingering
  5. Making use of the individual characteristics of each finger
  6. When to break rules

Teachers are welcome to bring excerpts from pieces they are working on or teaching for discussion.

Some of the repertoire discussed include:

  1. Scarlatti – Sonatas: K.208 (Gr 6, ARSM); K.380 (Gr 7)
  2. Bach – French Suite no.5 in G, BWV; Toccata in E min, BWV 914 (ARSM, ATCL)
  3. Mozart – Sonatas: K.311 (Gr 8, ARSM, ATCL); K.309 (Gr 8, ARSM, ATCL); K332 (Gr 8, ATCL)
  4. Haydn – Sonatas: Hob.XVI/46 (ARSM, ATCL); Hob.XVI/49 (ARSM, ATCL); Hob.XVI/50 (LRSM, LTCL); Hob.XVI/52 (LRSM, LTCL)
  5. Beethoven – Sonatas: Op.10 no.1 (ARSM, ATCL); Op.13 (ARSM, ATCL)
  6. Chopin – Nocturnes Op.9 (ATCL); Op.27 no.2 (LTCL);
  7. Debussy – Arabesque no.2 (Gr.8)
  8. Albéniz – Rumores de la Caleta (Gr.8)

Related Course

FAQS

Each course has a planned start date, which may shift slightly depending on participant sign-ups. We will confirm the final schedule with all registered participants once enrollment is finalized.

Yes, they will be made available for participants until 6 months after the completion of each course.

E-certificates will be issued on course completion to Active Participants.

Active Participants will be involved in class participation: interacting with course instructors, receiving feedback on class assignments/submissions, and they will have playing opportunities in class etc. Observers will be observing these segments of the class.

Active Participants will receive an E-certificate of participation, and Observers will receive a certificate of attendance.

5 days before the course commences.

Yes, simply get your friends together and send us an email to request for a second round of the course! If we receive sufficient signups we will repeat the course.

We do not conduct make-up classes. Learners who miss a session can catch up on the class content by watching the session recording thereafter. If there are any class assignments, learners are to contact the instructor directly.

We at the Academy do our utmost to make courses proceed as planned. However, there are times when unforeseen circumstances force a class to be cancelled. When this happens, we are committed to refunding the total amount, in an efficient manner, including any costs of using third-party payment gateways.

Should a participant need to cancel, we will make efforts to accommodate refunds, though costs of using third-party payment gateways will be borne by the participant.

Late cancellations may not be able to be refunded, as they will have been factored into the confirmation of running the course. We will provide a full refund for cancellations up to 2 weeks before the start of a course, following this a 50% refund with up to 1 week of notice. Notifications of fewer than 7 days will most likely not be eligible for a refund. We thank you for your understanding.