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Creative Health for Pianists is a practical method book with an innovative approach for musicians of all abilities. Author Pedro de Alcantara invites the pianist-reader to adopt the frame of mind of an improviser and composer, exploring the secrets of music from inside out. The book presents, explains, and develops original exercises and compositions suitable for beginners and accomplished pianists alike.
Creative Health for Pianists is supported by a dedicated companion website with 48 pedagogical video clips.
List of contents
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1. Dialogue
- 2. Heartbreak
- 3. Seesaw
- 4. Celeste
- 5. The Circle
- 6. Gesture
- 7. Advanced Seesaw
- 8. Sonic Play
- 9. Horn Call
- 10. Mudra
- Conclusion
- Appendix: Practicing the Circle of Fifths
- Resources
About the author
Pedro de Alcantara is a musician, writer, and teacher. He is the author of The Integrated String Player: Embodied Vibration; Integrated Practice: Coordination, Rhythm & Sound; and Indirect Procedures: A Musician's Guide to the Alexander Technique, all published by Oxford University Press. He is Visiting Professor at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow, and travels the world leading workshops intertwining creativity and health.
Summary
Creative Health for Pianists: Concepts, Exercises & Compositions is a practical method book for musicians of all abilities. It provides a new way of thinking about the piano, emphasizing the pianist-reader's innate capacity to respond creatively to a musical and technical stimulus. Author and veteran educator Pedro de Alcantara suggests that every pianist, from a complete beginner to a concert artist, may approach the instrument with the frame of mind of an improviser and composer, in which curiosity, inventiveness, and technical skills are inseparable.
Throughout the book, original music snippets that encapsulate one or more aspects of piano playing are presented and explained, then developed through tweaks, variations, and compositions of increasing complexity. Every chapter contains variations suited to a complete beginner, as well as musical challenges that will capture the imagination of advanced players. Most chapters contain improvisational prompts and games with step-by-step rules, leading to the development of new creative skills combining musical depth and technical intelligence. Creative Health for Pianists is supported by a dedicated companion website with 48 pedagogical video clips.
Additional text
Pedro de Alcantara's Creative Health for Pianists presents fundamental musical concepts, using imaginative pedagogical tools with clarity, humor, real-life examples, and boundless creativity. His progression from archetype to variation/improvisation to composition, which underlies each chapter, develops the pianist's creative potential, linking mind, soul, ear, and hand. In the course of the book, the reader absorbs new material through the act of fearless creation and the freedom to curate their own, unique learning experience. A highly recommended text!
