We are excited to welcome Dr. Alejandro Cremaschi to NSMS, May 10-12. He will observe lessons and classes at NSMS and coach students. Dr. Cremaschi will also present a workshop for NSMS faculty and area piano teachers through the Frances Clark Center Residency Program. We invite you attend.
Developing a Sense of Rhythm and Timing: Latin American Repertoire
Thursday, May 11, 2023 10:30-11:30AM
Renowned piano pedagogue Abby Whiteside stated that "the term rhythm should never be used for meter and note values, but be reserved for that continuous undulating action which once started, is impelled to carry the entire musical performance to a close." A narrow understanding of rhythm as just "counting note values" often produces performances that, while "correct," are square and vertical, and lack direction and excitement.
During this presentation, I will introduce Latin American intermediate and advanced pieces that contain rhythmic and timing challenges, and I will demonstrate practical techniques to help students develop a better understanding of rhythm, timing and direction. Some of these challenges include rubato, syncopation, hemiolas, cross-rhythms, irregular rhythms and rhythmic groupings, and toccata-style rhythmic writing. The goal is to help students learn how to feel music "beyond the beats," to help them develop better rhythmic control, and more efficient and musical ways of organizing phrases based on a sense of embodied rhythmic flow and macrobeat.
Click here to register. Free for Piano Magazine subscribers, and $25 for non-subscribers. If you would like to become a subscriber and attend this and future workshops for free, click here: https://pianoinspires.com/subscribe/
Alejandro Cremaschi, born in Mendoza, Argentina, currently teaches piano and piano pedagogy at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He received a Doctorate degree in Piano Performance from the University of Minnesota, and undergraduate degrees from the University of Maryland in Baltimore and the Universidad de Cuyo in Argentina. He studied piano with Dora De Marinis, Nancy Roldan and Lydia Artymiw. His repertoire includes works from the traditional European canon, as well as works by American and Argentine composers such as George Crumb, Carlos Guastavino, Juan Jose Castro, Luis Jorge Gonzalez and Alberto Ginastera. Praised as an intelligent and sensitive pianist, he has played in numerous cities worldwide, including Buenos Aires, Guadalajara, Montreal, Pittsburgh, London, Washington, Kuala Lumpur and New York. He was a prize winner at the International Beethoven Sonata Piano Competition in Memphis, Tennessee in 2001.
Alejandro is in demand as a performer and teacher of Latin American piano music. He has presented his research on Latin American intermediate and advanced repertoire at numerous regional, national and international conferences, and has been a visiting professor at the Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, his alma mater, in Mendoza, Argentina, in the summers of 2004 and 2006. An active performer, Cremaschi regularly plays the music of his native Argentina around the world. In association with the Argentine foundation "Fundacion Ostinato" directed by Dora De Marinis, he took part in the recording of piano solo works by Carlos Guastavino and Luis Gianneo, which were released commercially by the labels IRCO and Marco Polo. He premiered the work "Argentina Fantastica" for piano and orchestra by the composer Guillermo Silveira with the National Symphony Orchestra of Argentina, and participated in the “Encuentros” Festival of Contemporary Music in Buenos Aires and the Foro de Musica Contemporanea “Manuel Enriquez” in Mexico City. He has premiered numerous solo and chamber works by the Argentine composer Luis Jorge Gonzalez, and recorded two CDs of his music for the label Meridian Records.
Dr. Cremaschi’s current pedagogical research areas include intermediate music by Argentine and Latin American composers; the influence of self-efficacy beliefs in piano students' achievement, motivation and practicing strategies; the study and implementation of cooperative learning strategies in the piano classroom; and the use of technology to aid the acquisition and training of music reading skills. He has published articles and reviews in Keyboard Companion, Clavier, The Instrumentalist, American Music Teacher, the European Piano Teachers Association Piano Journal, Journal of Technology in Music Learning, and the Piano Pedagogy Forum on-line. He has been a presenter at the Group Piano and Piano Pedagogy national conference, the National Conference in Keyboard Pedagogy, the Music Teachers National Association conferences, the College Music Society national conference, the MENC national conference, and the ISME international conference.
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