Beyond the Notes: Exploring Harmony, Structure & Style – WAITING LIST
Beyond the Notes: Exploring Harmony, Structure & Style is a weekend designed to transform how you hear, understand, and interpret the music you play. Through a mix of hands-on sessions and guided exploration, you’ll gain practical tools for decoding harmony, recognising structural patterns, and shaping musical texture with clarity and confidence. Ideal for upper intermediate to advanced pianists looking to deepen their interpretative insight, this course will leave you with fresh ways of thinking, sharper analytical ears, and a more personal connection to your repertoire.
This course, run by Finchcocks Musical Director David Hall, is ideal for anybody who wants to go beyond grade 5 theory to further develop their keyboard skills.
David Hall, author of There’s more to playing the piano… (now stocked by Waterstones) was recently described by the Sunday Times when they joined us on a Finchcocks piano course, as a “musical powerhouse”. You might have seen some of the videos he created for Finchcocks to help pianists during the UK’s first lockdown. His teaching style is packed full of creative ideas and encouraging – with a gentle with a twist of humour!
This is him in action at one of our Saturday evening recitals, put on for course guests in the main hall of Finchcocks. On this course, David will perform two of three some of the very most famous pieces in the piano repertoire with detailed theory analysis beforehand!
Workshops will include:
Explore how texture, articulation, and stylistic choices shape the sound world of a piece. From the clarity of Baroque counterpoint to the lushness of Romantic voicing, this session will help you develop a more nuanced and expressive approach to performance.
During the course, guests are welcome to try out each of our nine grand pianos in the vaulted cellars – to help put into practice what has been discussed in the group sessions.
Guests will also:
- Have the chance to take part in and observe four interactive worshops.
- Receive one-to-one input from tutor David during circulation in the free practice sessions.
- Enjoy access to play on our 9 grand pianos anytime between 7am and 8pm. (There are enough pianos to go round that everyone can play a piano at any given time.)
- Enjoy a private recital for course guests on Saturday evening in the main hall of Finchcocks.
- Join and socialise with a group 8 fellow piano enthusiasts during lunch and dinner.
- Dine in style with lunches and three course dinners prepared by our fabulous chef.
- Experience the Finchcocks bubble, hailed as a “paradise for pianists” by BBC Music Magazine and stay in a grade 1 listed country manor.
Plus ones are very welcome on our courses, with a room surcharge dependant on whether they are a playing or non-playing guest. Please ask for further details.
For booking enquiries or to see if this course is suitable for you, please contact Jenny by filling in the form below.
Weekend courses
from £700 (inclusive of accommodation, food, wine and tuition)
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