Denis Zhdanov is a concert pianist, a winner of several international competitions, and a passionate piano teacher.
The principal aspects of his teaching approach are:
- Piano physiology and tension-free playing
- Stylistic guidance and advice
- Creative aspects of interpretation, developing musicality, touch
- Optimisation of learning strategies in accordance with scientific data and newest researches.
As a concert pianist, who once faced serious physical health problems caused by a massive muscle overuse, I had a perfect chance to develop, test, and apply findings about efficiency and safety of piano playing. This painful experience turned out to be the most beneficial one for both, my performing and especially teaching activities, because it provoked me to deeply analyze and restructure my entire technique, study the physiology of piano playing, develop new practicing ways, and get the necessary knowledge and experience in order to recognize the root of any technical issue and be able to find an efficient way to solve it.
Such a technique optimization approach includes various aspects:
- understanding how to use the whole arm and body as a unit
- applying the weight of the arm accordingly in order to reduce the tension and avoid working with isolated fingers
- motion coordination of the body parts in order to resolve difficulties
- adjusting the hand posture
- understanding how the efficiency of physical motion can benefit musical expressivity
Of course, music is not just about technique. We need a proper technique not per se, but in order to express ourselves freely through the language of music.
Apart of providing students with clear instructions, my task is to introduce them to the joyful experience of embodiment of the creative ideas into musical sounds.
Each piece is a captivating story or a journey.
Hi, I’m your piano instructor
On this website you will find comprehensive tutorials dedicated to particular pieces, and video lessons on the most important topics about piano technique.
MY TEACHING EXPERIENCE:
2021 - 2022 Arts University Graz, Austria,
Senior Piano Lecturer, Course for Highly Gifted Students
2020 Hochschule Luzern-Musik, Switzerland
Teaching Assistant, Studio of Konstantin Lifschitz
2009 - present private lessons to students of all ages and piano skills level from all around the globe, in-person and online.
MY MUSIC EDUCATION DEGREES
(yep that's a long list, and I still continue to master new skills daily)
2017-2020 Hochschule Luzern-Musik, Switzerland,
Master of Arts in Music, Major Solo Performance with K. Lifschitz
2015-2017 Hochschule Luzern-Musik, Switzerland,
Master of Arts in Music, Major Performance Klassik with K. Lifschitz
2014-2015 Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, UK
Artist Diploma in Solo Performance with G. Scott
2011-2015 Scuola di Musica Fiesole Italy,
Corso di Perfezionamento with E. Virsaladze
2009-2013 Imola Piano Academy Italy,
Corso di Perfezionamento with L. Margarius
2007-2012 National Music Academy of Ukraine,
Bachelor/Master of Arts in Music with B. Fedorov
2004-2007 Kyiv Lysenko Special Music School, Ukraine, with T.Abayeva