hi,
last week this amazing concert pianist called Richard Meyrick came to our school. He gave a few masterclasses in the afternoon and a concert at nigh. I got a masterclass from him and it was great! he was so interesting, and had loads of tips. The night concert was incredible! he is sooooo good - i want his hands! he started playing at the age of 10, and when he was 16 he got in to the Royal college!! I just wondered if anyone has ever heard of him, or seen him play. he is visiting loads of schools in the UK, is he coming to anyone else's school???
rachel

OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHH MY GOD!!!! HE CAME TO MY SCHOOL!!!!! Well...the girls school actually. My teacher watched the masterclass with one of her ex students in it playing the Prelude from Debussy's Pour le Piano, he said "imagine it as going into outer space" (Despite not knowing this well) and the student's performance sounded SO much better!

He did a program of
Liszt - Hungarian Rhapsody No.2
Rachmaninov - Preludes in D and E flat from Op.23
Chopin - Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise Brilliante in E flat and Polonaise Fantasie in A flat
Beethoven - Sonata No.23 in F minor Op.56 "Appassionata"

My friend helped him out with the masterclass and is supposedly a lovely guy!

Hey, i know he was soooo good lol. I was at the masterclass, but unfortunately not at the evening performance. I see your sitting your Grade V in spring, that kool me too

I'm pretty sure it was Meyrick who did a masterclass at my friend's uni. I also have a recording of the Chopin Nocturnes by the same guy who did his masterclass.... so either both him or neither! Think it was though.

Richard Meyrick came to my school on a masterclass thing, he was soooo unpleasant and rude to everyone. In the middle of ssomeone playing a piece, he would be walking around and talking to others, and he would suddenly stop the pianist to tell them they played a wrong note. There was one guy who was playing a piece and it just wouldn't go right, so Meyrick told the page turner in a very loud voice, "Go and sit down, it doesn't look like we'll be needing you." He was horrible!

his website is http://www.thepianostudio.co.uk/ for anyone who's interested.
he hired a bosendorfer for our school, and he was obsessed with getting it tuned! it was tuned before it came, when it arrived, the next morning, before the masterclasses (about 3 hours after!) then he wanted it tuned BETWEEN EACH MASTERCLASS!!!! when he was refused it, he insisted it was tuned before the evening recital!! wow!!!!

About a year ago now, Richard Meyrick came to a school near me, and i was invited to attend. Well, he was amazing. Although i had never heard of him before, i was still excited to meet him. His masterclases were really good. I've learnt loads of usefull techniques from him, and he also helped me improve the piece i played to him. I got full marks on that peice in my grade six thanks to him.
In the evening his recital was really good. After watching him play Hungarian Rhapsody (and nearly crippling the piano), i am now obssesed with that peice and am learning it now.

He was not at all rude to any of us, and i would love the opportunity too meet him again.

Sounds like a very talented guy.

He was!!!
has anyone seen his DVD???? Did you know that before he plays the piano at all, he runs his hands under boiling hot water, and scrubs them with a nailbrush till theyre bright red!! And he stretches them a lot too! I thought it was just crazy! And I know it's true because he asked the head of our music department if she had a kettle he could use because the water in the tap wasnt hot enough!!! That would really damage your hand!!

hey

today in music my teacher informed me that I have been picked to have a lesson with him London, in his studio! I'm really excited and kind of amazed!!! Has anyone else heard??

xx

No idea who he is, but wow!!! That must be amazing!!!

Richard Meyrick comes from my home town here in Kent. He is extremely well respected as one of the best musicians in Kent (along with his wife Felicity). They have a few private pupils, but mainly (in Richards case) do concerts and tours such as his current Music Man tour. I went to see him in London a couple of years ago and he was brilliant. He also plays the best Emperor Piano Concerto I've ever heard! If anyone gets the chance to see him in concert or to meet him, go for it!

He came to my school earlier this year. He seemed to be a friendly person aswell as a very good pianist.


Hey, melody_maker thats brilliant- please keep us updated on how the lesson is!

I came across this thread while Googling and thought I ought to add a bit.

I am in no way a student, so I will not keep posting here, but I did want to say a couple of things.

Richard Meyrick is a superb pianist, very highly technically competent and an excellent teacher.

I have known Richard for many years and have recorded quite a few of his CDs (Chopin Nocturnes and his "Personal Reflections" series).

At the moment I am in the middle of recording several more CDs with him:- Blüthner Concert Grand piano, recorded in Menuhin Hall in Surrey (wonderful acoustic for piano). We have already had a great recording session with another planned around Easter. The results so far are great and everyone involved is very happy.

Several of the pieces mentioned by other posters will be on these CDs - the first one will be a CD of Chopin music coming out later this year.

Richard is such a good pianist that, even though I have done the recording, I very often just put the CD on and listen for enjoyment - and it's not often you can say such things.

I would like to make a comment on a couple of posts - the one who said he was "horrible", sorry you think that way, but a MasterClass is there to get the best from the pupil and if things need repeating...... I'm sure it was still a very valuable experience for the pupil.

Regarding tuning - when we record, the piano is tuned several times a day and we have a technician on hand all the time we are recording. A piano can drift out of tune and needs to be tweaked to keep it at its best, so this is very understandable. Keeping hands at the right temperature and making sure the piano keys are not sticky with sweat means that the pianist can give the very best performance - which is what the audience pay for.

I hope this is helpful.

Your post has been very interesting, thanks.

You don't need to be a student to post here. I'm sure many of us would find it interesting to hear the perspective of someone from a different part of the industry, so please do feel free to continue contributing if you would like to.

Thanks skylark.

To put in perspective / background.

I work for a major microphone / headphone manufacturer (which pays the mortgage) and run a location recording unit in my spare time, specialising mainly in solo piano (people seem to like what I get from a piano).

As well as Richard Meyrick, I have recorded John Lenehan (his Satie CD in Classic FM's "Full Works" series) and I have also recorded Chloe Hanslip (violin) and the Thurston Clarinet Quartet and much more.....

If you want my philosophy - it is to let the performer perform so the music comes from the heart and is not just a load of notes edited together. When the music comes from the heart you will listen to a recording again and again and again.... Even though I recorded John Lenehan many years ago I still often listen to the Satie CD because the music comes from the heart and speaks to the listener.

Too much short snips edited together may be note perfect but you will listen once, say "that's nice", put the CD on the shelf and never listen to it again.

John

Couldn't agree more with your philosophy. Sadly at my level I'm still trying to get the notes right!

Quite a number of students here would like to make a career in some aspect of music, not necessarily performing or teaching. In particular, sound engineering and related careers are options some people are interested in, so the fact that you work for a mic/headphone manufacturer makes you a potentially very valuable member of the forum! It's possible that a lot of people won't see this thread as it is in the piano Viva, but I'm sure many students would find it interesting to know more about your particular industry if you had the inclination to post a topic in the Students forum.

Incidentally, some of us forum members are doing our first studio recording session ourselves in March, there's about 15 of us (I think) meeting up in Surrey to record music composed by forum members. Fortunately everybody else plays at a standard worth recording!

John Willett - thank you very much for your information, it was very interesting. I'm sure he mentioned you in the lesson I had with him, so this is very exciting!! =)

I have been so busy that I haven't had time to post much about my London lesson with Richard Meyrick. It was amazing, he is such a talented pianist. He helped me understand the music better, and my performance of Scarlatti's sonata in D sounds a lot better! His tips were so helpful, and he had a brilliant way of explaining things.

As I said in a letter to Richard, the piano we played for the lesson was fantastic - it was a Blu(umlaut!)nther grand, and although I do love my own Yamaha upright very much, it sounded so much better on the grand!

He worked wonders with the Chopin Nocturne I played, and we discussed the fingering in some depth.

I hope to go and see him again in concert this year, so please keep me updated, John!!!

m_m xx rachel

I know him.
He came to my school for that masterclass thing.
It was rather good.
He proper ripped my Phantaise in D minor apart.
But it was okay.
And when he played the Katchaturian (sorry about the spelling)
I was blown away.

Well - for four days next week I will be with Richard in Menuhin Hall recording the next sessions for his forthcoming CDs.

The first CD should be Chopin, to be released mid year.

Menuhin Hall is a good venue for recording piano.

I'm horrified that some classical CDs are made from short snips edited together, I thought it was just pop/rock music where that happened. The best CDs (in any genre) are always those that are done in one take - who cares about mistakes, it's the real performance that matters. Good for you, John.

The normal way is halfway between the two.

Yes, I absolutely agree that you want a recording of a performance. The performer will be performing with adrenalin running and putting blood sweat and tears into the performance (ideally) and you can certainly hear this.

In practice he/she will nearly always make some mistakes.

So - when I record we do a couple (sometimes more) of full takes of a real performance. The producer will be ticking off the notes and listening carefully for mistakes. Hopefully, between the two everything will be in the bag. If not, there may be some shorter takes to correct the mistakes.

We will then choose the best performance as the master and then edit in from the second performance to correct the mistakes - this gives an exciting performance to listen to. A straight single performance with a mistake or two left in can be very annoying - at a live performance this is no real problem, but in a recording you will be listening for the fault every time and it ruins your enjoyment of the music. Having a performance with the mistakes edited out is the best compromise.

I don't like recording short snippets because the musician is then playing "notes" rather than playing "music" - it may be a note perfect recording, but it has no life - so you will listen to it once and put the CD on the shelf to gather dust, never to be listened to again.

So, in all of the recording I do with Richard Meyrick we always record at lest two full performances and any short parts to correct errors are normally quite long so he is back in "performance mode".

This is why we end up with an exciting CD that can be listened to again and again and again.

The first CD I ever recorded was the music or Erik Satie with John Lenehan - re-released on Classic FM's "Full Works" series if you want to listen - one track did not have a single edit in it, and the rest very few as John was playing his heart out. I regularly listen to this CD again and again and my wife loves it and plays it over and over.

The most important thing is to capture a great performance - the odd tiny mistake which 99% of people will not hear can be left in, if correcting it means a poorer performance.

I hope this makes it clear.

John

Well, I have just spent three days with Richard Meyrick in The Menuhin Hall recording some Rachmaninov, Liszt and Bach pieces.

It all went very well.

We have now recorded enough for three CDs - the first two of Chopin and Beethoven are just about ready for the pressing plant (just waiting for the artwork). Now we just have to edit these sessions and we will have a third CD.

The forth CD will be recorded in December.

There is a photo of the first recording session on Richard,s website - the middle picture at the top on this page.

I recorded two of the CDs listed here - the Chopin Nocturnes and the Chelsea Festival ones.

Actually, Richard has just updated his website (Home page is here; which may be of special interest if you have attended one of his Master Classes.

His fingering exercises look very interesting (but I'm not a pianist ).

John

Thanks for the post John, it was very interesting!

I have his Chopin Nocturnes CD! It's amazing! I also have some of his other CDs, and I'll look forward to buying the next ones.

Oooh I like the new website! When I had a lesson with Richard in London his own studio was being used at the time, so we were in the Bosendorfer studio, which was fantastic.

Oh my Goodness the excercises are wonderful! Richard gave me a copy last December and they are truly amazing. At first they did hurt a bit, but now I can play them for much longer. They really do improve the technique!

Ashkenazy rates him, well that's what it says in the liner notes of Meyricks double CD of Chopins Nocturnes, which I have had for some years. It's still in most of the big record shops, and is relatively inexpensive, and he plays them beautifully.

Richard Meyrick playing the Concerto No 5 by Beethoven is to die for.... I hope it's on the new CD!!!

First thing I thought when I saw this thread was "Wasn't that the Elephant Man?" but no, that was John Meyrick!

Or Joseph Meyrick according to what book you read about him.

Sorry John!

Sorry

The Beethoven CD will be:-
Sonata #8 - "Pathetique"
Sonata # 14 - "Moonlight"
Sonata # 23 - "Appassionata"
Bagatelle in A minor - "Für Elise"
Bagatelle in C minor (1797)


I have not recorded this with Richard (yet)


But

Beethoven's Concerto No.5 is on the 3-CD Beethoven CD set on Cirrus (CMS CD 902).

It's the third one down on THIS page on Richard's website. There is a link on the bottom to get it from Richard direct.

I love him doing the Strauss on the Classical Piano CD

Thank you!!! I will make sure I get a copy!! The new CD sounds terrific too...

Sorry to dig up an old post, but I'm doing a masterclass with Richard Meyrick on Friday, and i'm very excited! I've deliberately chosen a piece that isn't one of my grade 8 pieces, seeing as the masterclass is a few days before my exam, and i'll have a break down if he rips it apart!
I'm playing Debussy's "La Cathedrale Engloutie" which i've been learning for a bit and i'm trying to iron out a few of the bigger mistakes that worry me! I'm playing in a big room on a nice concert grand, which will make the piece sound a lot better, and I think this piece was intended to be played in a big place (like a cathedral!). I'm getting rather nervous reading of few of the comments on here about his remarks on the page turner etc!

Jacob.

Thank you for digging up an old post. It is a new one to me!

I have met Richard and he was lovely. Very professional, calm and focussed. His comments might have just been taken in a way they were not intended. He is very talented, but is not afraid to work hard. And regarding the tuning and things- well if you dont ask then you dont get- and aiming high is good.

Good luck with the masterclass and I hope you learn lots and are left with things to work on.

I've never met Richard Meyrick personally, but I have seen him play in concert. You'll have a great day I'm sure.

Oh this is exciting news Jacob I hope it goes well! Tell me all about it. No doubt you'll get something out of it at least!

The masterclass went really well! I could have played better, as always, but what he said was really helpful. I played "la Cathedrale Engloutie", and we talked about communication and painting a picture for the audience. He also had a lot to say to all of us about different techniques, and he talked a lot on staccato, and how to actually learn a piece effectively.

He was apparently going to award one of us a scholarship for lessons, but it wasn't even mentioned! So he can't have been that impressed with any of us, unless he writes to us formally, but I doubt it!

His concert in the evening was amazing! He was playing a pretty good grand piano, but it's a shame he didn't have a better one. He somehow made that piano sound fantastic though! He played Clair de lune, two of the Chopin Scherzo's, the last two of the Op.90 Impromtu's by Schubert, and finished with Consolation in Db major no.3 by Liszt and the Mephisto Waltz. It was a shame it wasn't a very good turn out from the audience, but he played brilliantly!

Jacob.

Ooh, sounds goood! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Well when I got the scholarship thing, I didn't find out til about ten months later! And the school got a phonecall to tell me. So you never know!

Well maybe there's a chance then, It was just a little dissapointing because my music teacher said to me I could get it, and was already telling me when she thought I could fit it into having lessons with other teachers etc! I think she got a little excited, and shouldn't really of said that, because it got my hopes up!
I'm not too bothered that I didn't get it, because I didn't play brilliantly!

How long did you study with him for? I know someone who got the scholarship who was with him for a year. It's incredibly generous of him and his company to pay for everything, he said he pays for someone to fly over from northern ireland to have lessons!

Jacob.

I brought/downloaded Richard meyricks 15 minute exercise routine (PDF format), and there is beginners, intermediate and advanced to choose from. Very hard though, as he tells you not to stop between exercises, and to play all note on tips of fingers. There's a video tutorial to show you how he does it. Took me 40 mins to start with, but got it down to 18 minutes now.

http://www.thepianostudio.co.uk/finger-workouts.php

Allzwell

Is this actually worthwhile and proven or does it fall into the category of "yet more generic exercises"? Might make a nice break from Hanon but I'm not keen on buying/doing something unless I'm certain it will be beneficial

Congratulations on the Master-class Jacob and good luck for the scholarship.

My understanding is that Richard's exercises are excellent and well worth going for.

I recorded Richard's last four CDs (the top four HERE - and I also recorded the Chopin and "Personal Reflections - Chelsea" CDs for him. He is an excellent pianist and a superb teacher.

My son played Debussy Arabesque in a masterclass with Richard last year. He didn't benefit from the experience and was made to look quite silly in front of the school audience. I wished he had never taken part in it tbh.

He received quite a few complimentary CDs for the experience which he does enjoy listening too but it did knock his confidence for weeks after.

He much prefers Harry the piano man

http://harrythepiano.com/index.php?option=...ge&Itemid=1

This guy is amazing and we are attending his masterclass in November

Check him out on youtube

What a wonderful man. He set up a teaching practice in London and is now targeting all of the schools in order to find the best students to make his teaching experience that much more pleasurable! The teachers who have trained their students to enjoy playing like child prodigies don't need to work so hard anymore. Their job is done and now Richard Meyrick can take their students and put his name behind them (or their name behind his...)

Just look at how freely he is sitting in his videos on youtube and his website! He doesn't seem hunched over at all. The tame speeds he takes when playing Horowitz transcriptions shows that you don't have to be a virtuoso to enjoy playing the music and that if you play it at these speeds you open up and demonstrate the possibility of these works being performed by even amateur pianists.

He offers scholarships to students who are very good. He will pay for the student to come for lessons and for someone to accompany them on the train. When a teacher pays the student to come to them instead of the student paying the teacher, then this could ONLY mean one thing. Let me not insult anyone's intelligence by stating the obvious...

When will his next student (which he brought from beginners level) win the next international competition? I'm sorry, the word, "next" does tend to presuppose something that may or may not be. I wouldn't like to be dogmatic as Richard Meyrick could only mean the best.

I have a tip for all of you who are really interested in developing your piano technique. Just like Richard Meyrick, I am here to help you all. Here is the tip. Making your fingers independent of each other will slow you down as you stop the possibility of them helping each other by natural passive movements. Also, you will be working against natural rotation of the forearm. This is the main reason for pianists gaining serious life limiting injuries! Thank you, Richard Meyrick for bringing this question to mind on your website! Please consult a physicist for the weight behind these words. Physiotherapists do not all have the ability to play virtuoso works on the piano but physicists can at least explain the science behind it all.

May all teachers strive to have the knowledge and attitude to help their students become better than they are!

If this is true, then why is finger independence touted as all-important, especially for playing complex pieces such as 3 voice fuges etc? Richard also seems to think that independence is very important, so what you say is contradicting his methods?

How does finger independence mean you work against natural rotation? Watching a pianist such as Lisitsa playing Chopin's Op.10 No.1, you can plainly see the natural undulation, and I'm sure she has independence of fingers!

Mr Harvey. Would you mind explaining to us the point of your previous post on this thread, and explain in simple English just what you do or do not like about Mr. Meyrick's teaching.


For those who do not know Richard Meyrick is a successful professional concert pianist, with a teaching practice in the city of London where he offers rather expensive lessons ... presumably for city workers that can afford them, and also has an educational mission where he visits schools to encourage interest in the piano.

I have no direct experience of his lessons or his school events, so I can say nothing about the truth of the mixuture of mostly positive but occasionally adverse comments in earlier posts, but I have heard him play and he is a very good pianist, if not exactly in the Argerich, Perahiah, Gavrylyuk, Hamelin league.

+1, What a confusing post. I'm trying to figure out whether it's to try to "rebalance" the negative comments or something else!

The type face is one used for heavy sarcasm I believe! (Think : ".. and Brutus is an honourable man")

Heavy sarcasm was my first thought, but it gets inconsistent after the opening shots, and ends up in the realms of surrealism.

Heavy and rather embittered was my feeling: It would be interesting to know whence came the axe that is being ground.

Now I read it again at home, it's definitely someone with an axe to grind... someone who has lost pupils to his programme, perhaps?

Instead of posting a veiled tirade, perhaps the poster would like to be a bit more open about their grievances... From what I've heard, those who have done lessons with him have been happy with his teaching.