The Vengerova System of Piano Playing

The Vengerova System of Piano Playing, Volume 1, provides a comprehensive look at a renowned pedagogical approach. Based on a decade of study, Robert D Schick details the technical methods used by Isabelle Vengerova, a teacher whose students included legendary musicians like Leonard Bernstein and Gary Graffman. This piano instruction text examines fundamental elements such as posture, hand position, accents, singing tone, fingering, and pedaling.

As a specialized resource for piano methods and instruction and study, this volume includes musical score excerpts and photographs. It explores the merits of a structured musical system that promotes variety through underlying unity. Readers find additional historical context through an appendix featuring an article on Vengerova's tenure at the St. Petersburg Conservatory and an obituary detailing her influential teaching career at the Curtis Institute and Mannes College of Music.