A Masterclass With Anna Lapwood

This past week, I was invited to participate in a masterclass featuring Anna Lapwood at the Westminster Choir College in NJ. Anna Lapwood is a renowned English concert organist who, through her considerable talents, has gained a large social media following. She had already given a few masterclasses earlier in the day and I was the first performer in the afternoon session. First, I played my chosen piece (Fank’s Cantabile) and after my initial run, we went through the piece and she provided feedback. Since much of it was specific to the piece, I will share some of the more general tips that I received.

The first thing I was told was that during a performance one often focuses on so many things that it is important to write in complex fingering or pedaling. This may seem like a given, but you shouldn’t only write in fingering for fast passages but also any passage where you might not consistently know what fingering to use. This is because even though you may know what finger to use in practice, performances force us to rely on muscle memory and if there is any hesitation over fingering you must know with certainty what finger to use.

The second tip I received also concerned fingering–that whenever you have a jump or important starting note or chord, you should look at your hands. Most of the time, while in performance, musicians will stare at the score even when we already reliably know the piece. While this can be reassuring, whenever you encounter a note you might miss, looking at your hands is a good way to make sure you actually hit it.

The last piece of advice regards musical time. During a performance, time moves faster for the performer than the audience. We are excited and nervous, which makes time feel like it’s speeding up. Because of this, we tend to rush. This is also because we unconsciously synchronize our tempos to our heartbeats which are sped up during performance through adrenaline. Because of this, during a performance, you should take a little bit more time than you think you need because that will be perceived normally by the audience. All these pointers reinforced my belief that even if you don’t think something is necessary you should enact it. Musicians never know what will happen during a performance and it’s necessary to always be well prepared.

The importance of masterclasses has been shown to me countless times and it is a crucial experience for all musicians. Masterclasses help provide diversity in teaching styles and can open your eyes to other styles of play. It is also important to know your pieces well enough to make changes on the spot. A masterclass is a perfect opportunity to test your confidence in a piece while improving it and I recommend participation for all musicians if possible.

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