Teaching Philosophy

 

Mark Salman endeavors to approach each student as an individual, taking into account different strengths and weaknesses, backgrounds, repertoire interests and psychologies. It is his philosophy to try to provide students with the technical and emotional means to realize their own individual musical conceptions, rather than impose an interpretation on them. This can range from small details of technique, hand position, fingering, tone production, balance, color and pedaling, to large scale discussions of the emotional world of the work, different structural or dramatic conceptions of the music, or its place in history or within the composer’s life.

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For students who have reached a developmental plateau, either musical or technical, that has been difficult to surmount, he enjoys the challenge of working to solve the underlying issues that are hindering progress.

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With his vast performing experience, he is particularly interested in coaching students in the art of performance, working on preparation, confidence and memory, as well as the psychology of performing, to enable them to perform with security and communicative freedom. In addition to on-going lessons, he is happy to offer single coaching sessions on specific repertoire or to address particular pianistic or interpretive questions.