Taught by renowned instructor
Peter Dugan
Few pieces of piano music are so simple, yet so rich, as Debussy's beloved La fille aux cheveux de lin, "The girl with the flaxen hair." In this lesson, host of NPR's 'From the Top' Peter Dugan delves into the work's tenderness and warmth, offering advice for capturing the work's magic passage-by-passage. While the work's colors are intoxicating, students often get their feet stuck in Debussy's paint. Dugan shows you the power of observing the precise rhythms indicated in the score, shaping phrases, and generating movement towards the climax. At the same time, it is crucial to control the harmonic and melodic content of the work through careful voicing and pedal, and Dugan shows how to use finger substitution to create legato phrases and avoid over-blurring. Finally, Dugan basks in the Prelude's magic moments and shows you the technique required to capture its warmth and tranquility to deliver a beautiful performance of your own.
The Girl with the Flaxen Hair
Few pieces of piano music are so simple, yet so rich, as Debussy's beloved La fille aux cheveux de lin, "The girl with the flaxen hair." In this lesson, host of NPR's 'From the Top' Peter Dugan delves into the work's tenderness and warmth, offering advice for capturing the work's magic passage-by-passage. While the work's colors are intoxicating, students often get their feet stuck in Debussy's paint. Dugan shows you the power of observing the precise rhythms indicated in the score, shaping phrases, and generating movement towards the climax. At the same time, it is crucial to control the harmonic and melodic content of the work through careful voicing and pedal, and Dugan shows how to use finger substitution to create legato phrases and avoid over-blurring. Finally, Dugan basks in the Prelude's magic moments and shows you the technique required to capture its warmth and tranquility to deliver a beautiful performance of your own.
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Unlock Course →Pianist Peter Dugan is best known to audiences in the United States as the host of NPR’s From the Top. Equally at home in classical, jazz, and pop idioms, he enjoys an eclectic career that includes appearances from concert halls to night clubs, with recent album releases with Joshua Bell and Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony.
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