Leo Mellum Crescendo for Piano Artist Diploma Recital
Leo Mellum, pianist
Crescendo for Piano – Artist Diploma Recital
Student of Timothy De Prey
Crescendo Piano Manager and Co-Founder: Dr. Irina Elkina
PROGRAM
Prelude #23, BMV 868 (from the Well Tempered Clavier)………………..J.S. Bach
Arabesque No. 1 (from Deux Arabesques)……..……………………….Claude Debussy
Concert Etude in Db Major (Un Sospiro)…………….……………………………Franz Liszt
Ballade No. 1, Op. 23 in G minor……….…………..………………………Frederik Chopin
Leo is a piano student of Timothy De Prey and a violin student of Carolyn Liptak. Having played piano since age 4, Leo came to MacPhail almost 3 years ago. MacPhail has given him many opportunities, including participating in the Crescendo Program and Honors Recitals. Leo is a MacPhail scholarship recipient, has participated in a master class with Seymour Berstein, and a coaching session with Israeli pianist Alon Goldstein. He is a junior at Edina High School, where he plays the violin in the orchestra and is a member of the boy’s high school swim team.
Crescendo Final Project:
My teacher, Timothy, was introduced to “Le Déliateur – Cours Gradué de Technique Pianistique” (Graduate Course in Piano Technique) by Ernest Van De Velde by a MacPhail colleague. He was interested in using this collection of technical exercises for the piano in his teaching, but it was in French, so it was difficult for him to completely understand the instructions for each exercise. When he learned that I speak French, he asked if I would help translate the explanations of the exercises for him. After translating for a bit, we decided to make this my Crescendo Project. I translated each explanation into English, and we studied the exercises as part of my lessons. The exercise below is an example from the book for learning how to properly cross the thumb under the hand for scales and arpeggios. It is a unique exercise and without understanding the directions it would be hard to understand the objective of the exercise or how to do it correctly.
