Piano Author Q&A: Spotlight on Nancy Bachus

A graduate of the Eastman School of Music with an M.M. in Performance and Literature (Piano), Nancy Bachus is an internationally known as a teacher, recitalist, music historian, clinician, and author of 40 active Alfred Music piano publications .

A student of pianists Eugene List, Fernando Laires, and the accompanist Brooks Smith, she has presented around the world, and is on the piano faculty at Cleveland State University, operates an independent studio in Ohio, and is also an Associate Editor for Clavier Companion magazine.

Before she hits the road later this year for our Summer Piano Teacher Workshops, we spoke with Nancy to gain more insight into her start in music, when she discovered her passion for teaching, and more.

How did you get your start in music?

My mother always played the piano, but was not a piano teacher. She said that when I was three or so, I would sit at the piano and "play" for an hour or two, and ask her to teach me. She thought I was too young, but when I was four, she painted the letter names of the notes of the staff (from the lowest bass clef G to the treble clef high F) on the keys with red fingernail polish. Then she started me in a book about “Mrs. Middle C.” I still remember how proud I was when we removed the letters from the keys with fingernail polish remover because I didn't need them anymore.

When did you know you wanted to teach?

I loved music and playing the piano from the very beginning. Wanting everyone to love it as much as I did, I decided to be a piano teacher. I have wanted to teach as long as I can remember—even as a young child. I began teaching when I was in high school, and have taught almost continuously since then. And I still love doing it!

How do you motivate students?

I truly believe the biggest motivation for students is success! When they are becoming better sight-readers, achieving greater technical control and ease, have a deeper understanding of their music through theory and historical style, and are playing music they want to play with beauty and artistry, they want to continue to take lessons and further improve their playing.

What inspired you to start publishing?

Many teachers who had worked with me and heard my lectures on piano technique encouraged me to publish my ideas, since they had found them to be very helpful for both their students and themselves. My first publication was a co-authored book on beginning piano technique with Denes Agay. After working with him for several years, I contacted Alfred Music with an idea to integrate music history with intermediate repertoire, which became the “Spirit” series— The Baroque Spirit , The Classical Spirit , The Romantic Spirit , and Beyond the Romantic Spirit .

The Exploring Piano Classics levels piano repertoire into Preparatory and 10 grades of difficulty, as is common in many piano syllabi. This is a more “complete” approach to teaching since it has historic and stylistic information with the repertoire, enabling students to better understand what they are playing. It also has a correlated and cross-indexed Technique book for each level that has technical patterns that progress in complexity, and also one page that focuses on a major technical problem in each piece of repertoire. Teachers have told me it has transformed their students as they are developing their technique through refinement of touches and executing more difficult patterns each year making it possible to easily play more difficult music.

Do you have a favorite publication of yours?

If I have a favorite publication, it would be Beyond the Romantic Spirit, Book 1 . It not only explores 20th century techniques and styles, but shows how they relate to the many different art movements in the early 20th century. Teachers tell me students enjoy the “new sounds” and ideas, while also finding the pieces to be pleasurable to play.