Every Good Boy Does Fine by Jeremy Denk - Reading Together - Chapters 9 and 10

These chapters follow Jeremy Denk’s deepening artistic maturity at Oberlin as intellectual theory yields to emotional vulnerability. Under Joseph Schwartz’s persistent questioning, Denk confronts the inner architecture of phrasing, examining how Brahms, Mozart, and Schumann create longing through melodic detours, skips, and non-harmonic resolutions. Beyond technical facility, he wrestles with the psychological toll of self-consciousness, competitive peer scrutiny, and coming to terms with his identity. These chapters offer a penetrating reflection on turning points in conservatory mentorship, where a student stops mimicking mechanical correctness and begins inhabiting the score with genuine emotional courage.

If you want to delve into voicing with your students, here are some resources to do that.

- Music Theory for the 21st-Century Classroom: Non-Chord Tones and Voice Leading: Provides clear harmonic diagrams and score excerpts showing students how non-harmonic tones create melodic pull and resolution.
- Voicing Chords: Provides step-by-step studio practice drills such as "ghosting" lower harmony notes, dynamic apportionment (giving the melody note 40% of the hand's sound weight), and using isolated finger firmness to help students hear and control layered textures.
- Practice Tips: Bringing out the Melody: Outlines practical studio techniques for intermediate students, including dividing chord voices between two hands, singing on neutral syllables while playing, and physically keeping non-melody fingers glued to the keys while releasing melodic weight into the keys.
- Does Perfectionism Get a Bad Rap? The Right (and Wrong) Way to Be a Perfectionist: Breaks down the psychological difference between "perfectionistic concerns" (fear of failure and judgment) and "perfectionistic strivings" (pursuing artistic excellence), offering actionable mental shifts teachers can use to help students take expressive risks without fear of making mistakes.

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I've published five piano music books and one guitar music book. Get them here. Sign up here for my free monthly newsletter! Connect with me on Instagram and Pinterest.