Author & Founder |
"Her understanding of the mechanical aspects of piano playing is at the very highest level. Her musical mind is imaginative, wise and profound, and her love of music is pervasive and deep... Rae is deeply interested in her students, empathetic and tireless, and she has demonstrated organisational skills of a high order."
- Michael Houstoun, 15 November 2005 |
Dr Rae de Lisle, MNZM is one of New Zealand’s foremost piano pedagogues. Currently Associate Professor of Piano at the University of Auckland, she has produced many outstanding students, most notably John Chen, first prizewinner of the 2004 Sydney International Piano Competition. Since then her students have won all the major piano competitions in New Zealand and have also been prizewinners internationally in the Lev Vlassenko Australasian Piano Competition, the Bradshaw and Buono Competition in New York, and the Perrenoud Foundation International Piano Competition.
Rae was Artistic Director of the Wallace National Piano Competition and the Wallace International Piano Festival. She is respected as as an adjudicator and has been on international competition juries in Singapore, Dublin and America. She is also an examiner for the New Zealand Music Examination Board. Rae’s groundbreaking PhD research into focal dystonia, the most devastating of musician’s injuries, has resulted in specific concepts about instrumental retraining which has led to presentations and keynote speeches throughout the world. Her PhD has has received international recognition and is published by Paladinomedia. |
For many years Rae has been researching methods of piano technique, interviewing pianists and pedagogues in America, England, Europe, Australia and New Zealand on this subject. Her experience in teaching students from the very beginning to international competition winners, as well as her own studies with renowned pedagogues Brigitte Wild (student of Claudio Arrau), Cyril Smith (student of Rachmaninoff) and Maria Curcio (student of Artur Schnabel) gives her a unique perspective on the development of injury-preventative piano technique at every level, from the beginner to the advanced pianist.
Rae's expertise as a teacher and leading researcher in the fields of focal dystonia and injury prevention in musicians is built on the foundations of her earlier career as a concert pianist. For almost twenty years Rae was a prolific performer, playing around a hundred concerts a year, both nationally and internationally, as soloist, accompanist and chamber musician. As a result of an overuse injury which abruptly ended her performance career, her teaching became her focus. Her own search for recovery led Rae towards the research into injury prevention and rehabilitation. Rae has since been involved in the assisting of a number of high profile pianists, including New Zealand’s leading concert pianist, Michael Houstoun to recover from injury. At the university, Rae is coordinator of the Musicians' Health Programme, which is a collaborative programme between the School of Medicine and the School of Music.
As a result of Rae's research into the biomechanics of piano technique and injury prevention, Rae has devised a set of exercises that are suitable for students of all levels, which deal with the most basic movements involved in piano playing. In the years since these exercises were introduced to the students majoring in Piano Performance at the University of Auckland, there has been a reduction in the injuries reported. Rae has since expanded these exercises further into a multi-media publication as part of a research project, Fit 4 Piano.
Rae's expertise as a teacher and leading researcher in the fields of focal dystonia and injury prevention in musicians is built on the foundations of her earlier career as a concert pianist. For almost twenty years Rae was a prolific performer, playing around a hundred concerts a year, both nationally and internationally, as soloist, accompanist and chamber musician. As a result of an overuse injury which abruptly ended her performance career, her teaching became her focus. Her own search for recovery led Rae towards the research into injury prevention and rehabilitation. Rae has since been involved in the assisting of a number of high profile pianists, including New Zealand’s leading concert pianist, Michael Houstoun to recover from injury. At the university, Rae is coordinator of the Musicians' Health Programme, which is a collaborative programme between the School of Medicine and the School of Music.
As a result of Rae's research into the biomechanics of piano technique and injury prevention, Rae has devised a set of exercises that are suitable for students of all levels, which deal with the most basic movements involved in piano playing. In the years since these exercises were introduced to the students majoring in Piano Performance at the University of Auckland, there has been a reduction in the injuries reported. Rae has since expanded these exercises further into a multi-media publication as part of a research project, Fit 4 Piano.
