Melanie Spanswick is a pianist, teacher, author, composer, and adjudicator.
She studied the piano at the Royal College of Music in London where she won many prizes
and graduated with a Master’s degree in Performance Studies.
As a pianist, Melanie has performed and broadcast worldwide, giving recitals as a soloist,
chamber musician and accompanist at many music festivals and major concert halls.
She has made a solo recording at Wigmore Hall (for Opera Omnia),
has performed for the Queen Mother and Queen of Denmark,
and has also broadcast on Classic FM, BBC Radio, and Swedish and Spanish TV.
As an educator, Melanie has examined for the ABRSM and she adjudicates
for the British and International Federation of Festivals, frequently giving master classes,
workshops and presentations throughout the U.K. and abroad, most recently in Germany,
the USA and the Far East. She has held teaching posts at various institutions,
and regularly tutors courses at Jackdaws Music Education Trust,
Finchcocks Music and PIANO WEEK in the U.K. She presents workshops for EPTA
(European Piano Teachers Association)
and also hosts a bilingual piano project near Düsseldorf (Germany) for teachers and students,
as well as serving as a faculty member at the Overseas Masters Winter Piano Academy
which is held biennially at the Yehudi Menuhin School.
She is an Honorary Master Teacher at the Tom Lee Music Academy in Hong Kong.
Melanie has adjudicated both nationally and internationally,
and has been a jury member at the 2016 Chicago Amateur Piano Competition,
the 65th and 70th Hong Kong Schools Association Music Festival,
the 2017 Singapore Performing Arts Festival, the Stars of the Albion Grand Prix,
and the 2017 Beethoven Junior Intercollegiate Piano Competition in London.
As an author, she is published by major publishing houses: Schott, Faber and Alfred.
Melanie selected the repertoire for the Faber Music Piano Anthology (Faber Music)
and her piano guidebook, So You Want To Play The Piano?
(Alfred Music) has received much acclaim. Melanie’s three-book piano course for piano returners,
Play it again: PIANO (Schott Music), has been an international success,
and Book 4 will be released in 2020.
Recent book tour and workshop destinations include Singapore,
Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong and China.
In 2017 she presented at the UCSI University Piano Pedagogy conference in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia),
and in 2019, she gave a keynote workshop at the Frankfurt Music Messe (Germany).
Melanie is a regular contributor to Pianist magazine,
and she writes the technique feature article in Piano Professional (EPTA).
Further guest articles include: Piano Journal, Music Teacher Magazine,
International Piano Magazine, Clavier Companion, Rhinegold Publications,
Pianofforte (published by Faber) and the Daily Telegraph.
She co-writes the ABRSM Piano Notes series,
and has also co-written the performance notes for the
London College of Music piano examination syllabus 2018 – 2020.
As a composer, Melanie’s music has featured in many piano festival syllabuses.
Her reflective, Minimalist style music has appeared in various publications,
and during 2018 she made her debut as a Schott composer with a collection of pieces entitled No Words Necessary.
