When Voices Become Keys: The Art of Piano Transcription

A good deal of my time this week was spent messing around with a choral work by Sir Edward Elgar. It is a beautiful, delicate setting of the Eucharistic hymn ‘Ave Verum Corpus’ - in Latin, ‘Hail True Body’ - and, since I had finally managed to transcribe and record the piece, I thought it might be an ideal opportunity to look at the subject of piano transcriptions. Specifically, what are they? Why might we be interested in attempting them? And how would you go about making one in the first place? For more information: whaviland.com/podcastHappy piano playing/learning!