Tag Archives: New York City

A Journey down memory lane

Posted on May 20, 2013 by

A timely posting in advance of my Big Apple touchdown Continue reading →

Posted in New York City, the perils of visiting NYC, word press, wordpress.com, you tube, youtube.com | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Photo memories of my December 2012 trip to NYC

Posted on March 21, 2013 by

A native New Yorker, I rarely found myself at the Statue of Liberty, but yes, to Central Park, and gentle walks though Fall and Spring paths. My last visit to the home land, was this past December when I sauntered … Continue reading →

Posted in Central Park, FAO Schwarz, shirley smith kirsten blog, Shirley Smth Kirsten, Verdi Square, word press | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

An afternoon of all that Jazz with pianists, Dick Hyman and Dave Frank

Posted on December 16, 2012 by

Dick Hyman, jazz pianist, shared his art with an engaged NYC audience in the good company of moderator, Dave Frank. Continue reading →

Posted in "A Century of Jazz" with Dick Hyman, Dave Frank, Dick Hyman, jazz, Woody Allen movies and Dick Hyman, word press, word press.com, wordpress, wordpress.com, you tube.com, yout tube, youtube.com | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Rekindling ties with a dear NYC friend, her 1893 Steinway B, and piano tinkering grandbaby

Posted on December 8, 2012 by

Friendship is forever. Coming back to New York City was living proof of it. Continue reading →

Posted in Journal of a Piano Teacher from New York to California, New York State Employment Service, Oberlin Conservatory, Schoenhut piano, Verdi Square in NYC, wordpress, wordpress.com, you tube, you tube video, you tube.com, yout tube, youtube.com | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

When a NY Times music critic and reader clash over a piano recital

Posted on January 12, 2012 by

I must admit that I chose not to put the title of this writing in the first person. Perhaps, in an egalitarian spirit, I wanted to identify with any audience member or newspaper reader, who might be offended by a … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthony Tommasini, Anthony Tommasini NY Times music reviewer, Avery Fisher Hall, classissima.com, disagreeing with a music critic, Michael Kimmelman, Murray Perahia, Murray Perahia concert, Murray Perahia piano recital, music criticism, music critics, music editor of the New York Times, N.Y., New York Times.com, NY Times arts editor, pianist, piano, piano recital, Robert Schumann, Shirley Kirsten, Shirley Kirsten blog, Shirley Smith Kirsten, The New York Times, The New York Times music page | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Treading on hallowed ground: the challenge of maintaining fine pianos after a personal tragedy

Posted on November 5, 2011 by

I kept this controversial blog topic in my back pocket for safe keeping until a close friend fired off an e-mail with a link to a recent movie review of Pianomania: From IMDB: “Pianomania follows Stefan Knüpfer, a piano tuner … Continue reading →

Posted in "The Endangered Piano Technician", James Boyk, Los Angeles Philharmonic, piano technician, Piano Technician's Guil, piano technician's guild, piano tuners, problems with maintenance of fine pianos, PTG, Scientific American, voicing pianos, word press, wordpress.com | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Our Family’s Cultural Tradition: The last remnant of my NYC trip (Photos) with an update on the history of Russian piano factories

Posted on October 23, 2011 by

I scanned the memory card of NYC pics stored in my Sony digital camera and came across my mother, (on the extreme Left) and a few other key family members seated around a decorative party table. We were celebrating mom’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Bobby De Niro, Broadway theater, Elaine Comparone, Greenwich Village, Group Theater, John Garfield, Manhattan, Marble Hill Projects, New York, New York City, Off Broadway Theater, P.S. 41 in Greenwich Village | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Letting my hair down with a snatch of “Let It Be!” (VIDEO)

Posted on March 3, 2011 by

The piano room was a mess yesterday with music strewn about. Two ’60-’70′s era Beatles albums were excavated from a pile of sheet music, hard bound theory texts, and Urtext editions of Beethoven’s sonatas. Foraging a big carton of stuff … Continue reading →

Posted in 100 years, 6 degrees of separation, 77 Sunset Strip, adult piano students, Amsterdam Avenue and 74th Street, arpeggios, athletic coaching, athletic training, authorsden, Bach Inventions, Baroque music, Baroque trills, Beatles albums, Beethoven, blog, blogger, blogging, boxing, boxing lessons, California, Caroline Scheer, casio privia 110, cdbaby, Classical era, classical music, Classical period sonata, classissima, classissima.com, Creative Fresno, El Cerrito, El Cerrito California, El Cerrito piano studio, Facebook, Facebook friend, five finger positions, five finger warm-ups, Five for Fighting, Forever and Always, Fresno, Fresno Famous, fresno filmmakers alliance, Gospel Music, Guitar Center, humor, keyboard technique, Major and minor scales, memoir, mind body connection, MTAC, music, music and heart, Music Teachers Asssociation of California, piano, piano addict, piano instruction, piano lesson, piano scales, piano society, Piano Street, piano student, piano teacher, piano teaching repertoire, piano tuning, piano warm-ups, Pianostreet.com, pianoworld, pianoworld.com, playing piano, popular music, publishers marketplace, publishersmarketplace.com, Ralph Cato, satire, scale fingerings, scales, Shirley Kirsten, Shirley Kirsten blog, Shirley Smith Kirsten, sparring partner, Steinway and Sons, Steinway M grand piano, Steinway piano, Steinway studio upright, talkclassical.com, Taylor Swift, Teach Street, teaching piano scales, teaching piano to teenagers, teaching scales, technique, teenagers, The Beatles, Uncategorized, video performances, whole body music listening, word press, wordpress.com, you tube, you tube video | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Why Play Scales? (with an adult piano student’s updated video)

Posted on February 8, 2011 by

My pupil, Yukiko, demonstrates a sequence of E Major Scales in Legato/staccato–Parallel and Contrary Motion: These provide a repository of articulations and dynamics that apply directly to her repertoire of pieces. *** The Backdrop: As a young piano student living … Continue reading →

Posted in "Just Being At the Piano", "The Inner Game of Tennis", Amsterdam Avenue and 74th Street, arpeggios, athletic coaching, athletic training, authorsden, Bay area, Bronx, California, cd baby, cdbaby, children's music, Children's pieces, Circle of Fifths, Classical era, classical music, Classical period sonata, Classical sonatina, classissima.com, counterpoint, Creative Fresno, El Cerrito, El Cerrito California, El Cerrito piano studio, Exposition in piano sonata, Facebook, Fig Garden Village, five finger positions, five finger warm-ups, Fresno, Fresno California, great pianists, gymnastics, humor, Internet, Irwin Freundlich, keyboard technique, Latour, Latour Sonatina, Lillian Freundlich, Major and minor scales, mind body connection, MTAC, music, music and heart, music appreciation classes, music history, music teachers association of california, Music Teachers Asssociation of California, Music Together, musicology, Musictogether.com, my space, New York, New York City High School of Performing Arts, Northwest Bronx, Northwest Fresno, Oberlin, Oberlin Conservatory, Oberlin Conservatory, New York City High School of Performing Arts, Old Fig Garden in Fresno, ornaments, pentachords, pentatonic song, pianist, piano, piano addict, piano finding, piano instruction, piano lesson, piano pedagogy, piano practicing, piano society, Piano Street, piano student, piano teacher, piano teaching repertoire, piano technique, piano tutorial, piano warm-ups, Piano World, pianoaddict.com, Pianostreet.com, pianoworld, pianoworld.com, ping pong, ping pong balls, publishers marketplace, publishersmarketplace.com, satire, Shirley Kirsten, Shirley Kirsten blog, Shirley Smith Kirsten, sonatina, Steinway and Sons, Steinway grand piano, Steinway piano, talkclassical.com, Teach Street, teaching piano to teenagers, technique, Theodore Latour, trills, uk-piano-forums, video performances, whole body music listening, word press, wordpress.com, you tube, you tube video | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Behind the Locked Gate!

Posted on November 12, 2010 by

Have you ever been a prisoner in your own home? I was, after my return to Fresno from El Cerrito where I had my second piano studio. My brand new custom-made cedar gate that enclosed my front patio, had endured … Continue reading →

Posted in cat, cats, El Cerrito, feline, felines, humor, piano, piano teacher, pianoaddict.com, Shirley Kirsten, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment