Aiden Cat soaks up Schumann’s “Scenes from Childhood” No. 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xSFu9qFCUQ Robert Schumann, a Romantic era composer (b.1810-d.1856) composed music with great expression and lyricism. His Scenes from Childhood, "Kinderscenen," written in1838,  contains thirteen short character pieces with descriptive titles such as "Dreaming," "Knight of the Rocking Horse," and "Catch Me!" among others. For this impromptu performance of "About Foreign Lands and People," Aiden, my…

Funeral for a cracked plate (piano) Caveat Emptor!

The brief ceremony above was followed by preparation for interment. More funeral photos are added at this writing's conclusion. The plate, before it was laid to rest.... No one will believe this story, except those who trust their eyes to bear witness to a tragedy that befell a piano and its owner. The photos attached…

Music, life, and memories (Video)

I'm in a Scarlatti phase of music making that hearkens back to my days as a student at the New York City High School of Performing Arts ("Fame I wanna live forever") when I was studying with Lillian Freundlich at her townhouse off Riverside Drive. The sonata I posted above, was her first musical recommendation…

Playing scales in contrary motion (Video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CibwfM9zOiQ Most everyone who has taken piano lessons has probably been instructed to practice scales in the usual direction, up and down, hands together.  This means the right and left hand move from a common starting point, separated by an octave (Eight notes) and progress in a parallel motion sequence by steps. Scales may be…

Used pianos, estate sales, and Mr. York, the tuner

While on the Internet, I spotted an Oodle alert for an estate sale in Old Fig Garden on North Del Mar, about a mile away from my former home. The e-mail caught my interest because in the list of merchandise, a "Steinway piano" was inserted among original paintings of Rollin Pickford and a Mercedes Benz. The…