Piano Technique: Practicing Trills

It's amazing how one can fill a whole page rhapsodizing about trills. But for me they are more OPERATIC, as if a splendid soprano were singing a Mozart aria, producing the most artfully beautiful alternation of two notes. These would be undulating, and grouped in such a way, that their lilt would be apparent. In…

Adult piano instruction: the singing model in playing/practicing Chopin

There's no doubt in my mind that Chopin's music is allied to the opera and the New York Times featured an article on this very subject that resonates in my teaching and playing the composer's works. From Tommasini, Arts editor: "It’s a wonder that Chopin, born in 1810, never tried to write an opera, because…

Adult sneak peek piano technique

These lesson videos-in-progress reinforce practicing approaches to warm-ups, giving a student an additional angle of the teacher's hands. I. Crispy Cracker Staccato (D Major scale) Forearm generated at FORTE level followed by "lighter" finger strokes at "piano" dynamic. Forte=Big Projection, Piano=Soft FLASHBACK video, (A Major scale in Staccato) before my relocation to Berkeley--same student LIVE,…

Adult Piano Instruction: Rockin’ and Rollin’ in Rhythmic Rehab

Tonight's piano lesson on Facetime amounted to an impromptu jam session: A syllabic interchange coupled with clapping inspired a collaborating adult student to experience the "feel" of a beat, rising and falling with organic authenticity. The nearly "improvised" exchange between teacher and pupil sprang from a Five-finger Ab Major warm-up that progressed from Quarters, to…

Pretty piano rooms

Dr-Lubov Laura De Valois "My studio has 4 pianos: Two acoustic grand pianos: “Yamaha C” and “Hamburg Steinway and Son”, (built around 1880), and restored in New York by Steinway. I also have an electric Kawai, "Concert Performer" CP 175, that I use as the recording studio; and a Yamaha Clavinova CVP-109 for my students…

Facing the Music on FACETIME

  https://youtu.be/hFHhwQPP2Jw Burgmuller's "SORROW" received a BOOST on FACETIME where it was the PITS on SKYPE. The latter sometimes mimics jet landings with a whoosh sound, while an echo chamber effect causes unwanted tremolos. In this "FACE"-beamed environment, a formerly LIVE student who turned VIRTUAL, experienced a musical FACE-lift. With a new media spotlight, where…

NY Times: “Is Music the Key to Success?”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/13/opinion/sunday/is-music-the-key-to-success.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1& A good portion of this opinion piece focuses on how music study fueled high-profile careers, (by and large) outside the arts arena. The writer, Joanne Lipman, is author of Strings Attached..., non-fiction that reads like a novel and honors a task master H.S. music teacher who endured a life of hardship. No doubt the…

The final word on piano buzzes from Israel Stein, master piano technician

Israel Stein is one of a kind. An award winning, Registered Piano Technician, he's been recognized nationally by the Piano Technicians Guild (PTG) and continues to tune, voice, regulate, re-build and consult on pianos that prospective buyers are considering. He's also a creme de la creme PIANO EXAMINER at the Guild and gives classes at…

Piano buzzes can wreak havoc!

We all know about the note zinging nuisance that plagues students and teachers at inopportune times. Like getting ready to perform on the big Spring recital.. A run over the 88's has a MIDDLE C blockade. The noise has infiltrated the most celebrated note in the method book cosmos, making the BLACK ones feel cheated…

Piano Instruction: Teaching a good hand position and technical skills to very young children

Teaching wee beginners a natural approach to the piano, that includes a relaxed hand position, flowing arms and supple wrists allows the birth of beautiful music-making while it promotes injury avoidance. Irina Gorin is one of the best teacher models in this universe. A dedicated proponent of early exposure to "weeping willow" arms, and "rainbow"…