An adult student excels: Chopin Waltz in C# minor, Op. 64, No. 2

I'm beaming from ear to ear, as I showcase Julie's progress by way of a recent lesson collaboration. I say collaboration, because students and teachers learn together and gain insights as they take a common musical journey. Julie happens to be indirectly related to me. That is, her mother studied with concert pianist, Ena Bronstein…

“Haddy” Haddorff is given a new home: The back story

My beloved singing nightingale that came into my life in May, 2011, has found a new, permanent nest. About 4 years ago I stumbled upon "Haddy" while browsing a Fresno, California Craig's Listing (by owner, used piano sales) It wasn't that I needed another piano to join a growing family of Steinways but I was…

Piano Technique: Student/teacher echo exchanges stabilize rhythm and refine articulation

Of my favorite teaching strategies is bouncing warm-ups back and forth with students. We echo short phrases in legato and staccato as a form of rhythmic rehab. The recordings of these interactions become valuable practicing aids between lessons. Yesterday, an adult pupil and I had fun sharing E Minor/Major penta-scales and five-finger position thirds from…

Happy Holidays!

To all my faithful readers whom I dearly treasure and appreciate! *** Two grand pianos and my Yamaha Arius digital chime in! http://youtu.be/XQP1OU6a5ak http://youtu.be/5dl0YKJcL0Y http://youtu.be/yYox8SUHwsM And an excerpt from Handel's Messiah http://youtu.be/FyUpV4hEWu8 For those who celebrated Chanukah! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjqM6xYeWAI Wishing all a Happy New Year with dreams fulfilled! A personal favorite: Sleigh Ride, Anderson and Roe…

A favorite J.S. Bach tutorial (Little Prelude in F, BWV 927)

One of my adult students is excited about learning this treasured miniature, and it just so happened that I stumbled upon one of my you tube posted instructions that will assist both of us in our forthcoming two-way musical exchange. (After I put a piece away it's nice to know I can reference its timely…

Nikolas Sideris, composer, is making a Millennium statement!

It started as a "rant" on a Piano Pedagogy Internet forum. Nikolas Sideris, a prolific, "living" composer of Greek origin insisted that piano teachers were not providing students with a balanced diet of pieces. He faulted them for habitually dishing out Classical and Romantic masterworks minus an ear to the pulse of the 21rst Century.…

Theory embedded in phrasing/musical expression

What am I doing up at 2 a.m.? To put it simply, answering an adult student's inquiry about the theoretical analysis of J.S. Bach Invention 13 in A minor. At our last lesson, I had tweaked her curiosity about the harmonic dimension of the last two pages where modulations abound (especially measures 9-18) Yet as…

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

Arioso7's Blog (Shirley Kirsten)

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 from Steinway and his famous clients Lang Lang, Brendel, Buchbinder and Pierre-Laurent Aimard as they search for the perfect pitch.”

It’s an entertaining glimpse of pianos undergoing personally directed pre-concert transformations at the world’s great recital halls. Movie, Written by Cibis and Franck

The New York Times published the following critique:

http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/11/04/movies/pianomania-by-lilian-franck-and-robert-cibis-review.html

Just a snatch:

By MANOHLA DARGIS
Directed by: Robert Cibis, Lilian Franck
“Pianos don’t cry out in pain, even when their listeners do; they go out of tune, warp and crack. Yet to watch Stefan Knüpfer delicately prod the insides of a Steinway concert grand Model D — a 990-pound, 12,000-part behemoth made of wood, metal and…

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Piano Maintenance: 48 hours of pain and anguish!

What was seemingly a straightforward search and destroy mission surrounding a clicking note, mushroomed suddenly into a PSTD level catastrophe. Pianists, so viscerally tied to their beloved musical partners, can be catapulted over the edge when something unexpected occurs. In fact two post-clicking note repair events had transpired that threatened my mental health. 1) After…

The mystery of NOTE CLICKING B is solved!

Here's a snatch of the bug that invaded Steinway M (1917) as long desired, drought-relieving rains encapsulated the piano for days. (Were weather changes the cause of an uninvited guest seeking sanctuary between hammers, in finite action spaces?) http://youtu.be/CbJkWOrgO5s Israel Stein, RPT/EMT, in "high tech" detective mode, responded pronto, and tenaciously scoped out the uninvited…