Piano Technique: When an adult student is in the Zone!

It's always valuable to snatch a lesson segment when a student gets it just right and has the equivalent of a runner's high at the keyboard. It's certainly instructive for both teacher and pupil to observe what conditions predisposed a pupil to a level of ONEness of body, mind and spirit. Last night, Jocel displayed…

Love the Second Time Around: Seymour, An Introduction

I've seen Ethan Hawke's sensitive film portrait of Seymour Bernstein now FOUR times as I amass a film archive of interviews and written tributes. Need more be said? Run to see a cinematic masterpiece so well framed by Ann Hornaday at the Washington Post: ‘Seymour: An Introduction’ is a soaring, sublime ode to art and…

Imagination and mental imagery in the piano learning environment

It shouldn't be the same old five-finger warm-ups and scales without an infusion of emotion/imagination. That's why I decided to experiment and have two adult students communicate a juxtaposed shift of mood between a MAJOR penta-scale (five-finger position) and its companion parallel minor. Neither pupil expected to be asked to raise five step-wise notes to…

SKYPE CALL RECORDER Playback views for Online Piano Lessons

The UNIVERSE of RECORDING ONLINE LESSONS IN PROGRESS SKYPE CALL RECORDER FACETIME CALL RECORDER *** My Newest Overhead Cam (72 inches high) Still another upgrade: My Piano Room has TWO Overhead webcams in addition to a side view cam that's mounted on a music stand. Overhead side view of Keyboard *** MY PRESENTATION coming up…

Piano Technique: Attaining speed and clarity

Last night, one of my adult students observed me doing a quick glide warm-up over a two-octave scale before we officially started our lesson. Uncannily, his inquiry about how I managed to attain fluency at peak tempo, turned out to be the focus of our first fifteen minutes together, and it got me thinking about…

Run! to see Seymour: An Introduction, Ethan Hawke’s film masterpiece

I went! I cried! I applauded! Those of us immersed in the arts as students and teachers, felt especially validated. On the East Coast, harpsichordist, Elaine Comparone was riveted to the Big Screen just as I nestled into a snug seat at the Albany, California Landmark Twin theater. (East Bay, California) She perfectly summed up…

Weaving Theory and Harmonic Rhythm into a piano lesson

The flow of harmony in and out of pieces should be a big part of a piano lesson. Yet it's one thing to isolate chords in student a hand-out, but quite another to bring phrases to life with an infusion of harmonic rhythm awareness in the process of playing. In this video sample, a student…

Piano technique lesson segments flow nicely into repertoire

Today, the technique portion of a Face Time lesson to North Carolina complemented the main musical course, Chopin's Waltz in A minor, Op. Posthumous. It was a harmonious streaming with thumbs swinging; arms floating; and scale contouring that fed well-shaped Romantic era phrases. It played out as follows: The A minor scale was parceled out…

A SKYPE/LIVE Adult piano student recital!

It Finally Happened! My students taking lessons by Skype or FaceTime finally met their LIVE piano-connected peers in an hour-long, music-love ONLINE exchange. The emphasis was sharing in a compassionate setting with a spirit of unconditional support for participants of varying levels and abilities. Introductions preceding the program proved as engaging as each player's musical…

Piano Technique: Wrist dipping and thumb twiddling

With creative juices flowing during a piano lesson by Skype, a teacher can toy with various mental images by webcam that assist fluid technique. "Wrist dipping" through a five-finger position in rapid rhythm required focus on how to avoid the inevitable accent that occurs on framing thumb and pinky. "Soft" landings were therefore isolated and…