Piano Instruction: Can we over-analyze a Bach fugue?

Little Bach Fugue in C, BWV 952 required insights into its organized structure so I could better teach it. But how much analysis was required and could it be trusted?

Piano Technique: Are arpeggios “boring?” I don’t think so!

Arpeggios don't deserve a bad rap!

Piano Lesson: What I learned from an adult student about Bach Invention 4 in D minor (VIDEOS)

Today was an ear-opener, though I admit to having had a set of preconceived ideas about this Bach composition. (in two-part counterpoint) Just from having studied it myself, parceling out each separate voice in a step-wise, layered approach, I could impart what I learned as a self-delivered lecture. But the ingredient, of adding a student…

A pianist is a COLLABORATOR NOT an “accompanist”

The "A" word is officially banished from my vocabulary, even if its residual usage in books, newspapers, old reviews, can't be controlled. To boot, anyone who's been handed a stack of music by the High School vocal teacher to ready for the mid-year Christmas program and a few others in between Thanksgiving and semester break,…

Heart Attacks and Haydn!

I couldn't help but chuckle at a stream of advertising overlapping my Haydn D Major, Hoboken XVI 37 Sonata: "FOUR SIGNS OF A HEART ATTACK" The Google ad, as it ran, uncannily tracked KILLER passages in this composition that would pose a risk to cardiovascular health (Especially the brutal contrapuntal bass line in the Development…

Piano Mania! and the Bezerkeley arrival of Steinway 1098!

Pianomania! is an apt title for a documentary about Stefan Knupfer, Steinway piano technician, who gallops upstairs and downstairs in a premier "Vienna concert haus," trying to meet the needs of performing pianists, recording artists, et al. They demand the kind of perfection in voicing, tuning, aesthetics that's often beyond human capability. One classic example…

A sentimental journey taken with Mozart

Musical memories rekindled

Piano Lesson: Teaching “GAME” by Kabalevsky, Op. 39 Children’s Pieces (Videos)

Vibrant musical miniatures are learning enticements for piano students. In this spirit, Dimitry Kabalevsky, a Twentieth Century Russian composer, shines in his collection of Children's Pieces (Op.39) that run the gamut of emotions, from sad expressions of human nature, "Waltz" (in d minor) to ebullient centerpieces, such as "Clowns," and "Galop." (spelled with one L)…

Film art and great pianism fuse in a Richter documentary (The Enigma – Bruno Monsaingeon -1998- Parts I and 2)

A tribute to Richter in his own words, interspersed with examples of his great artistry

A pre-dawn digital piano work-out (Yamaha Arius 141)

Digital pianos can be a nice adjunct to practicing on an acoustic.