Learning how to Learn

It's always valuable to revisit a process of growing a composition to full potential, keeping in mind that self-imposed progress deadlines are in opposition to a non-judgmental, self-accepting learning environment. In this regard, it's not how long it takes to gain control of technical/expressive dimensions of a piece, but rather, the quality of the steps…

Piano Technique Tutorials abound this week!

I often enjoy a splurge of self-produced technique videos to assist my teaching, and to clarify my latest insights. This week I examined Staccato playing, using weight transfer for dynamic variation, as I employed a legato "floating arm" as a model for snipping out a stream of well-connected, scale-wise detached notes. In this undertaking, I'd…

Emma Leiuman, pianist, shares thoughts on sound imagination and tone production

In the midst of a heated Internet-driven controversy that surrounds playing a single note at the piano, Emma Leiuman explores "sound imagination" wedded to fluid physical motions that expand ideas about the universe of expressive piano playing. In a detailed narrative, the pianist, schooled in the great Russian musical tradition, shares her awakenings and technique…