More Photos from my Dream Piano Adventures

Connell York, Piano Technician: York examines a moth hole in a hammer felt: Terry Barrett, RPT, Registered Piano Technician is pictured below getting ready to tune the Aeolian table style piano. In the process, he discovered its true date of manufacture as April, 1936 (engraved into a key after he pulled the action) confirming York's…

A tour of my piano room as prelude to the tuner’s arrival

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoLMyIVP0q8 Awaiting Terry Barrett's arrival to tune my Steinway upright, I decided to have some fun panning about the piano studio, sharing favorite mementos on and off the wall. It might be a bit dizzying with numerous shifting camera angles, but the desired homespun, impromptu feel is there. When Terry gets here, I will do…

Cato, his Killer Keyboard, and a round of piano lessons!

Ralph Cato had been scheduled to come for his first piano lesson soon after we had a chance meeting at the Guitar Center in Fresno a few years ago. At the time, he was combing the store in search of a “killer” digital keyboard, as he described it, for his 10 year old daughter. Christmas…

Practicing a C Major scale in thirds, tenths, and sixths (Video embedded)

I've chosen the C Major scale to demonstrate/practice in thirds, tenths, and sixths. The best preliminary of course, is to review the scale in its root position and it doesn't have to be a parallel motion run through. (i.e. fingers going up and down in the same direction) You can start with a contrary motion…

Piano Gym routines with my 10 year old student

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuAWQM4qK44 This is a fun romp through the keys of F# Major and minor with some diminished 7th and Dominant 7th arpeggios cruising across the keyboard in legato, followed by detached, "ping pong ball" rendered staccato. Parallel and contrary motion scales/arpeggios are a pianist's preliminary gymnastics. They're great for the warm-up phase of each practice…

How to practice a G Major scale as a follow-up to C with an adult student example

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXx3SEW81ps The last instructional video covered the C Major scale in depth, and  identified symmetries between the hands, when practicing beyond the one octave level. https://arioso7.wordpress.com/2010/12/15/how-to-practice-a-parallel-motion-c-major-scale-and-by-example-g-d-a-e/ I pointed to the bridge of the C Major scale as the crossover into the next octave. The fingerings at this junction were mirrors for B, C, an D:…

Favorite J.S. Bach Two Part Inventions

The J.S. Bach Inventions I posted on You Tube are definitely my favorites. (In the days ahead I will describe the way I teach these to my students) Inventions are dialogs or conversations between the hands that constitute the interweaving of independent voices   (Counterpoint) Counterpoint was the hallmark of the Baroque period (1685-1750) My Favorite…

How to Practice a parallel motion C Major scale and by example, G, D, A, E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5HVmyDJFic I chose to group the following Major scales together (C, G,D, A,E) because they have parallel internal consistencies, and they stand apart from the black key pattern scales of B, F# and C#Major. (The flat equivalents of these pattern sharp scales are Cb, Gb  and Db)  The last three black key scales mentioned, are…

The Great Piano Auction

Photo of York, piano tuner, standing beside the Steinway auction piano Fresno Auction Company Public & Private Auctions Estate Liquidations Appraisals On an early Tuesday morning, in December, 2008, I spotted an eye-catching Fresno Bee Online ad for an estate auction that listed a “Steiney” (?) grand piano among an Allen theater harpsichord organ; rare,…

Music, life, and memories (Video)

I'm in a Scarlatti phase of music making that hearkens back to my days as a student at the New York City High School of Performing Arts ("Fame I wanna live forever") when I was studying with Lillian Freundlich at her townhouse off Riverside Drive. The sonata I posted above, was her first musical recommendation…