More and more “piano” students are going Digital. Is it a good idea?

It's sad but true that a glut of former piano buyers who would have considered piano lessons for their children at age 7 or so, have made the choice to invest in a DIGITAL. (known as a DP) Of further testimony to the culture's relatively new fixation on electronic piano technology, are the 35,000 plus…

Piano Lesson: An adult student continues her Beethoven “Fur Elise” learning process (Video)

These are excerpts from today's lesson where we covered: 1. Broken chord blocking; refreshing inversions of the Tonic as applied to practicing Fur Elise. 2. Voice balancing: fleshing out the treble (soprano) melody, on page 2 (F Major section) Using supple wrist and hand rotation; relaxation of arms. 3. C section--with repeated bass notes, alternating…

The Transfer Piano Student

I would hate to pigeon hole all "transfer" students in one way or another. It would be unfair, and unfortunately many piano teachers shy away from prospects who were immersed in learning environments where little progress was made over a period of years. Some reluctant piano instructors might say, "there's just too much work involved…

A Skyped supplement to piano lessons (Video)

Here's an example of a Bay area student taking a Skyped piano lesson to supplement her regular weekly meetings with me. These work well, particularly if a pupil has to catch up from a vacation period absence, or needs reinforcement of technique, and/or an added revisit of a piece in progress. In this segment, the…

Warm-up routines with an adult piano student (Video)

This pupil is into her fourth year of study and plays the Chopin Waltz in A minor, and Beethoven's "Fur Elise." Here is a sample of our weekly warm-up routine using pentascales (five finger positions) in Major and minor, followed by a designated 4 octave scale built up from quarters, to 8ths, to triplets, to…

The most popular blog explores piano teacher/student relationships

I've been aware that this particular writing seems to touch a nerve, or strikes a chord of recognition among piano teachers, parents and students: https://arioso7.wordpress.com/2011/03/09/pulls-and-tugs-two-sides-to-the-studentteacher-piano-lesson-relationship/ It's only rival in popularity on my roster has been "Funeral for a Cracked Plate," a real life soap opera about a piano buyer who slipped up by ordering a…

An Adult “Piano Student of the Week” lands the Gold!

Today, I launched the piano Olympics.. well not really. No one in this studio of hard-working adults and children is competing for a medal, but just the same, I have shimmering GOLD stickers that are individually awarded to deserving students. Today, Marie earned her sparkling medallion and proudly displayed it after some prodding. In addition…

SKYPING Chopin: sculpting phrases with relaxed arms and supple wrists in the Waltz no. 19 in A minor, Op. Posthum. (Videos)

Aside from the prelude to this transmission having been launched by Aiden Cat, most of yesterday's lesson was noteworthy for its focus on phrasing the Chopin Waltz No. 19 in A minor, Op. Posthumous. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epBXjDqFVaA Between California and Australia A new Logitech camera provided an astonishing over the shoulder view of "Daniel" seated at his…

Piano Technique: Chunking an A minor Arpeggio over Skype (Between CA and Australia) -VIDEO

The chunking technique of developing pianistic fluency filtered down to an adult student as he practiced his A minor arpeggio over Skype. Mindful practicing required an awareness of common thumb points on each side of his "tunnel" fingers, C and E. I had previously discussed the Bb Major arpeggio that did not have thumb through…

A Skyped Piano Lesson between Fresno, California and Sydney, Australia (VIDEO)

Here's the gig as it unfolded today, with a few sprinkled photos of my technology driven living room prior to the California/Australia Skyped transmission: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOjNWOVJy38 First segment: Building technique with scales and arpeggios