"The Inner Game of Tennis", athletic coaching, athletic training, Bay area, California, classical music, classissima.com, Creative Fresno, David Freundlich, dream piano, El Cerrito, El Cerrito California, El Cerrito piano studio, Facebook, Facebook friend, five finger positions, five finger warm-ups, Fresno, Fresno California, Fresno Famous, great pianists, humor, hypnosis, Lillian Freundlich, Major and minor scales, mental imagery, Mildred Portney Chase, mind body connection, MTAC, music, music and heart, music history, music teachers association of california, Music Teachers Asssociation of California, musicology, neurosis, New York City High School of Performing Arts, Northwest Bronx, Northwest Fresno, Oberlin, Oberlin Conservatory, Old Fig Garden in Fresno, performance anxiety, pianist, piano, piano addict, piano instruction, piano lesson, piano pedagogy, piano practicing, piano room, Piano Street, piano student, piano teacher, piano teaching repertoire, piano technique, piano tutorial, piano warm-ups, Piano World, Pianostreet.com, pianoworld, pianoworld.com, ping pong, ping pong balls, psychiatrist, psychiatry, publishers marketplace, publishersmarketplace.com, satire, scales, Schumann, self hypnosis, Shirley Kirsten, Shirley Kirsten blog, Shirley Smith Kirsten, sports, Steinway and Sons, Steinway grand piano, Steinway M grand piano, talkclassical.com, teaching piano to teenagers, technique, teenagers, tennis, Timothy Gallwey, uk-piano-forums, video performances, whole body music listening, word press, wordpress.com, you tube, you tube video

Performance Anxiety and the Pianist

For too long performance anxiety was a taboo subject, always swept under the rug. I remember grappling with paralyzing jitters during my years at the New York City High School of Performing Arts. My piano teacher at the time, a seasoned professional, would always say the same thing: "Honey, the music is bigger than you… Continue reading Performance Anxiety and the Pianist

100 years, Album for the Young, arpeggios, athletic coaching, athletic training, authorsden, Baroque music, Bay area, California, cdbaby, Circle of Fifths, Classical era, classical music, Classical period sonata, Classical sonatina, counterpoint, Creative Fresno, Dario Marianelli, dream piano, El Cerrito, El Cerrito California, Faber Primer Piano Adventures, Facebook, Fig Garden Village, five finger positions, five finger warm-ups, Five for Fighting, Forever and Always, Fresno, Fresno California, Fresno Famous, Fresno Piano Store, gymnastics, humor, J.S. Bach, Jane Austen, JS Bach, Kabalevsky Op. 39 Children's pieces, keyboard technique, Latour, Liz on Top of the World, Major and minor scales, memoir, MTAC, music appreciation classes, music teachers association, music teachers association of california, music teachers associationo of California, Music Teachers Asssociation of California, musicology, Musictogether.com, my space, New York City High School of Performing Arts, Northwest Fresno, Oberlin Conservatory, New York City High School of Performing Arts, Old Fig Garden in Fresno, pianist, piano, piano addict, piano finding, piano instruction, piano lesson, piano pedagogy, piano purchase, piano room, piano scales, piano society, Piano Street, piano student, piano teacher, piano teaching repertoire, piano technique, piano tutorial, piano warm-ups, Piano World, pianoaddict.com, Pianostreet.com, pianoworld, ping pong, ping pong balls, popular music, Pride and Prejudice, scales, Shirley Kirsten, Shirley Kirsten blog, sonatina, Steinway and Sons, Steinway grand piano, Steinway M grand piano, talkclassical.com, Teach Street, teaching piano to teenagers, teenagers, tennis, Theory, uk-piano-forums, video performances, word press, wordpress.com, you tube, you tube video

Teaching Piano to Teenagers: Classical, Pop, Taylor Swift, Liz on Top of the World and more (Videos)

There's always room for flexibility in choice of repertoire, especially when teaching teenagers. Alex, 18, had taken lessons during primary school, took a long break and returned to the piano as a senior in high school. His first request was to study "Liz on Top of the World," by Dario Marianelli from the movie, "Pride… Continue reading Teaching Piano to Teenagers: Classical, Pop, Taylor Swift, Liz on Top of the World and more (Videos)

Aeolian piano, antique pianos, antiques, appraisal piano, arpeggios, Ashburnham, athletic training, authorsden, Bach Invention, Bach Prelude in C Major, Bach Two Part Inventions, Baldwin piano, Baroque music, Beethoven, Beethoven Moonlight Sonata, bluebookofpianos.com, boxing, Brahms, cabinet grand, California, Caroline Scheer, Casio, casio privia 110, cast iron piano plate, cat, Cato, cats, cd baby, cdbaby, Chesterfields, Chopin, Chopin Etude, Christian Zimerman, Classical era, classical music, Classical period sonata, Clavinova, Clinkscale's Makers of the Piano, Connell York, counterpoint, cracked piano plate, Craigs List, CVP509, digital piano, digital pianos, Domenico Scarlatti, El Cerrito, El Cerrito California, electronic keyboard, estate sale, Exposition in piano sonata, Facebook, feline, felines, Fig Garden Village, five finger positions, five finger warm-ups, Fresno, Fresno California, Fresno designated landmark, Fresno Famous, Fresno Historical Society, Fresno miniseries, Fresno Piano Store, Fresno State Bulldogs, Fur Elise, General McArthur, Geneva International, great pianists, Guitar Center, humor, Infantry, Irwin Freundlich, J. Fritz piano, J.S. Bach, Japanese Music Institute Berkeley CA, JS Bach, Juilliard, Kawai, keyboard technique, Knight piano, Larry Fine, Lillian Freundlich, Liz on Top of the World, Major and minor scales, Masayuki Koga, Massachusetts, Massachussetts, memoir, mice, Mozart, Mozart sonata in C K545, Murray Perahia, music, music history, musicology, New York City High School of Performing Arts, Oberlin Conservatory, New York City High School of Performing Arts, Okinawa, old upright, Pacific Citizen, Paderewski, Patricia Frederick, Peabody Conservatory, pentachords, pentatonic song, Peter Wolf, pianist, piano, piano auction, piano finding, piano finding adventure, piano instruction, piano lesson, piano maintenance, piano pedagogoy, piano pedagogy, piano repair, piano restoration, piano room, piano scales, piano society, Piano Street, piano student, piano teacher, piano technician, piano technician's guild, piano technique, piano tuner, piano tuning, Piano World, pianoaddict.com, Pianostreet.com, pianoworld, pianoworld.com, Santa Monica, satire, scales, Scarlatti, Shirley Kirsten blog, Shirley Smith Kirsten, snowboard, snowboarding, Steinway and Sons, Steinway console, Steinway grand piano, Steinway M grand piano, Steinway piano, talkclassical.com, Teach Street, technique, tennis, Terry Barrett, The devil in music, The Frederick Collection, The Meux Home, The Piano Book, The Well Tempered Clavier, Theory, trills, tritone, Tschaikovsky, Tulare and R Street, uk-piano-forums, Uncategorized, US Army, used piano, used pianos, veterans, vets, Victor Thasiah, video performances, Visalia California, Visalia Piano Gallery, Vladimir Horowitz, Waltzing Matilda, Weber upright piano, Well Tempered Clavier, West San Ramon Fresno, Wieser upright piano, Wolf Sound Studio, word press, wordpress.com, World War II, Wurlitzer piano, Yamaha Disclavier, Yamaha Disklavier, Yamaha piano, Yokohama, York, you tube, you tube video

DREAM PIANO: Overview and Acknowledgments

My two-year long romp on the piano finding trail with York as my professional companion and consultant had been worth all the time spent in, around and under pianos. How else would I have acquired knowledge about the piano’s harp, or cast iron plate were it not for his having the bravado to dismantle it… Continue reading DREAM PIANO: Overview and Acknowledgments

El Cerrito, Fresno, humor, pianist, piano, piano instruction, piano teacher, scales, Shirley Kirsten, tennis, Uncategorized, you tube

Alex breaks the choke hold on his scales (You Tube video)

Alex, a high school senior and varsity tennis player takes his piano lessons very seriously. He's diligently working on perfecting his technique so nerves won't cause his scales to crash and burn. Today we couldn't have had a better soap opera script in progress, when Alex confessed to losing his composure right before a tennis… Continue reading Alex breaks the choke hold on his scales (You Tube video)

arpeggios, baseball, football, humor, memoir, music, Oberlin Conservatory, New York City High School of Performing Arts, performance anxiety, pianist, piano, piano instruction, piano teacher, pianoaddict.com, public school 122, scales, Shirley Kirsten, sports, Steinway piano, tennis, Uncategorized, you tube

Sports and Piano Technique: How about chunking–On You Tube

It's a no brainer to compare piano study to athletics. Both have been my passions throughout most of my life. At age 6 I competed with my brother for music lessons but lost out. Nearly five years my senior, he got first licks at studying the clarinet, quashing my hopes of holding a shimmering saxophone… Continue reading Sports and Piano Technique: How about chunking–On You Tube

arpeggios, baseball, dream piano, El Cerrito, El Cerrito California, Facebook, five finger positions, five finger warm-ups, Fresno, Fresno California, Fresno Famous, games, gymnastics, humor, keyboard technique, Lillian Freundlich, memoir, Mr. York, MTAC, music, music appreciation classes, music teachers association, musicology, New York City High School of Performing Arts, Oberlin Conservatory, New York City High School of Performing Arts, old upright, pianist, piano, piano addict, piano finding, piano instruction, piano lesson, piano pedagogy, piano room, piano student, piano teacher, piano technique, piano warm-ups, pianoaddict.com, Pianostreet.com, ping pong, ping pong balls, satire, scales, Shirley Kirsten, Shirley Kirsten blog, Shirley Smith Kirsten, sports, Steinway grand piano, Steinway M grand piano, talkclassical.com, Teach Street, technique, tennis, The Piano Book, Theory, uk-piano-forums, Uncategorized, used piano, word press, wordpress.com, you tube, you tube video

Scales and Arpeggios with videotaped replay

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji_7tJyJ9JQ I often think of piano technique as in the same league as sports. Why not? I practically grew up in the bleachers at Ebbets Field watching the Brooklyn Bums battle their adversaries. And not to forget that I was a tomboy who copied everything my big brother did. I even tried to break the… Continue reading Scales and Arpeggios with videotaped replay

100 years, 6 degrees of separation, 77 Sunset Strip, arpeggios, authorsden, Bay area, Bill Haley and the Comets, Bob Dylan, Bronx, Bronx dialect, California, cd baby, cdbaby, Classical era, Creative Fresno, Dario Marianelli, dream piano, Edith Piaf, El Cerrito, El Cerrito California, El Cerrito piano studio, Elvis Presley, Facebook, Featherbed Lane, five finger positions, five finger warm-ups, Five for Fighting, Forever and Always, Fresno, Fresno California, Fresno Famous, gymnastics, humor, J.S. Bach, Jane Austen, Johnny Mathis, JS Bach, keyboard technique, Liz on Top of the World, Major and minor scales, memoir, music, music appreciation classes, music history, music teachers association of california, Music Teachers Asssociation of California, Music Together, my space, New York, New York City High School of Performing Arts, Northwest Bronx, Northwest Fresno, Oberlin Conservatory, New York City High School of Performing Arts, Old Fig Garden in Fresno, Pete Seeger, Peter Paul and Mary, pianist, piano, piano addict, piano instruction, piano lesson, piano room, piano sale, Piano Street, piano student, piano teacher, piano teaching repertoire, piano technique, piano warm-ups, Piano World, pianoaddict.com, Pianostreet.com, pianoworld, pianoworld.com, popular music, Pride and Prejudice, Romantic era music, satire, scales, Shirley Kirsten, Shirley Kirsten blog, Shirley Smith Kirsten, Sohmer upright, sports, Steinway and Sons, Steinway grand piano, Steinway M grand piano, talkclassical.com, Teach Street, teaching piano to teenagers, technique, tennis, The Beatles, Twenty five Progressive pieces by Burgmuller, used piano, used pianos, Van Cliburn, Well Tempered Clavier, word press, wordpress.com, you tube, you tube video

Teens, popular music then and now, Taylor Swift, throw in Five for Fighting “100 Years”

Today was by no means a first for me, a long-haired musician raised on Bach, Beethoven and Brahms teaching a teen some pop tunes by John Ondrasik and Taylor Swift while I sailed through the universe of "Liz on Top of the World" with another student. Videotaping portions of piano lessons was the natural result… Continue reading Teens, popular music then and now, Taylor Swift, throw in Five for Fighting “100 Years”