Category: Theory

Baroque music, classical music, Domenico Scarlatti, essercizi, Irwin Freundlich, Juilliard, Kun-Woo Paik, Lillian Freundlich, Murray Perahia, New York City High School of Performing Arts, Oberlin Conservatory, New York City High School of Performing Arts, Peabody Conservatory, pianist, piano, piano instruction, piano lesson, piano pedagogoy, piano student, piano teacher, piano technique, pianoaddict.com, Scarlatti, Shirley Kirsten, Steinway piano, Theory, Uncategorized, word press, wordpress.com, you tube, you tube video

Music, life, and memories (Video)

arioso7: Shirley Kirsten

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… Continue reading Music, life, and memories (Video)

piano lesson, pyrotechnical exercises, scales, Shirley Kirsten, Theory, Uncategorized, word press, you tube, you tube video

Playing scales in contrary motion (Video)

arioso7: Shirley Kirsten

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CibwfM9zOiQ Most everyone who has taken piano lessons has probably been instructed to practice scales in the usual direction, up and down, hands together.  This means the right and left hand move from a common starting point, separated by an octave (Eight notes) and progress in a parallel motion sequence by steps. Scales may be… Continue reading Playing scales in contrary motion (Video)

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From Chords to Gym and Back: You Tube Video

arioso7: Shirley Kirsten

This video tells all. It was one of my hair brained ideas to embed a trip to Bally's Gym in my piano tutorial on the subject of playing blocks of robust chords using upper body weight transfer -- energy streaming down the arms, through supple wrists into the fingers. Naturally, warming up on the Gravitron… Continue reading From Chords to Gym and Back: You Tube Video

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Chopin Etude op. 10, no. 3 and the devil in music

arioso7: Shirley Kirsten

Who would believe the Chopin Etude, Op. 10 no. 3, opening with a somber melody that melts the heart away, would venture into the devil's realm with a splash of "tritones." Music historians characterize the interval of a "tritone" (A whole step progression of three notes) as the diabolus in musica. Dating back to medieval times it… Continue reading Chopin Etude op. 10, no. 3 and the devil in music

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Scales and Arpeggios with videotaped replay

arioso7: Shirley Kirsten

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

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A Piano Teacher’s Worst Nightmare!

arioso7: Shirley Kirsten

In a routine Yahoo e mail search for a Kawai USA technician I had spoken with a year ago, I stumbled upon a document that I had drafted out of sheer desperation. It related to the decline of my sustain pedal which had been mercilessly pounded by a student who had serious impulse control problems.… Continue reading A Piano Teacher’s Worst Nightmare!

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After the Fall

arioso7: Shirley Kirsten

It was easy to predict that I would have violated my own ban on making more you tubes. My cold turkey withdrawal was just an overnight phenomenon eclipsed by my hankering to tweak the tripod, move the camera in all sorts of directions, and get a better angle of the piano for the next posting.… Continue reading After the Fall