Piano Technique: When an adult student is in the Zone!

It's always valuable to snatch a lesson segment when a student gets it just right and has the equivalent of a runner's high at the keyboard. It's certainly instructive for both teacher and pupil to observe what conditions predisposed a pupil to a level of ONEness of body, mind and spirit. Last night, Jocel displayed…

Imagination and mental imagery in the piano learning environment

It shouldn't be the same old five-finger warm-ups and scales without an infusion of emotion/imagination. That's why I decided to experiment and have two adult students communicate a juxtaposed shift of mood between a MAJOR penta-scale (five-finger position) and its companion parallel minor. Neither pupil expected to be asked to raise five step-wise notes to…

Chopin and Bach piano lesson excerpts

Most students welcome recorded recaps of their lessons for practicing reminders and direction. While the editing time is significant, the overall effort results in a fine-tuned clarification of fingering, phrasing, dynamics etc. with a space margin for reconsideration of interpretation. After all, no reading within an artistic frame is set in stone. ** Yesterday, I…

Me, My Neighbors and J.S. Bach

I spent two full nights with J.S.B., recording at ungodly hours, deleting a lion's share of playings, worrying about my neighbors' patience threshold. With a "runner's high," equivalent of being in the zone, I just couldn't let go of the momentum, as tenants beside me were trying to get some sleep. The LAYOUT Four adjacent…

Never say never to a finger-trapping passage (Mozart Rondo: Allegro K. 545)-Video

While we all experience head on collisions with tricky measures despite our best efforts to avoid repeated catastrophes, (through careful, methodical practicing) there comes a time, to let go, and give the whole undertaking a rest. In my case, it was at least a year before I revisited the last part of Mozart's Rondo: Allegro,…

Piano Technique in the PLAY-ground: Thumb to thumb swings and more

The playground can be the best music teacher. Thumb swinging, for example, to smooth out shifts through scales, is practiced by an adult student. (She had initially lost her "feel" for spacing between long and short tunnels, through which her thumb passed). A blocking approach preceded the swing routine that carefully marked out groups of…

When two hands play a 4-hand Mozart Sonata

Last night, I challenged myself to have a double duo identity. I separately recorded the bass and treble parts of Mozart's Sonata No. 1, K. 318, scored for 4-hands at one piano. Logistics-wise, I had to decide which part to render first as the playback for the other's insertion. But that wasn't fair to either…

The Chopin Waltz No. 19 in A minor is Poetry in Motion

Adult piano students who aspire to play the Op. Posthumous A minor Waltz must immerse themselves in a poetic musical framing, floating notes with supple wrists and relaxed arms. In the bass, support for a horizontally spun melody should prevail, with after beats (chords) unobtrusively humming along. Fluidly played ornaments have their unique breath, artfully…

Scenes from Manhattan

First day in the Big Apple: These are popular picture postcard themes yet worth memorializing. I took this photo set as I trekked from 34th Street and Penn station to the West Side 'Y' gym at 63rd off Central Park. Bogged down with luggage, I approached Columbus Circle at W. 59th Street (off Central Park)…

The latest about Seymour Bernstein, the Hawk(e), and two colorful Birds

Today began on a high note. Ethan Hawke's documentary about Seymour received a rave review in the New York Times. It was the latest in a series superlatives that synchronized perfectly with the film's debut in New York City at the Lincoln Center Festival amidst whispers about a probable Oscar nomination. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/27/arts/ethan-hawke-films-seymour-an-introduction.html?_r=0 To many film…