Who would have imagined that a new piano would be my special gift to myself! It was one week since my mother had passed away at 100 and I was devastated, shaken by the loss-- too distressed to be thinking about celebrating my upcoming birthday in any way. Yet when I saw an ad for… Continue reading My Birthday present to me!
Did I expect a dental visit to UCSF on Parnassus to blossom into a Landmark expedition through the Embarcadero Business Center?! Why not? I'd caught a glimpse of Seymour an Introduction playing in close proximity to my #6 AC TRANSIT point of departure once I stepped off BART on Market Street in downtown San Francisco.… Continue reading A San Francisco Landmark and musical reunion!
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… Continue reading Piano Technique: When an adult student is in the Zone!
I went! I cried! I applauded! Those of us immersed in the arts as students and teachers, felt especially validated. On the East Coast, harpsichordist, Elaine Comparone was riveted to the Big Screen just as I nestled into a snug seat at the Albany, California Landmark Twin theater. (East Bay, California) She perfectly summed up… Continue reading Run! to see Seymour: An Introduction, Ethan Hawke’s film masterpiece
A kindred musician friend and Baroque scholar residing on the East Coast tipped me off that my "first love" reading of Bach's Prelude in F minor a few months back, was just the very top layer of a more in depth relationship to come. And as time bore out, she was right because my earliest… Continue reading J.S. Bach’s ethereal Prelude in F minor, BWV 881 (contour and voices)
It was a shock to my nervous system to hear a LIVE concert! I had been getting so used to iPod fed classics and You tube streamed performances that I forgot what I was missing. From my seat at terrace right, almost hanging over the stage, I heard amazing instrumental clarity and orchestral color, though… Continue reading My afternoon at the San Francisco Symphony with Yuja Wang, Pianist
Today's good deed was my hands on effort to place a gorgeous sounding old upright in a deserving home. And judging by the attention this Emerson vintage piano eventually received after I played it for well past an hour at a Berkeley thrift store, there may be hope that an old veteran like this, can… Continue reading Adoption in the old piano universe
Everyone loves a self-starter--a wide-eyed visionary who transforms dreams into reality. Patrick Schmidt comes quickly to mind, immersed in his universe of mult-media explorations but always reaching out to an "international" community of creative spirits. Here's how he describes himself: "I'm a tinkerer, artist, scientist, crafter, and many other things. I do small sculpturing and… Continue reading Patrick Schmidt sparks an East Bay Cultural Renaissance in the Meet-up Universe!
Andrew M. Gooden and his wife, Ruth Kleinman join a Board of GCC volunteers to make college access a reality for students who might otherwise be lost in the shuffle.
Scales can be a great workout routine if you let your arms loose, dip your pliant wrists and go with the flow. And it's a great cardio. (No treadmill or weights required) Just apply principles of balance and buoyancy. Here are snatches from an adult student's lesson (Legato and staccato playing with slow motion replays)… Continue reading Piano Technique: A Bouncy Scale workout with forward arm rolls and supple wrist motions–Enjoy the romp! (Videos)
