Chopin’s Nocturne in E minor, Op. 72, No. 1: Rotation, voicing, phrasing

Many students believe their hands are too small to navigate the E minor Nocturne. Seeing awkward intervals inside of broken chords that often span beyond an octave, they have a fixed mindset that the Left Hand (in this composition) must pre-stretch the distance between the lower and upper most note to insure ACCURACY, at least.…

Husband and wife pianists I have known and their legacy

This week's practicing and You Tubing hearkened back to my student days in New York City. Lillian Lefkofsky Freundlich was my Rosina Lhevinne. She, like her Russian counterpart, was married to a high profile husband, Irwin Freundlich who doubled as her 4-hand piano partner. When Irwin passed away in his late 60s quite suddenly, as…

Adult piano instruction: the singing model in playing/practicing Chopin

There's no doubt in my mind that Chopin's music is allied to the opera and the New York Times featured an article on this very subject that resonates in my teaching and playing the composer's works. From Tommasini, Arts editor: "It’s a wonder that Chopin, born in 1810, never tried to write an opera, because…

The El Cerrito Hills are alive with the sound of music

In the old days, I commuted by Amtrak from Central CA to the East Bay, chugging along the scenic route with my digital camera pressed against the train window. A few awesome seascapes managed to squeak through the bumpy ride, and these were memorialized by photographic import to my soundtracks, then posted to YOU TUBE.…

Spot practicing Chopin’s Waltz in C# minor with an adult student

This pupil demonstrates patient, behind tempo practicing: http://youtu.be/xQzGrSCfBLU My play through (with flexible forward wrist motions to help sculpt phrases) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbzKAmz2r_A LINK: https://arioso7.wordpress.com/2013/06/20/piano-warm-up-routines-with-an-adult-student/

A Tribute to traveling piano teachers

I'm lucky that for decades I've been a stationary piano teacher, home-based for Skype, but having two youngsters whom I teach at their house up in the El Cerrito Hills. Fortunately, I get chauffeured to and from the location so I don't have to schlep to Bart, or burn up gasoline in my non-existent car.…

The polishing stage of learning can be dessert for a piano teacher and student

I relish time spent with a student who's baby-stepped a musical journey with patience and self-acceptance. The polishing stage is icing on the cake, a dessert following the main course. In this case, an adult pupil kept to a regimen of scales and arpeggios in A minor, as her tip-toe adventure into a Chopin Waltz…

Hand-switching and Chopin (making a piano duet out of a solo)

I did a double take watching footage of yesterday's lesson in the El Cerrito Hills. Seeing two arms, one half-sleeved, and the other firmly wrapped in olive green, made me wonder if an alien from Mars had landed squarely at the piano. Upon closer inspection, the camera had played tricks on me, creating an optical…

Into the Hills with the Sound of Music –a Baldwin Acrosonic “acoustic” sings

The video attached to this writing validates the beauty of music-making on a well-maintained, though 1940s vintage era acoustic piano. Baldwin Acrosonics were the Cadillacs of the spinet and console variety pianos. They had a noticeable innovation compared to their sister-size instruments. (A deeper sound chamber, especially noted in the consoles that measured 40" or…

Piano Technique: Are arpeggios “boring?” I don’t think so!

Arpeggios don't deserve a bad rap!