Playing Mozart: Phrasing and Nuance

Expressing Mozart's piano music beautifully is a composite of many ingredients that include vocal modeling; an understanding of form/structure and harmonic elements; sound imaging, and in the cosmos of the imagination, exploring how to produce what we want to hear. In our ongoing phase of "experimentation," we delve through a terrain of unclarity, seeking ways…

Thoughts on learning Mozart Sonata No. 12 in F, K. 332 (first movement)

After my review of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "Drawing Room" Sonata K. 545 in C, Allegro, I discovered by comparison that the opening movement of K. 332 in F Major, had a more complex mosaic. In the short space of its nearly three page exposition, K. 332's multiple themes weave through markedly contrasting sections. *A Sturm…

Piano Lesson: Mozart Rondo, Allegretto- Sonata K. 545 with a pedal pushback to Andante

Each teaching encounter brings a new awakening. A composition that's been practiced to death, taught times over, recorded, retired and reviewed, can still experience a rebirth when a student embarks upon his/her individual musical journey. It's like a parent (mentor) reliving one's own childhood by having children. On Skype today, a pupil who had conscientiously…

Celebrating Mozart’s Birthday with his music

http://youtu.be/e8wwbLyguDg   ***

Piano Study: Learning in deep layers and loving it

Deep-layered learning should occur at all levels of piano study because it enriches the music-making experience. Taking shortcuts, and constantly reading through a composition, skimming the surface, deprive the player of being in touch with himself and the composer at the moment of creation. One particular masterwork, that draws so many pupils into its gorgeous…

The empty nest: “Haddy” will sing in another home

I will have one less piano in about two weeks. "Haddy" Haddorff, the singing nightingale will nest in a new place starting September 16th. Not to worry, she's on temporary loan to a local piano teacher who will keep her in tune, and vocalizing regularly. I'm Berkeley bound and my new apartment can only accommodate…

After midnight MOONLIGHT Sonata–why not another try, first movement (BEETHOVEN–video)

I had nothing better to do at 1 a.m. and Aiden cat had settled down on the rug beside the piano. This time he had no energy reserves to leap to the window sill and make a racket. (Notice how Beethoven's strains sedated him, except for a transitory cat tag jiggle. But how rude for…

Mozart Rondo: Allegretto K. 545, Performance and Analysis

Performance: http://youtu.be/Meb-yhioUIo Analysis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6oSo-WC9OM&feature=related The Rondo, more often than not, is the form used in the last movement of a Classical era Sonata. (The Classical period roughly encompasses the years between 1750 and 1830) The Rondo is usually a brisk, lively and energetic movement that brings a sonata to a definitive conclusion. It is in…

Anne Meux, her pianos, and my visit

From the Internet site about the Meux Home that is located in downtown Fresno within walking distance of the Amtrak station: "One of the prime houses in terms of historical and architectural significance is the Meux Family home at the northwest corner of Tulare and R Streets. "The home was built in 1888 by Dr.…

Piano Instruction: Mozart Rondo: Allegretto, 3rd mvt. Sonata in C, K. 545

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6oSo-WC9OM http://youtu.be/Meb-yhioUIo In this instructional video I analyze the form and musical content of Mozart's Sonata in C Major, K. 545, Rondo: Allegretto, Third movement. (I play behind tempo to make the commentary and musical phrases more understandable) The Rondo, more often than not, is the form used in the last movement of a Classical…