Computer crashes and recovery!

There's nothing like a Big Mac blitz of pulsating pixels in checkered, multi-colored patterns, building to an eye-catching display of blinking lights that forewarns of a computer shutdown. A lyrical Schumann tableau, Face time streamed from Australia, becomes muted by a choir of cackling parakeets whose primal sense of impending doom is on full screen…

Braving the Berkeley apartment terrain and coming out a You Tube survivor!

Recording and apartment living can be at odds with each other...

Chopin Waltz in Ab Major, Op. 69 No. 1–considerations of mics, recording conditions, and tempo, with performance comparisons

First, I have to admit that my prized Yeti mic suffered yet another break-down. "Break" is to be emphasized. I tripped over the wire on the way to Haddy Haddorff, and the sensitive connector from iMac's USB port to the mic itself was altered. Yeti wouldn't register on "Preferences" as an external no matter how…

Debussy Arabesque No. 1 and the back story (Video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv1WpPXSQx8 Speaking of pianos, and decisions about which to use, I decided to give Haddy Haddorff another opportunity to sing like a nightingale. This was a late-into-the-night sound exploration following an earlier trip to the Mac Store at Fresno's Fashion Fair Mall. The Yeti mic was not registering--no sound--no explanation, though it was properly connected.…

Picking the right piano to record a selection (Videos)–“Fur Elise” by Beethoven

I've heard stories about great pianists such as Richter obsessing over a choice of piano for a concert. Allegedly, he was very fussy, and sometimes regretted the one he picked out for a recital. But when he found himself playing in Siberia and rural parts of the Russian landscape, he rose to the occasion, and…

Piano practicing, performance, and gym routines: Always Reach Beyond! (Video, Bach Invention 8 in F)

http://youtu.be/7no8U9pV_SI I take my inspiration from the two Irina/Irena-s, each pronouncing their names slightly differently. Irina Gorin is the ingenious piano teacher from Carmel, Indiana via the Ukraine, and Irena Orlov is from Washington D.C.'s Levine School of Music via Leningrad. They both inspire students to explore and draw out their deepest creative expression. That's…

Playing piano and getting into the spirit (Video with Aiden cat joining in)

It's holiday time, and we're all eating with gusto. In honor of Thanksgiving, we completely let go, pardoning ourselves of any rigid diet that would preclude an all out splurge. So now, enter the piano, as a feast of delights waiting for the player to partake without a hint of holding back. It seems like…

Everything but the kitchen sink on video: How to make an iMovie with any sanity

I was experimenting once again with the iMac's iMovie plopping myself down at Haddy, (my Haddorff piano) at the first opportunity after lessons were over today. In the process of exploring and refining recording conditions here at home, I decided to take my Yeti, not Big Foot, but a spiffy looking silver plated mic to…