I recall my early childhood in the East Bronx on Featherbed Lane. At age 2 or 3, I was exposed to music emanating from a victrola perched on a corner table in a small two-room flat. From sunrise to sunset, heart-throbbing violin concertos, interspersed with operatic solos of Puccini played endlessly. My mother, standing by… Continue reading Early Musical Exposure and its importance
Most piano teachers get inquiries from parents who are riveted to "methods." The most frequently posed question is, "can you tell me how you teach?" Under duress and painted into a corner, a prospective mentor's perfect, all-encompassing answer seems unattainable. And upon closer consideration, a boundary limited approach for every student who crosses the threshold… Continue reading Does any one piano method or playing approach work?
Sometimes we learn a floating, flowing path to beauty through the unfortunate school of HARD knocks. To this effect, I recall my esteemed Oberlin Conservatory piano teacher dealing in mindless, stressful repetitions of meaningless exercises that caused joint pain and unremarkable displays of flat-lined, tightly squeezed playing. His teaching, to an extreme level of adherence… Continue reading Piano Technique: No Pain, Much Gain
Each year, when compiling my favorite You Tube beamed performances, I invariably dote upon the artistry of Irina Morozova. Her playing is simply heavenly, resonating with a heart-melting singing tone that weaves through undulating, well-sculpted phrases. http://youtu.be/e8BQc5wwQGU It took only a smattering of HD transported Chopin offerings to catapult me to Subscriber status and then… Continue reading Pianist, Irina Morozova in Concert at New York’s Mannes College
Grigory Sokolov grabs a deserved spotlight in this bedazzling performance of Schubert's Klavierstucke No. 1 http://youtu.be/zuwi9W3A3tM Bruno Sainmangeon, producer and documentarian captured Sokolov in the same acoustically favorable Berlin space that Murray Perahia chose to deliver the memorable Bach Partita in E minor: http://youtu.be/ELShZDVjoFw Add in Perahia's most recent tour de force in Japan: Beethoven's… Continue reading Chiming in the New Year with my favorite piano performance picks!
Not a bullet-proof analysis, but based on decades of teaching piano, I've come to a set of conclusions about why students give up on pieces too soon, or in reverse, prolong their agony, through time-warped months of static practicing. In truth, giving up too soon, or dragging a piece through months of inertia, both result… Continue reading The universe of piano study: Too Little or Too Long on a piece
Emanuel Ax, well-known concert pianist and teacher asserts that one note struck cannot be varied by physical approach (except for volume) and I'm assuming duration (a clipped staccato release vs. a lingering sustain without pedal) Yet he didn't provide enough specific details about duration, dynamics, and how delays into notes using supple wrist motions could… Continue reading Does approaching notes in different ways at the piano affect tone production?
Master teacher, Irina Morozova infuses her piano lessons with an expressive music-making approach that applies to technique and repertoire. Scales, arpeggios, chords, Czerny etudes, etc. are not compartmentalized as pedantic exercises bundled in torturous repetitions. To the contrary, they're the substance of a musical craft that she honors with specific, singing-tone framed demonstrations of kinetic… Continue reading Teaching piano technique with artistry at the Special Music School/Kaufman Center
The earliest exposure to the piano in the primary lesson learning environment comes with an opportunity to teach the singing tone-- to sensitize young ears to the instrument's capacity to resonate with beauty. It's not just an ear-training experience. The exploration of physical/musical expression, with imagination intertwined, can fill a very young child's lesson with… Continue reading A six-year old child is awakened to the singing tone and how to produce it
Irina Morozova and her student, Daniel Mori reflect the Special Music School's dedication to high artistic achievement.
