Fingering snarls in Mozart’s Allegretto, Sonata in C, K. 545 and suggested remedies from the experts

We all have our nemesis. The last measures (68-73) of Mozart's rondo: Allegretto, K. 545, Sonata in C Major, have ensnared me, barring smooth passage to final cadence. For others the journey is uneventful. Who knows? Size of hands, finger length, state of mind, and lack of sleep, might be variables. But more often than…

Knee-jerk technology brings the keyboard closer to an Online piano student

By reassigning a web cam to my knee, I was able to assist a student with a nagging measure.

A J.S. Bach Little Prelude: Making decisions about phrasing and articulation

The Urtext (original) editions of Bach's keyboard music offer sparse directions about phrasing/articulation, (groupings of notes) so the player has to make important decisions that reflect a Baroque style. But what are the guidelines in a process that has an intellectual and affective dimension? To the extreme, some pianists use pedal and soak up linear…

How things have changed since I took piano …

Let's be honest. There are climate changes in the piano lesson environment.

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

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

Arius 141 gets a call back during a blinds and shade installation

http://youtu.be/21cZoT6K2bU If this were a chorus line, Arius would be happy to have been selected for the next audition round-- sharing the honor with a blinds and shade installer. He hammered away, and snapped the wood cap to the oak-looking blind, while Arius and her companion Steinway M, provided a Bach to basics backdrop. The…

A Star is Born!

Loretta Gooden returns to singing, the love of her life.

Bringing home the Yamaha Arius YDP-141, my NO. 1 ranked digital (Video)

Over a year ago I surveyed digital pianos at Guitar Center and Best Buy, and drooled over Yamaha Arius. It was hands down my favorite electronic of the lot. So why was I investing in a plug-in, when I had three acoustics jammed into my living room? Main reason: I'm moving to the Bay area…

A Purr-fect sedative for a Cat

"Harmony of the Angels" has a soporific effect on Aiden cat while it provided a relaxing prelude to Rina's earliest piano lessons. Students, young and old, love its thread of sonorities.

Pianos, Old Age, and Cosmetic Imperfection

I wish I could order an instant make-over for gorgeous-sounding pianos that suffer rejection because of imperfect exteriors. By example, one of my students who'd grown attached to her respectable-looking, 70′s era, walnut console piano, was devastated when her family whisked it away during a move to a bigger house. Apparently, the instrument's wood grain…