Bringing the Keyboard closer to the long distance piano student

Yesterday, my Logitech cam was un-clipped from the Big Mac during a lesson to Greece. The pupil, hanging out on the island of Kos, needed a graphic representation of my hands braving a few difficult measures in Bach's Little Fugue in C Major, BWV 952. It's the composition where the composer challenges the player to…

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: When scale notes go off the radar screen

One of my Skype students is practicing the D Major scale in contrary motion. (Her thumbs at Middle D) We start slow triplets to 16ths, to 32nds (Legato/Staccato/Forte/piano) The snag occurs at the third and final octave out, where most students think the notes are off the radar--but in truth peripheral vision and/or rolling eyeballs…

Piano Instruction: Can we over-analyze a Bach fugue?

Little Bach Fugue in C, BWV 952 required insights into its organized structure so I could better teach it. But how much analysis was required and could it be trusted?

Piano Lesson: What I learned from an adult student about Bach Invention 4 in D minor (VIDEOS)

Today was an ear-opener, though I admit to having had a set of preconceived ideas about this Bach composition. (in two-part counterpoint) Just from having studied it myself, parceling out each separate voice in a step-wise, layered approach, I could impart what I learned as a self-delivered lecture. But the ingredient, of adding a student…

A pianist is a COLLABORATOR NOT an “accompanist”

The "A" word is officially banished from my vocabulary, even if its residual usage in books, newspapers, old reviews, can't be controlled. To boot, anyone who's been handed a stack of music by the High School vocal teacher to ready for the mid-year Christmas program and a few others in between Thanksgiving and semester break,…

A sentimental journey taken with Mozart

Musical memories rekindled

The Haydn Piano Sonata in C, UNPINNED, and matters of Memorization

Pianists are expected to perform on stage without music. It's a controversial area worth probing.

No Skimming the surface in piano warm-ups and a Chopin exchange with a sixth-grader

Lucy started piano about four years ago in El Cerrito, a short Bart ride from Berkeley, my current residence. A transfer student, she'd been immersed in Bastien primers and hand-outs of various patriotic pieces. Note-reading skills were minimal. Over time, as our musical relationship unfolded, Lucy played scales, arpeggios, and through her patient efforts performed…