Comparone plays Bach on the harpsichord with a palette of emotions

I must admit that I usually experience the "minor" key with poignant intensity, but when I heard Elaine Comparone's most recent performance of J.S.Bach's celebrated D minor concerto, I felt her inner smile radiate through ripples and waves of luscious phrases even as a tragic dimension blanketed the work. Comparone's tapestry of moods, feelings and…

The Psychology of buying and selling a piano

I was hanging off the Gravitron at gym, as I shared inquiries about my FOR SALE Steinway with a personal trainer. Anonymously wrapped, my adventures seemed woven with psychological threads. In the first place, BANNER ads with MODEL AND PRICE were easy to digest, even without a DIGEST to memorialize all the details surrounding my…

Mozart at dusk and daybreak (evading the wrath of neighbors)

I hadn't realized I violated curfew as I recorded the first half of Mozart's G Major Sonata, K. 283 (Presto) on Mac21 last night starting at dusk. Here in my Berkeley apartment complex, washing machines, dryers, and all music must cease at 10 p.m. meaning my video/audio track had ostensibly gone down the drain in…

My singing Steinway studio upright is a parting sorrow

It hasn't left Berkeley yet, but I'm sure my second singing nightingale will in time find the right owner. I've down-sized since my recent move--going from 3,000 sq feet, to 1500 to 700. Might as well live in a Pod. Most readers and You Tubers watched me demonstrate for my students on the upright, as…

Piano Lessons: Creativity, composing, and diversifying

Fritz, one of my young piano students, had been saddled with a long lesson due to his sister's absence so he thought the "extra" time would be spent spot practicing the knotty measures of his Bach Minuet. Or he anticipated the same with his Boogie piece that had become a rich dessert following the main…

Piano Instruction, Don’t wake the “Sleeping Child,” Schumann Kinderszenen, Op. 15 No. 12

Often contemplative, lyrical pieces like lullabies, are bigger challenges to play than lightning bolt fast and furious etudes, final sonata movements etc. "Sleeping Child" is its own poster child for fostering relaxed breaths, flowing musical poetry, and bigger energies beyond the fingers. It's essentially a task not to wake the baby, with obtrusive, unwanted accents.…

Piano Instruction: Mozart Minuet in F, K. 2

Play Through http://youtu.be/9s0QiDNd24o Such delightful music sprang from an inspired little Mozart who at age 6, composed this Minuet in F. His father, Leopold, "notated his son's pieces in a notebook recording the exact date of almost every composition." (K. 2 was born in 1762) A musical gem that's intrinsically vocal, requires the player to…

Steinway and Sons is sold, and the digitals are probably having a party

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/07/01/steinway-sold-to-private-equity-firm-for-438-million/ It was no surprise to read about Steinway selling out to Kohlberg and Company .. Why? because, 1) who has the money to buy a pricey grand 2) Digitals are turning acoustics into dinosaurs. If I were purist and dismissed all my students who had electronics, I'd be catapulted into bankruptcy. In all candor,…

East Coast/West Coast (East Bay) culture shock

Recently, I made a trip back East to New York City and the experience instantly hit "home!" A child of the Bronx and Manhattan, my emigration to Fresno, California three decades ago came with a blast of culture shock, but my most recent relocation to the East Bay (Berkeley aka "Bezerkeley") fleshed out extreme bi-coastal…

Physical fitness routines that aid piano playing

Being physically fit, bottom line, is always helpful to piano playing. That's why I frequent the gym every day. But I've found specific activities that more directly improve my endurance, and increase forearm and upper arm strength. (specifically my tube stretch routines that I demonstrate on video) The Gravitron is also one of my favorite…