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.

Piano Gym: Routines that build technique (Videos)

In the Olympiad era, bespectacled piano teachers and their students are assumed to be lockouts, pouring over eclectic music manuscripts in sheltered studios of higher learning. We're viewed as eternal bench-warmers, leading sedentary lives; practicing archaic music for hours at a time in a monastic rhythm. But these are missperceptions. Most pianists are members of…

Keeping up with a fast turnover of repertoire and reclaiming an old piece from the Classical era (Videos)

I always make it a point to advise students of all levels, to stay with a piece long enough to feel at one with it--to experience a fluidity of motion that comes from baby-step, layered learning. Despite my admonitions, some pupils choose to remain in the fast lane, whizzing through one selection after another without…

Piano Instruction: Clementi Sonatina in C, Op. 36 No. 3 (parts 1 and 2) and a Skyped lesson-in-progress recorded by camcorder

Supplements to Skyped lessons come in two forms. I will either send an unlisted mid-week video to a long-distance learner as a brush-up, or I'll upload public videos that can be universally shared. Both help me crystallize how I will phrase a composition and teach it. The student, in an interactive role, feeds me ideas…

Piano Technique: Rotation, Turnaround, and Curve around of scales, with application to repertoire (Videos)

Piano students, by and large, don't relish playing scales. They would rather eat spinach than practice what they view as tedious, finger-trippers. I have a different perspective. For me, scales are my playground and workout space. They keep me in shape, fine tuning my ears to their internal undulations and curvy turnarounds. They translate from…

A Skyped Piano Lesson in Progress: Between California and Greece (Chopin Waltz in B minor)–Video

Reaching across the ocean to Greece? This was a first. London, maybe or Alaska? But connecting up with a piano student within range of the Parthenon was unthinkable. In fact, he now lives in Kos, an island with many sites and huge history. It's famous for the Asklipion where Hippocrates, the ancient doctor lived and…

An El Cerrito “Moonlight” Walk to Beethoven (Video)

I joined a congenial group of hikers for a challenging trek through the El Cerrito Hills. It was my first, eye-opening, exploration of the California city's rugged terrain and dense brush. Prior to this rustic romp, my sidewalk sauntering took me up Contra Costa Drive and Potrero, huffing and puffing my way to the peak.…

Piano Warm-ups, Chopin, and the Art of Breathing (Videos)

An adult student and I worked on relaxation techniques that applied to her warm-ups. We practiced preparation for starting notes of broken chords and scales. I recommended a slow and deep ingestion of air before the release of a stream, that has a perfect moment to create an opening sound or tone. Music and the…

Rina, 5, plays “Little March” by Turk–10 months of piano lessons–and a flashback to my childhood

Rina marches forward making great progress. For a child of 5, her gains are remarkable. By comparison, my early piano studies were unremarkable. When I embarked upon lessons at age 6, I lived in the Marble Hill Projects, (Bronx, New York) in a small apartment that had no piano. As a consequence, I had to…

From Legato to Staccato: staying connected at the piano (Video)

The universal chant among my adult students is, “I can’t play those darn staccato scales and arpeggios. They’re impossible!” And the reason for all the moans and groans is, they feel DISCONNECTED, and not safely secure in the keys. It’s in part PSYCHOLOGICAL. If students can pull off a nice, swinging, well-shaped LEGATO, all they…