Piano Technique: When an adult student is in the Zone!

It's always valuable to snatch a lesson segment when a student gets it just right and has the equivalent of a runner's high at the keyboard. It's certainly instructive for both teacher and pupil to observe what conditions predisposed a pupil to a level of ONEness of body, mind and spirit. Last night, Jocel displayed…

Love the Second Time Around: Seymour, An Introduction

I've seen Ethan Hawke's sensitive film portrait of Seymour Bernstein now FOUR times as I amass a film archive of interviews and written tributes. Need more be said? Run to see a cinematic masterpiece so well framed by Ann Hornaday at the Washington Post: ‘Seymour: An Introduction’ is a soaring, sublime ode to art and…

Imagination and mental imagery in the piano learning environment

It shouldn't be the same old five-finger warm-ups and scales without an infusion of emotion/imagination. That's why I decided to experiment and have two adult students communicate a juxtaposed shift of mood between a MAJOR penta-scale (five-finger position) and its companion parallel minor. Neither pupil expected to be asked to raise five step-wise notes to…

SKYPE CALL RECORDER Playback views for Online Piano Lessons

The UNIVERSE of RECORDING ONLINE LESSONS IN PROGRESS SKYPE CALL RECORDER FACETIME CALL RECORDER *** My Newest Overhead Cam (72 inches high) Still another upgrade: My Piano Room has TWO Overhead webcams in addition to a side view cam that's mounted on a music stand. Overhead side view of Keyboard *** MY PRESENTATION coming up…

Piano Technique: Attaining speed and clarity

Last night, one of my adult students observed me doing a quick glide warm-up over a two-octave scale before we officially started our lesson. Uncannily, his inquiry about how I managed to attain fluency at peak tempo, turned out to be the focus of our first fifteen minutes together, and it got me thinking about…

Run! to see Seymour: An Introduction, Ethan Hawke’s film masterpiece

I went! I cried! I applauded! Those of us immersed in the arts as students and teachers, felt especially validated. On the East Coast, harpsichordist, Elaine Comparone was riveted to the Big Screen just as I nestled into a snug seat at the Albany, California Landmark Twin theater. (East Bay, California) She perfectly summed up…

Piano Technique: Wrist dipping and thumb twiddling

With creative juices flowing during a piano lesson by Skype, a teacher can toy with various mental images by webcam that assist fluid technique. "Wrist dipping" through a five-finger position in rapid rhythm required focus on how to avoid the inevitable accent that occurs on framing thumb and pinky. "Soft" landings were therefore isolated and…

Poignant recollections about pianists, Michelangeli and Barenboim from the Munich Philharmonic’s principal bassoonist

As early Spring weather rolled into Berkeley last Sunday afternoon, I set out for Piedmont Pianos in Oakland to try out various grands, and to partake of the San Francisco Munich Trio. Friedrich Edelmann, bassoonist, and Rebecca Rust, cellist are a couple joined in marriage and music. They sometimes perform as a duo, or with…

Rehearsing for the Big Day! LIVE/SKYPE piano student recital

Peter, originally from Sweden, has been studying piano since January 2014. (He started from scratch without any note reading experience.) Working in the technology field, keeping long hours staring at a computer screen, he wanted to study piano for pure tension relief, and lucky for his teacher, Peter loves his Classical music journey. As one…

Preparing for a SKYPE/LIVE student recital

The day is fast approaching when Online students will meet the LIVE ones who are here in Berkeley, California. As a pretest of connections for the SKYPE contingent, we set aside this past Sunday, coordinating time differences in Europe, the East and West Coast. Two of our ONLINE students were not able to make it,…