Piano Lessons: A raw adult beginner moves along

Each piano student shapes his own journey with the help of a cooperating teacher. For one particular pupil, who came to his first lesson not reading a note of music, his burning desire to learn ignited a playful romp through a set of duets. These are sourced from Faber's Accelerated Adventures for the Older Beginner.…

Teaching piano by Skype in a foreign language

The brave new horizon technology that launched our webcam mentoring journey around the world, adds an instant language translator by Skype. As the need arises, a piano teacher can tap into a downloaded CATFISH application and preselect English to Spanish, or any paired lingo combo that's pertinent to the student's country of origin. Last night…

Piano Technique: Picking up Arpeggio Speed with blocked and unblocked note groupings

I uploaded two videos today that focus on practicing strategies for playing brisk paced arpeggio (G Major). The first is an after hours tutorial that I recorded by FACETIME SCREEN RECORD. The screen, framed by Millennium technology art nouveau, features my Arius YDP 141 digital piano as its centerpiece. The second video sample is a…

Parceling out voices in Chopin’s Nocturne in F Major, Op. 15

Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass scoring in Chopin's hauntingly beautiful F Major Nocturne (opening section) begs for an artistic examination through voice parceling. One cannot just paste the left hand onto the right, deferring entirely to the soprano. (soloist) Meandering chromatics weave through the alto, tenor, and bass, creating unexpected harmonic events that influence melodic shaping,…

By FACETIME or SKYPE, Quicktime recorded snippets assist piano students

My amazement grows in big spurts when I discover new options to aid piano students who take lessons over Skype or Facetime. Two of mine, have poor SKYPE transmission, while FACETIME hums along with clarity. This circumstance motivated me to explore the FACETIME Record option, whose SKYPE analog I'd mastered as CALL RECORDER. Last night,…

Combining LIVE and SKYPED Piano Lessons

A FACEBOOK forum contributor at the Art of Piano Pedagogy, urged me to blog about the hybrid piano instructor who inhabits the dual universe of LIVE and web-transmitted lessons. So having unplugged three web cams last night to make room for a flesh and blood student, I can expand upon my own multifaceted instructional encounters.…

Simone Dinnerstein at Dewing Recital Hall: A Crusade for a better piano

https://arioso7.wordpress.com/2014/02/01/simone-dinnerstein-at-dewing-recital-hall-a-crusade-for-a-better-piano/ Simone Dinnerstein, Pianist Friday, Jan.31, 2014 DEWING RECITAL HALL Mills College Oakland, California *** It's sad that what's most memorable about a concert is a piano not performing satisfactorily for a gifted, invited performer. Simone Dinnerstein, known for her self-funded Goldberg Variations CD that catapulted her into the media spotlight, leading to IMG Artists…

Multi-cam views during Skype or Face Time piano lessons

  I rely on  Logitech webcams with a long range panoramic capability and various angled keyboard views, including a DIRECT KEYBOARD overhead as below.   These views are just a mouse tap away. For trill and ornament demonstrations, I can highlight the second or third HD PRO cam option listed on my SKYPE (or FACE…

Husband and wife pianists I have known and their legacy

This week's practicing and You Tubing hearkened back to my student days in New York City. Lillian Lefkofsky Freundlich was my Rosina Lhevinne. She, like her Russian counterpart, was married to a high profile husband, Irwin Freundlich who doubled as her 4-hand piano partner. When Irwin passed away in his late 60s quite suddenly, as…

Piano Technique: Arpeggios!

I love these romps through broken chords (around the CIRCLE of FIFTHS) and my adult students "work out" weekly. (The challenge is to have smooth shifts between octaves, a seamless playing in legato minus thumb CLUNKS, and in staccato to play crisp and evenly. Arpeggios (root, third, fifth patterns) can be practiced in parallel motion…