Piano Lessons: The Raw adult beginner

I use the term "raw" to describe adult piano students who don't read music or play by ear. They often come to their first lesson oozing with enthusiasm, but harboring fears associated with success and failure themes. It's the usual environmental humdrum we all know about that puts the business paradigm squarely at odds with…

Honoring my “neighborhood” piano teacher amidst melting degrees of separation

The Back Story: After having spent about 30 years in hometown New York City, I emigrated to the agriculture-rich San Joaquin Valley, California, planting myself and family in Fresno. This seemed to be a God forsaken place with excruciating heat (though dry). With its relentless air pollution; bad water from contaminated wells, and high incidence…

A beginning adult piano student has an awakening about musical expression

I have to thank Sam, a Berkeley, California transplant to the UK, for imparting pearly words of wisdom via Skype. He shared an epiphany about music-making that got me thinking. As he observed a London chamber music Masterclass, Sam mentioned how the teacher planted a convincing thought that musicians are "actors,"---how they must capture mood…

Piano Lessons: “My kids don’t practice so what can I do about it?”

The latest piano forum quandary surrounds daily practicing. Parents are wringing their hands as teachers impart the latest advice of the week. Even adult students are plagued by "shoulds" and perfect routes to success, planted in their psyche in early childhood. They'll cancel their own lessons if they didn't get to the piano every day.…

Rolling wrist motions, “Circle Dance,” and adult “elementary” students

A few of my adult students who have returned to the piano after a long hiatus, are pleased to re-orient themselves to the instrument via five-finger position pieces. These cannot be dismissed handily as play by finger number journeys. In fact, the larger pedagogical value of selected repertoire is substantial. In "Circle Dance" by Ferdinand…

Everyone’s obsessed with the fall-off in piano students

I evade the firing squad at any number of piano ped. forums by sticking to my guns. I say, in some parts of the world there may be a strong Classical music tradition bound up with a formidable work ethic. In remote parts of Romania, for example, and into the hills of Slavic countries, the…

Tchaikovsky’s “Harmonica Player” fits snugly between a Song and Dance

When I first stumbled upon "The Harmonic Player," No. 12, from Tchaikovsky's Op. 39 Children's Album, my first thought was, "Why on earth did the great composer include such tirelessly redundant music with an unimaginative harmonic scheme and belabored melody." For certain, as a stand-alone, it could be easily passed over--- dismissed as a throwaway…

Tchaikovsky’s “Mama” gives double messages

"Mama" is a lyrically spun out tableau evoking the endearing, universally loving mother, but as many can attest, moms may often send out double messages. In Tchaikovsky's Op. 39, Children's Album, MAMA has number 4 status among 24 beautifully descriptive pieces, and with its remarkable dualism, in parallel tenths between the soprano (top line) and…

Sculpting melodic lines over FACETIME

Is this Orwellian? It's well past 1984, and pianists who've steeped themselves in every URTEXT (authentic music edition) known to civilization, are signing on to SKYPE, meeting their students in Alaska, Uganda, Brazil, or even right around the corner. The NEW neighborhood teacher is zoning out on the big screen with a Logitech mini-cam blowing…

Favorite Tchaikovsky piano pieces and their pedagogical value

I made a promise to myself well before the New Year, that I would learn one new Tchaikovsky composition each day from the composer's Op. 39 Children's Album. (24 tableaux) Not that I'm recommending to piano students that they assimilate new music at lightning speed, but for me the challenge was to make a spurt…