The Gift of Music, An inspiring Evgeny Kissin documentary

The teaser: http://youtu.be/M0U73NRSIkw You Tube can be a gift-giving repository. Documentaries about *Arthur Rubinstein, Lang Lang, Horszowski, *Richter, Kissin, et al, produced and edited with sensitivity and respect for musical art, can light a path of insight like no other. (In this spirit, I eagerly await the film about Seymour Bernstein produced by Ethan Hawke)…

Practicing a Mozart Andante movement, using a “singing pulse”

Murray Perahia clarified the "singing pulse" when he discussed a form of rubato, or flexible time that he believed could apply to Classical era repertoire. In an interview conducted by Sir Dennis Forman in the 1980s, the pianist, known as a formidable musical poet of his generation, discussed the Mozart Concerto No. 21 in C,…

Top FIVE Piano Lesson by SKYPE Interruptions! (Videos)

Group web cam lessons on Bow-wow ( Iowa, Michigan, and Minnesota) Top Notch Tone Tutorial Class 1) out-take http://youtu.be/fONbHGw8zXM 2) out-take http://youtu.be/Fy-6SkVFqMQ 3) Cat jumps out the window (United Kingdom) http://youtu.be/df7Pfg0Fcnc 4) 5 month-old Baby on lap (Alaska) http://youtu.be/D1HDoNAI75A 5) Earthquake! (Brazil) http://youtu.be/I-dbDgapMmA

Piano Instruction: Mozart Sonata No. 16 in C Major, K. 545, Allegro (updated Video)

http://youtu.be/YF5kiQfLces Play through http://youtu.be/rETIvT6Cr2k

An informative chat with a whimsical piano technician (REGISTERED, of course)

I had a delightful exchange with John Peters, RPT, about pianos, restorations, repairs, machine vs. aural tunings, and all that sprung from his wild imagination. For instance, John communicates an intense passion for tuning.. "I get paid to "meditate," he insists. Then he quickly veers off with a one-liner about fixing squeaky pedals. "I pour…

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…

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: 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…