The moment it arrived, I was captivated by this full-color mammoth guide to practicing – Practiceopedia:The Music Student’s Illustrated Guide to Practicing. The 376 pages are chock-full of creative ideas to help students learn to practice effectively and conquer those tough spots in their pieces. I found myself reading through page after page, unable to […]
Resource Reviews
Glorious Christmas Music CD!
Wow! If you want to hear some of the most amazing Christmas music ever recorded, click on over to Nelidova Records and listen to the sample clips from the Christmas Fantastique CD! I love to have Christmas music playing around the house between Thanksgiving and the New Year, but sometimes I have a hard time […]
Review: Folksongs for Piano – A Classical Interpretation
Billed as “an alluring blend of folk and classical music that celebrate the wonderful melodies found in folk songs,” I enjoyed playing through this delightful collection of six folk songs. The book is arranged by Cheryl Shantz and the cover indicates that it includes “Graded Pieces at the Intermediate Level.” I must confess, though, it […]
Review of Piano Music of Africa and the African Diaspora, Vol. 2
This 53-page second volume of Piano Music of Africa and the African Diaspora is definitely more challenging than the first volume! It is labeled Intermediate, but I struggled a good bit with some of the complicated rhythms and dissonant harmonies myself. The layout is the same as the first volume, with the first several pages […]
Review of Piano Music of Africa and the African Diaspora, Vol. 1
When William Nyaho was the guest artist at our state music teachers conference several years ago I was thoroughly impressed with his personable and engaging style as both a performer and a teacher. His performance of numerous styles of music was fabulous, but when he played the second of the set of Three Jamaican Dances […]
An Interview with Paul Musgrave
Co-author of the newly published Dr. Mozart Theory Workbooks (click here for the review), Paul Musgrave, joins us today on Music Matters Blog for an exclusive interview. Music Matters Blog (MMB): What is your musical and teaching background? Paul Musgrave: After graduating from Juilliard, my co-author, Machiko, taught piano and theory at Soai University in […]
