Our national homeschool organization recently announced their 2017 Teen Servant Leadership Awards and I was so excited to learn about the work of the young Columbian pianist, Wiley Skaret, to raise money for the children of fallen Columbian police officers. His approach? Playing the piano. Plus, check out this colorful and symbolic piano that Wiley […]
Inspirational
Giveaway of New Album by Amazing Improv Pianist Anna Ferraro
As a young teenager I remember watching gifted pianists open up a piece of simple sheet music and proceed to flood the air with musical beauty that seemed to come out of nowhere. I was baffled (and more than a little jealous!). It was beyond my stick-to-the-music-trained brain’s ability to comprehend how someone could know […]
An Interview with Murray Perahia
Some of my favorite CDs growing up were those of pianist Murray Perahia, so a recent interview with him in Listen magazine published by Steinway & Sons grabbed my attention. It was so refreshing to read Perahia’s comments relating to contemporary music and his preference for tonality, in particular the ingenious work of J.S. Bach. […]
Questions to Ask Students
At our local music teachers association meeting this morning we watched a webinar by Dr. Barbara Fast and Dr. Andrea McAlister on Overcoming the Brain’s Negativity Bias: Empowering Students Through Positive Engaging Language. From Dr. Fast’s segment, I especially appreciated the specific questions she suggested using during a piano lesson (some she gleaned from a […]
Free Piano Masterclass with Robert Levin
One of the teachers in our local music teachers association alerted us to an initiative by Juilliard to live stream a series of masterclasses by various musicians. I am thoroughly enjoying watching the recorded masterclass with Robert Levin and appreciate his down-to-earth style coupled with incredible insight into the music of various composers and how […]
It’s Live!
After months of anticipation, Musical U has finally launched their brand new podcast: The Musicality Podcast! Here’s a quick link to the audio file and shownotes for the interview I did for one of their episodes titled, A Mindset for Musicality. I already subscribed via my podcast app and am so looking forward to tuning […]