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 […]
Teaching
Split End Arpeggios at the Piano
One of the approaches that I encourage my students to use to help them become fluent in piano arpeggios is a hands together pattern that one of my teachers showed me years ago. I could never remember the name of them, so I finally tasked one of my creative students with determining a name and […]
Three Fun Rhythm-Related Stations for Piano Group Class
In keeping with our Beat the Pirates! practice incentive theme this year, we are incorporating rhythm activities into each of our monthly group piano classes. This week’s group class turned out to be quite the hit! I set up three stations and placed the students in pairs, then they rotated through each station. Here’s a […]
I see the pattern!
One of my favorite aspects of teaching is leading students to a discovery of knowledge. Renowned pedagogue Frances Clark reminded us, “Teaching is not telling.” As easy, and seemingly efficient, as it is to fall into the rut of telling students what I want them to know, the reality is that they will almost assuredly […]
A Lovely Night
Due to a number of unexpected circumstances last year, I made the difficult decision not to host any kind of Christmas recital for my students (after 20 years of that annual tradition!). Instead, my husband suggested that we do something for Valentine’s Day. I decided to give his idea a try, and we had an […]
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. […]
