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Lately, cyberspace has been full of posts and articles dealing with practice and perfection. Together, they have all got me thinking hard about both myself and my students. We can all get so involved in our beloved work that we don’t notice when we begin to merely walk the walk or talk the talk. When . . . → Read More: PA Shorts: Practice, Perfection, & Personality  Some thoughts for my student as she prepares for a competition… Welcome to the next step of your personal musical journey. You will meet some colleagues who are musically much more mature and experienced than yourself. You will also meet those who are less experienced and mature. You have to be strong enough to be . . . → Read More: Thoughts On An Upcoming Competition Saturday January 8, 2011 was a sad day in Tucson and for the country. The massacre took place at the Safeway where my family shopped for many years. One of my fellow piano teachers and her husband were there when the shots rang out. Our Congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head and despite . . . → Read More: One Year Later: What’s Your Policy? Whew! All the end of term and holiday recital craziness is past us. Years ago I read a group of entertaining rules of performance etiquette in the style of Jolly Olde England. I have no idea what the original source was at this point. (Someone once told me that after 5 years of using an . . . → Read More: PA Shorts: Ye Olde Rules The Happiest Of New Years To All My Fellow Piano Addicts! My heartfelt thanks go out to all of you for stopping by and reading the blog, following @pianoaddictblog on Twitter, and liking Piano Addict on Facebook. I truly appreciate all the post comments and unexpected personal notes of support. You are inspirational, insightful, witty, . . . → Read More: Happy New Year: 2011 Top Posts OK, I admit it, I was streaming Christmas music again during my commute this week. Alright, alright—a few other times too… Lots of mid-century renditions of classic holiday songs were in the mix. You know the ones—Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire, Baby It’s Cold Outside, Silver Bells, Winter Wonderland, Silent Night, Jingle Bells, Sleigh . . . → Read More: Chestnuts: Becoming A Rubato Geek Those of you who know me, know that I am totally against, what my friend calls, “drive by arts experiences”. These experiences can encompass a range of genres; the Chopin Waltz, the 12 Bar Blues piece, The “by ear” piece, Sakura… You get the picture. I also believe in respecting a student’s background and finding . . . → Read More: Guest Post: Teaching Students From Different Backgrounds, Neeki Bey The past week has consisted of a myriad of small annoyances: a student tried to cover not practicing by saying she couldn’t figure out notes she had been reading successfully for quite some time, an entire jury/final schedule had to be redone at the last minute because one student didn’t check the online finals schedule . . . → Read More: A Surge of Holiday Spirit My daughter and I were texting about important logistical stuff yesterday when I suddenly realized that I had to leave to go teach. “Gotta go teach!”, I typed. “Have fun!”, she replied. “Hmmm”, I thought. “Will they have practiced?” Then I reminded myself that I do enjoy teaching very much and having fun is a . . . → Read More: Fun Is A Policy Last week, I received a new insight on romanticism in a most unlikely place. I was on my way home from Eastern Arizona and a podcast from To The Best Of Our Knowledge entitled Writing Nature came up on my playlist. I sighed and thought “no, really?”, because I was truly afraid I was going . . . → Read More: PA Shorts: Wild Things Last week: I was shocked when of one of my teen students developed an alarming tendency towards passive aggression. Is she suffering from middleschoolitis? Is she bored? Is she a victim of raging hormones? Last fall her parents expressed the desire for the children to participate in our state evaluation program. We began the theory . . . → Read More: PA Shorts: Student vs. Teacher It’s that time of year again—time for the college fall recital. We always try to do something unique and different (put on a show) so that the audience is glad they came and the performers have something to focus on besides just getting the notes right. In the past, our programs have included dueling piano . . . → Read More: PA Shorts: Sound Images This week I came across two absolute gems that I feel compelled to share. The first is a quote from Terri Gross’ interview with Tom Waits on Monday’s edition of Fresh Air. There’s no such thing as not playing. Music has rests in it. So, you’re on a rest and the music will begin shortly. . . . → Read More: PA Shorts: Gems Some pianistic trick-or-treating in honor of the day. Enjoy! Halloween Puzzler Night on Bald Mountain: Andrey Dubov Pictures at an Exhibition Pt. 1. The Gnome & The Old Castle : Jonathan Plowright The Sunken Cathedral: Claude Debussy The Imperial March from Star Wars: Anderson & Roe Bach/Busoni Toccata & Fugue in D Minor: Arturo Benedetti . . . → Read More: PA Shorts: Trick or Treat! Hearing Emily tell me a passage of fingering in her Chopin Waltz was Stupid, tell me why, and give a crackerjack way to fix it. Listening to some awesome Beethoven from Andrew who had made a sudden connection to inner voices and what he had been learning in AP class. This was a real breakthrough for . . . → Read More: Lately, Some Things Have Made Me Smile I recently came across a blog post by Dustin Sanders in which he responds to an article on BetterParenting.com: Why Your Children Shouldn’t Take Formal Music Lessons (be sure and read the comments). Yikes! So , I decided to dust off this vintage post and update the links to the funny but so true Music Teacher . . . → Read More: Ahhh… Parents, Parents, Parents: Redux  |
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