|
||||
|
Inspired by Steven Nachmanovich’s book, Freeplay, my friend and mentor, Dr. Lisa Zdechlik talks a lot about galumphing as we learn. (you know- the playing part of playing piano) We galumph when we take a tricky passage and practice it in rhythms, or improvise on it, or create an exercise from it and transpose it . . . → Read More: Galumphing With Mr. Hanon  Well, it’s that crazy time of year again and you know what that means. Summer is almost upon us! Is reading in your plans? If so, here are some juicy pianistic treats to dive into. Do you have more books to share? Please, please do! Midnight Arpeggios: An Illustrated Philosophy of Practicing and Music, M.J. . . . → Read More: Summer Reads One of my Facebook friends recently shared a few words of advice to aspiring musicians by pianist, singer, songwriter, and producer, Ben Folds. This earthy collection of thoughts struck a chord with me. Also, I find it entertaining and awesome that he wrote it while on a flight to Boston. The advice applies to . . . → Read More: PA Shorts: Opportunity Knocks A gonga post by John Terrauds of Musical Toronto made me sit up and take notice last week. In it, he wrote about his experiences taking on a group of students for a teacher on leave. Working with these students caused him to reflect on lessons as toil, duty, and obligation through rigid adherence to . . . → Read More: Duty or Joy? Do pianos eat things? Some technicians I know think maybe they do. I received a great question from PA reader, Josh about quite an unusual something he and his technician found inside his piano. I have a 1910 Jewett Upright Piano. Recently I had the keyboard pulled to repair some various felts and repair keys. . . . → Read More: PA Shorts: What Has Your Piano Eaten Lately? In this post, Dennise describes her journey to music and teaching. When Dennise came to me at EAC, she told me that there were few teachers in the area of Mexico where she grew up and that she wanted to change that. This young lady is one of the most determined yet humble people I . . . → Read More: Guest Post: Dennise Ontiveros Rivera Last Wednesday evening, while my class piano students were working on their improvs for the midterm, I suddenly found myself saying, “You don’t need to apologize! Maybe in your world there’s a happy little tree right there.” The funny thing was that absolutely everybody (from teenagers to 60+) got it. They all knew the late . . . → Read More: Happy Little Trees 1. While there is certainly a need to vent multiple frustrations when working with Finale, there is no need to use foul language. I have begun taking a page from a recent Whad’ya Know broadcast and using Serengeti or (for more emphasis) Serengeti Plain instead. For example: Where in the Serengeti did Finale stash . . . → Read More: Finale 2012: Lessons in Peaceful Coexistance Since 2009, Malan Wilkinson has interviewed over 60 pianists on her site, Pianists From The Inside. The likes of Ralph Votapek, Michal Tal, Ilana Vered, Andre Gavrilov, and Pierre-Arnaud Dablemont have graced these posts. Malan always manages to make each artist come alive in these interviews. Her next post will feature Simone Dinnerstein. Nancy . . . → Read More: PA Shorts: Interviews From Newbies and Oldbies 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  |
  |
||
|
Copyright © 2012 Piano Addict - All Rights Reserved |
||||
