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In this post we adventure vicariously with Sara Zanussi. Sara is just back from a year spent teaching piano and music in Arusha Tanzania. When I asked her how she became involved in the project she said, “honestly the short answer is contacts but basically it landed in my lap!” Sara Zanussi is the . . . → Read More: Guest Post: Sara Zanussi, A Tanzanian Adventure  photo © 2005 Laura Henderson (via: Wylio) How can I better help my students understand why they should keep playing and studying through high school and beyond and also help them develop realistic expectations about the role of piano playing in their future lives and careers? A recent blog post by Heather Wolper-Gawron on Edutopia, The . . . → Read More: Reach Out & Touch Someone: The Value of eMentoring It is human nature to have a gut belief that everyone finds musical inspiration just as you do. The way we operate is just so intrinsic to who we are that we often can’t imagine it any other way. Yet, if we go out of our comfort zone, it is possible to discover surprising things . . . → Read More: Finding Inspiration I was catching up on some podcasts this week during my weekly commute to EAC when I became enthralled by a segment from To The Best Of Our Knowledge: Creative Pairs. In it, Lan Samantha Chang, Director of the Iowa Writers Workshop, discussed the impact a teacher can have on students. I was struck by . . . → Read More: In Your Face! I have posted a lot about filling in what is missing from our student’s backgrounds, but, this week I got to thinking about our own gaps, crevices, and canyons. We all have them whether we want to admit it or not. As a clinician, I often have teachers proudly tell me, “I only teach up . . . → Read More: Gaps, Crevices, & Canyons Over the last few days, I was part of an interesting Tweetversation with Robert Oliver and Joe Guarr about whether the powers that be think that mandating technology can replace teachers. My response was GIGO (garbage in garbage out). This old axiom refers to computer programming but many of us use it for a variety of . . . → Read More: PA Shorts: GIGO In my capacity as QOTS (you had to be there- if not, see my Essential Skills Series) I quite often need to be the instigator of radical change in my students. When interviewing transfer students in my private studio, we discuss both the student’s and my goals for their musical studies. I feel that this . . . → Read More: Change, Change, Change Today in the Sunday paper, there was an article by Marni Jameson describing a new book on preparing surfaces for paint (not any actually painting mind you) in which there are 194 pages and the statement: “Read the text completely before beginning surface preparation.” After total overload set in (caused in part by 5 paragraphs . . . → Read More: Just Paint! Methodology & The Nitty Gritty There was a super post on creativity by Wendy Stevens at Compose Create this week. In it, she linked to the article, 10 Creativity Tips by Donald Miller and highlighted the second and third items on his list: finishing what you start and avoiding discussion of your current projects. Wendy likened talking about your project with . . . → Read More: Creativity, Luck, and Inventional Wisdom Last fall, our Happy Birthday Variation diversion at the recital was so successful that my EAC students and I are planning to add a little comedy to our spring recital. We got started talking about funny musical things that had happened to us and had a great deal of fun laughing together. I thought, why . . . → Read More: On The Lighter Side “Wow !” I said, “You are like a different pianist!” And she was. Before, there had been surges and awkward accents in the opening to her Intermezzo, impossible to remove despite hard work on both of our parts. Now, after one week on meds for ADHD, there was a beautiful calm flow and elegance about . . . → Read More: What’s On The Inside A student once told me that he couldn’t possibly have anything to learn from a certain piece because he could sight read it, and anyway his brother had played it when he was 2 years younger. On a podcast of a recent From the Top episode members of a young trio discussed preparing and performing . . . → Read More: Make New Friends And Keep The Old Recently, David H.Thomas wrote a post on choosing an instrument, tone quality and the importance of ideal tone. He pointed out the importance of monitoring your connection with the instrument daily- not just in sound but in feel. While his article was written for clarinetists, many of the same principles apply to pianos and pianists . . . → Read More: A Feedback Loop for Pianists Today, while perusing the Home section in the Sunday paper, I came across an amusing column by Marni Jameson in which she demanded fast answers to questions on the Slow Movement in design. She found that Slow Design means “living more simply, creating systems that reduce clutter in your life, and decorating thoughtfully and with . . . → Read More: Slow Living, Slow Design, Slow Food, Slow Piano My Dad taught me to drive. He spent many hours on the road in his job and was a demanding teacher. One day we were practicing on a back road that was full of potholes. I swear there were potholes on top of potholes and, hard as I tried to miss them, I hit every . . . → Read More: Potholes: Chronic Key Signature & Accidental Disorders  |
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In Your Face Two
Remember the old story about the class of young music students who were told by the teacher that they must all comment after each other’s performances, and, they must always say something good first and then give suggestions for improvement? Tommy had not practiced and struggled through his piece with many do-overs and inaccuracies. Suzy . . . → Read More: In Your Face Two