Piano Maker’s Corner: A New Opus
There’s really nothing like a daunting and risky challenge to get the creative juices flowing and last September an unexpected opportunity provided just that. Polo Piatti - Musical Director at the…
Playing With Wolfgang: Gershwin, Lecuona, & Messiaen Meet Artistic Process
"I don’t see why you chose that artwork," she said. "There is plenty of 20th Century art that would match these pieces and the time they were written much better."…
The Enterprising Pianist: Story, Music, Art, Video
When I was a kid, I was kind of addicted to the Choose Your Own Adventure book series. The idea of reading a story and being able to proactively change…
The Enterprising Pianist: How Pedagogy Inspired A Screenplay
Four years ago, I wrote a screenplay. I called it Playing with Beethoven. It was around the time my piano teaching had taken a turn away from the traditional classical…
The Adaptable Pianist: Orange Fundamentals
As I enter my 10th year in the world of Autism and special education and my 20th as a music educator, motivated teachers, therapists, and parents contact me with the goal…
Piano Maker’s Corner: Hammers From Recycled Flipflops
Welcome to another update from Kigali Keys, a project to build pianos in Rwanda. We’re still working on forging a decent string frame. We’ve made a couple of attempts which…
Piano Maker’s Corner: Partners in Full Potential
When I started having piano lessons, aged seven, I liked the idea of being a concert pianist. Sitting in front of a big, shiny piano in front of thousands of…
Piano Maker’s Corner: A Slightly Mad Idea
In my last post for Piano Maker's Corner, I spoke about how I learned to tune and fix pianos in Rwanda. What began as a hobby has blossomed into something much larger.…