Duty or Joy?
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…
PA Shorts: What Has Your Piano Eaten Lately?
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…
Guest Post: Dennise Ontiveros Rivera
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…
Happy Little Trees
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…
Finale 2012: Lessons in Peaceful Coexistance
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…
PA Shorts: Interviews From Newbies and Oldbies
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…
PA Shorts: Practice, Perfection, & Personality
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…
Thoughts On An Upcoming Competition
Some thoughts for my student as she prepares for a Welcome to the next step of your personal musical journey. You will meet some colleagues who are musically much more…