Creativity & Method: Redux
It's the start of the school year and with it has come much discussion among colleagues, questions from new students, and personal observations about transfer student readiness. I have read…
Reader Question: Bumps Along The Way
Karen sent me a question this week that hits close to home for all of us. "I started taking piano lessons after a break of about 10 years. During my…
Vintage PA: Six Onions & 10,000 Hours
Will 10,000 Hours really get you to elite status? This article in The Wilson Quarterly, on the research of Michigan State University psychology professor David Z. Hambrick and five other…
Vintage PA: Relationships
Several of my students and colleagues have recently purchased new pianos. It has been fun to rediscover the honeymoon phase of choosing and then learning to partner with a new…
Redux: Yummo! Taste and False Assumptions
This week, I was struck by a fascinating post by John Terauds on the word like and it's meaning in relation to music—specifically classical music. We don’t like every person we meet,…
Vintage PA: The Uncertainty Principle
Remember my story wherein Teacher 42 became so uncomfortable with musical choices that she finally said, "You mean there's no right way?" I concluded that I had given that teacher…
Vintage PA: What’s On The Inside
“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…
Vintage PA: Change, Change, Change
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…