Lapbook Project For High Schoolers
Last semester I asked my high schoolers who study at the college to create a lapbook detailing one of their performance pieces. Some had no idea what a lapbook was.…
PA Shorts: Fortune Cookie Advice
Happy, happy Holidays to all you piano addicts and many, many thanks to each of you for reading and supporting the blog. On our recent trip to Las Vegas, we went…
Ode To My Central Sulcus
In my time, I’ve certainly been accused of being a little different. The exact wording usually goes something like, “I’ve never heard anyone play/think of/say it like that before,” or…
PA Shorts: Onwards & Upwards
Recently, while in the preparation phase of a presentation, I asked what some of our college students wished they had known before coming to study at a more advanced level. Some of…
PA Shorts: On Forging A Personal Musical Connection
I'm always encouraging students to find something personal in their music—something from their own lives and experience. Often, they look at me like I have lobsters crawling out of my…
Vintage PA: Chestnuts II, A Rubato Geek Vindicated
I think piano students can learn more from Frank Sinatra about phrasing and rubato than from most classical instrumentalists. — Stephen Hough (@houghhough) December 12, 2013 I couldn't agree more.…
The Anti-Masterclass
Antimatter: Any substance that, when combined with an equal amount of matter, results in the complete and direct conversion of all substance to energy. () Anti-Masterclass: Any masterclass that, when…
Playing With Wolfgang: My Dog Ate My Minuet
The first time I ever worked on a Bach dance movement I felt like I had encountered an alien landscape. I had grown up on Bach chorales but somehow those…