Vintage PA: Yodeling Puff The Magic Dragon
It started with a performance of a method book piece with the word Yodel in the title. “It sounds weird,” said my young student, “and I don’t understand why that…
A Personal Lesson In Promise
The following is a portion of a speech I gave last Saturday at the local kick off for the National Veterans Creative Arts Competition. I was asked to speak, to…
Pa Shorts: A Lesson in Perfection
I went to San Diego last weekend to visit family. A friend of my daughter's, who also happens to be a world class photographer, saw that I was wearing a…
Not Harder, Just More Complicated
This semester, I have been tutoring a foreign graduate student. He is struggling with English and with his practice skills. I think that his main problem has been this: He…
Vintage Post: A Romantic Accusation
“You’re a romantic!” said my teacher in a surprised voice, as though this explained everything he found perplexing about me. I had never been accused of being anything but a…
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…
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…
PA Shorts: Sound Images
It’s that time of year again—time for the college fall recital. We always try to do something unique and different (put on a show) so that the audience is glad…