How Do You Use Technology to Facilitate Long Distance Instruction?
July 2009; Vol. 1, No. 4
How close to your student do you sit during a piano lesson? How close do you sit to your computer screen when using your computer? Imagine that you typically sit about two feet from your computer screen. Further imagine that when you sit at your computer you...
How Do You Use Recording Technology in Your Studio?
January 2009; Vol. 1, No. 1
Do you remember the glorious days of cassette tapes? For a substantial period of time – from the late 1960s to the end of the century – it seemed like everyone had one or more cassette players. Best of all, a teacher or student could...
How do you use technology in live performances?
March 2010; Vol. 2, No. 2
You cannot play the late piano works of Beethoven on an early Cristofori pianoforte because there aren’t enough notes. You also cannot play the music of Chopin on a mid-eighteenth-century piano because it is too impractical to manipulate the dampers with a knee lever. Nor...
How do you use mobile computing devices (such as smart phones, portable listening devices, and tablets) in your teaching?
March 2011; Vol. 3, No. 2
Just when we have reached the point where traditional, personal computers have become ubiquitous in the home, modern society has become inundated with new mobile computing devices. These mobile devices are basically computers disguised as cellphones, listening devices, and e-readers. As Apple’s Steve Jobs has...
RMM really is for everyone!
July 2011; Vol. 3, No. 4
Seniors enjoying Clavinova Connection at Colerain Township Center, OH. The Recreational Music Making movement is all about inclusiveness and creative self-expression. Embedded in the RMM philosophy is this statement: No matter what music background you may or may not have, no matter what physical or...
Charting the Future Course of Music History
September 2012; Vol. 4, No. 5
Not long ago, a professor of piano pedagogy at a prestigious collegiate institution asked me to be a guest lecturer for a day. The topic was technology. The class was attended by a fine group of young pianists who were completing work on a graduate...
Silent Movie Accompanying for Students and Professionals
November 2012; Vol. 4, No. 6
In 2012, we are so far removed from the so-called silent film era (ca. 1894-1929) that most of us have only a vague concept of what it was really like. Although the films of that period were silent, their presentation was not. In the small...
Your Musical Future: Hints From the 2012 NAMM Show
May 2012; Vol. 4, No. 3
Virtually every industry has one or more trade associations that represent the industry as a whole. This is true for producers of car parts, toy manufacturers, medical suppliers, funeral homes, and so forth. Typically, these groups have trade shows that are open only to members...
Virtual Reality in the Piano Studio
January 2012; Vol. 4, No. 1
If you are a Star Trek fan or at least have a passing familiarity with the television series, you may be aware that people still play music and attend concerts in the twenty-fourth century. Given the fact that computers do so much for human beings...