It is essential that the focus be on how…
Discovery homeSign up for email updatessubmit a question We would like to thank Jane Magrath for this insightful article. Want to learn more about teaching piano technique? Join us on Wednesday, April 17th at 11:00am ET for our latest webinar, Foundations on Technique, with Julie...
A Tribute to Marvin Blickenstaff and his Pedagogical Legacy
Discovery homeSign up for email updatessubmit a question We would like to thank Sara Ernst, Jane Magrath, Karen Zorn, Joel M. Harrison, Marianne Williams, Zack Kleiman, Henry Banta, Anya Smith, and Nina Austria for collaborating on this tribute to Marvin Blickenstaff. Interested in learning more...
The Consummate Role Model for Piano Teachers | Honoring Marvin Blickenstaff
Discovery homeSign up for email updatessubmit a question Join us for our first webinar of the season titled “The Life Saving Work of Teachers,” presented by Marvin Blickenstaff on Wednesday, September 27, 2023 at 11:00am EDT. Click here to register! Jane Magrath (author) and Marvin...
The Consummate Role Model for Piano Teachers | Honoring Marvin Blickenstaff
Discovery homeSign up for email updatessubmit a question Jane Magrath (author) and Marvin Blickenstaff Naegeli van Bergen Metcalf was my first college piano teacher and a beloved mentor. She left Wesleyan College after my freshman year to get married, and we stayed in touch throughout...
Winter 2022: Questions & Answers by Jane Magrath
Winter 2022; Vol. 13, No. 4
Q. I want to include some diverse literature for my intermediate students as we prepare for recitals, festivals, and competitions this spring. What are some collections or pieces that I might look into for their piano study? A. Yours is a timely question since so much fresh solo piano...
A Tribute to Marvin Blickenstaff and his Pedagogical Legacy
Spring 2020; Vol. 12, No. 1
Marvin Blickenstaff has been a pillar of the North American piano community for more than five decades. His dedication to outstanding teaching, learning, and performing has been honed through his work with innumerable students and their teachers. Anyone who has witnessed Marvin working with young pianists understands why his work is so powerful. He demands excellence from his students and colleagues,...
First Debussy Piano Pieces With Pedagogical Advice
July 2018; Vol. 10, No. 4
Claude Debussy was a person of great restraint and even considered elusive by some. He was not concerned with the technical issues of a pianist, and yet was highly attentive to the quality of a pianissimo and its relationship to softer or louder levels of...
A Life Among Legends: an impresario looks back, part II
September 2016; Vol. 8, No. 5
Many of the biggest musicians of the twentieth century have worked with Jacques Leiser: Richter, Michelangeli, Berman, Arrau, Cziffra, and Callas, to name just a few. As an agent, impresario, and photographer, Leiser helped direct the stunning careers of many household names. Such a life...
Chopin’s teaching
May 2010; Vol. 2, No. 3
We all know Chopin’s piano literature – almost every serious piano student plays (or aspires to play) his works. But what do we know about Chopin’s teaching? After all, teaching was an important part of his life and provided his main source of income.1 What can we take...
A question of focus
January 2010; Vol. 2, No. 1
“What is the future of piano pedagogy?” An astute teacher asked me this in the last session at the end of a three-day conference. It stopped me in my tracks. What an excellent question – one I have even asked of others. But now, in...
What matters more: talent or effort?
September 2011; Vol. 3, No. 5
Recently I saw a cartoon that showed two smiling parents watching their child as he brushed his teeth. A banner was posted over the top of the bathroom mirror that said, “Congratulations on brushing your teeth!” One parent was looking adoringly at the child, hands...
Blizzards, performances, and best-laid plans
May 2011; Vol. 3, No. 3
So many of you experienced a winter similar to or much worse than the one we had here in Oklahoma, with blizzards, winter storms, and unexpected changes in our plans. It was a horrible winter weather year! Winter seems so far away now, but it...
From Good to Great
May 2012; Vol. 4, No. 3
Jim Collins’s book Good to Great 1 has spent years on business bestseller lists and has been translated into thirty-five languages. In the book, the author and his team of researchers investigate how some companies have transformed themselves from good into great, increasing and sustaining growth...
Creative Being and the Disciplined Life
January 2012; Vol. 4, No. 1
Imagine living our lives sans creativity. We would never vary our diets or the kinds of books we read. We would dress in similar styles every day, no variety, ever. Inevitably we would slow down our personal growth. We would minimize the “highs” in life,...
A Life among Legends
March 2016; Vol. 8, No. 2
Richter, Michelangeli, Berman, Arrau, Cziffra, Callas. These are just a few of the legendary artists that Jacques Leiser has worked with in his remarkable career. As an agent, impresario, and photographer, he played no small part in the successful careers of many of the greatest musicians...