Repertoire Swaps: Achieving Diversity and Inclusion through an Effective Repertoire Selection Device
Autumn 2020; Vol. 12, No. 4
Quality repertoire selection is crucial for helping our piano students move from the intermediate to advanced levels, and the same is true for university-level students. Yet, persuading teachers to use excellent repertoire composed by women and other minorities remains a challenge. As teachers, we often...
Ten Things You Can Do to Diversify Your Studio
Autumn 2020; Vol. 12, No. 4
Foreword by Artina McCain I am honored to be the editor for a column that will highlight voices of change in our musical community. If you are looking to be a part of the solution and an ally for diversity in piano education, we strive to...
Ricardo Castro and Romantic Mexican Piano Music
Autumn 2020; Vol. 12, No. 4
We often discuss the invaluable legacy left by our favorite Romantic composers such as Chopin and Liszt. We talk not only about their works but also their pedagogical lineage and how these lines continued throughout the late-nineteenth century until our present day. What we do...
Piano Lessons in the Dark: Understanding the Needs of Learners Who Are Blind
Autumn 2020; Vol. 12, No. 4
Concept Development When we walk into a room, we quickly grasp the size, shape, layout, contents, and any other relevant features of the room through our visual sense. For a learner who is blind, this same information emerges as isolated, fragmented pieces which then need...
Survival of the Resilient: One Pianist’s Journey
Autumn 2020; Vol. 12, No. 4
My challenges began at birth. Many of my joints were malformed, the worst being my right hip, which had no socket, and my right wrist, which was rigidly locked in a downward position. Numerous hip surgeries yielded negligible improvement; I have lived my entire adult life in...
2020 Collegiate Writing Contest Winner: Norwegian Folk Songs: Making Rhythmic Complexities Easy and Enjoyable
Autumn 2020; Vol. 12, No. 4
Developing an internal sense of metric pulse and an understanding of subdivisions of beats is essential to the success of a young performer. Without establishing a strong sense of pulse, complex rhythms can be played incorrectly. This is too often a source of frustration for students—and...
July 2018: Poetry
July 2018; Vol. 10, No. 4
Homage to John Cage Silence is so accurate. —Mark Rothko Light through vaulted windows, the shadows of elms in wind. On stage, the pianist, hands in his lap. Still. The shadows strumming his face, his hands. Four minutes and thirty-three seconds of silence so you may...
Touching Debussy, Teaching Alchemy
July 2018; Vol. 10, No. 4
Sound is touch at a distance.Jad Abumrad, from Radiolab “Sound is touch at a distance.” I heard this quote at a recent talk given by Radio Lab creator, Jad Abumrad, and I couldn’t get it out of my mind. Over and over it repeated itself....
The Recorded Legacy of Claude Debussy
July 2018; Vol. 10, No. 4
Table 1: Debussy’s acoustic recording with Mary Garden. In 1904, soprano Mary Garden entered the Paris recording studio of Gramophone & Typewriter Ltd. with her pianist, Claude Debussy. Garden sang three excerpts from Ariettes oubliées, a set of chansons Debussy dedicated to her, as well...
Connections Between the Music of the United States and Claude Debussy
July 2018; Vol. 10, No. 4
Claude Debussy June 1908 It has been more than one hundred years since Claude Debussy was composing masterpieces that were part of a general revolutionary movement that challenged European musical traditions. Debussy was looking for ways to distinguish himself as unique and French, while at...
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...
July 2018: Winds of Change
July 2018; Vol. 10, No. 4
As you read this column, have pity for the long-suffering editor—my submission was way past the usual deadline. As an excuse I can only offer that unique syndrome, Retirement Nervous Breakdown. You may think retiring is easy, but I have found it exactly the opposite....
July 2018: Pupil Saver
July 2018; Vol. 10, No. 4
A grand setting for C minor by Carmen Doubrova Some students diligently practice their repertoire pieces, but are less enthused about scales and exercises. Fortunately, long ago, I discovered Ballade from Betty Colley’s early-intermediate collection Styles for Piano (Kjos). This piece is a brilliant study of...
Growing Through Music: Pivots
July 2018; Vol. 10, No. 4
To achieve the highest versions of ourselves, it is necessary not to be rigid. After all, being alive means we are in a constant state of motion where nothing is permanent. There are times of significant forward motion and times where things are much slower....
Purple Days
July 2018; Vol. 10, No. 4
Yesterday, Andrew came into his lesson scowling. He stomped her to the piano bench, sat down, and crossed his arms in front of his chest, still scowling. I first met five-year-old Andrew when he was a baby, sitting on his dad’s lap during his older brother’s...