A case for history and theory in the practice room
May 2014; Vol. 6, No. 3
Music instructors the world over face a common challenge: to convince performance students that music scholarship— whether it be theory, history, or both— is relevant to their more practical endeavors. It is far too easy to dismiss music theory as an end unto itself; as...
A unique collection of historical keyboards
May 2014; Vol. 6, No. 3
Historical instruments in the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies at San José State University. In the fall of 2003, I arrived on the campus of San José State University with my 1868 Erard French grand piano. How I acquired this...
Bricks or clicks?
May 2014; Vol. 6, No. 3
Ten years ago, one of my friends asked me if I knew of a cello teacher who would come to the house to teach her children. I looked down my nose at her and said, “Oh, you don’t want a teacher who comes to the...
May 2014: Questions and Answers
May 2014; Vol. 6, No. 3
Q: How can I learn to use social media to improve and expand my studio business? A: In the last column, I mentioned that if you’re not contemplating retirement in the near future, you need an online presence that includes a website, a professional Facebook...
Catching up with Vadym Kholodenko
November 2014; Vol. 6, No. 6
What did winning the Van Cliburn competition mean to you? I’d like to experience it a second time. There’s such enormous pressure on all of the competitors. Before the final announcement of the winners, we were so exhausted that everyone was just happy it was finished....
Hélène Grimaud: We all do music in our own way
November 2014; Vol. 6, No. 6
Hélène Grimaud, long recognized for her compelling musical personality, is a multi-dimensional artist who brings a strong sense of individuality and innovation to her performances. Grimaud’s rise to fame began at an early age in studies with Pierre Barbizet in Marseilles, training at the Paris...
The Future of Piano Teaching: Changes and Constants
November 2014; Vol. 6, No. 6
Mixed signals. We live in a time of unprecedented change. This thought is one that is expressed frequently these days—you may even find it to be clichéd. We hear it so often that we may not stop to consider what it really means, or if...
What are your thoughts on the future of piano teaching?
November 2014; Vol. 6, No. 6
What’s next for our profession? Clavier Companion asked twelve pedagogues from around the country to contribute their thoughts on the future of piano teaching. In the following article, each author provides a short musing on this broad question. This series will continue in future...
Dyslexia: When Keyboard Students can’t read
November 2014; Vol. 6, No. 6
In the world of classical music, proficient sight-reading is an absolute, non-negotiable necessity, and any musician who exhibits reading deficiencies is considered damaged goods. As a person with dyslexia, I have come to realize that it is invisible and has no physical, emotional, or developmental...
November 2014: Mind Matters: Perspectives
November 2014; Vol. 6, No. 6
I am delighted to inaugurate this regular column. As both a musician and a psychologist/psychoanalyst, I have dealt with many varied and complex issues that music performers and teachers of all ages struggle with. This obviously includes stage fright, but it encompasses so much more. I...
Music by heart: Tips on memorizing more efficiently
July 2014; Vol. 6, No. 4
More than one hundred years ago, at a Paris book stall by the river Seine, a young German scientist had a flash of inspiration—an idea that changed our knowledge of human memory’s mechanisms. Hermann Ebbinghaus wondered if memory and the process of forgetting could be measured...
Creating by chance
July 2014; Vol. 6, No. 4
Can’t get started making your own music? No excuses! Use the laws of chance to prime your creative pump. In the eighteenth century, Mozart devised a game for composing minuets by assigning pre-written melodic fragments to the numbers on dice. Here’s a similar activity you can...
Gretchaninoff’s musical gems
July 2014; Vol. 6, No. 4
My teacher Eugene List once commented, “The piano literature is so vast, that at any level pianists can find beautiful music they are able to play.” As a teacher, it is so easy to teach the same pieces over and over and not explore what...
Imagination and mischief
July 2014; Vol. 6, No. 4
Students who love stories of magical worlds and mythical creatures will jump at the chance to learn William Gillock’s early-intermediate “Elfin Pranks.” This whimsical piece set in E minor and cut time is loaded with teaching opportunities. Although “Elfin Pranks” is available in solo form,...
The power of one–a legacy of beautiful music
July 2014; Vol. 6, No. 4
Back in the 1930s a young Venezuelan pianist wished to further her musical studies, and did exactly what many aspiring musicians from North and South America chose to do in those days: she went to Europe to study. After completing her studies in Paris, she...