Preparing the mind and body for performance: Conquering stage fright through effective practice
July 2014; Vol. 6, No. 4
The brain is a complex organ. It controls our systemic functions and sparks our moods, thoughts, and actions. Physiologically, the brain registers fear differently, depending upon the threat. People suffering from panic attacks or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have a “flight or fight” response, but those...
July 2014: Questions and Answers: Recollections of Louise Goss
July 2014; Vol. 6, No. 4
In lieu of questions in this issue, the author will share recollections of Louise Goss, visionary teacher, author, composer, editor, and friend who passed away this Spring. If you’re lucky in life, you may encounter a teacher who changes everything. Louise was one of those teachers...
An Interview with Randall and Nancy Faber
March 2014; Vol. 6, No. 2
Whether they reach an elementary student using Piano Adventures, five- or six-year-old playing a composition from My First Piano Adventure for the Young Beginner, or a teacher gleaning information from one of their workshops, Randall and Nancy Faber influence piano students and teachers around the world. Randall holds three...
Living on The Edge: A Piano Prodigy Changes Course
March 2014; Vol. 6, No. 2
When David Tong was seven, a week before he was scheduled to make his professional debut as a pianist, a boy took his basketball during gym class and refused to return it. David regularly got into fights at school, often over nothing more than a...
Hand position basics
March 2014; Vol. 6, No. 2
When hands are hanging loosely at the sides of the body, the fingers are in a “natural curve,” which is a perfect hand position. The finger are not extended but in their natural, relaxed state (see Example 1). (Natural curve varies from person to person.)...
Accidental Perspectives
March 2014; Vol. 6, No. 2
The timing was perfect. Friday night’s student recital was a success, my flight early the next morning was on time, and we landed uneventfully in Boston’s Logan Airport. Or so I thought. While my husband guarded my suitcase, I strolled off to the ladies’ room...
Introductions
March 2014; Vol. 6, No. 2
A good musical introduction creates anticipation for the listener by suggesting the key and style of a tune about to be played. Ready? Go! The easiest way to set up a tune is to play a V7 intro chord. This works because it takes advantage of...
Bartók’s Rhapsody from For Children
March 2014; Vol. 6, No. 2
The eight-some pieces in Bartók’s For Children, based on Hungarian and Slovakian folk tunes and intended for young learners, cover a considerable range of difficulty. Because finding pieces of musical substance at the early levels is difficult, it is understandable that the simplest of these are the...
Musicnotes.com: Creative arrangements for your students
March 2014; Vol. 6, No. 2
The importance of incorporating current music into piano lessons is immeasurable—you will be more desirable as a teacher, you will see a spark inside your students that hasn’t come out since last Christmas, and you may even have some fun making music come to life...
Let’s Order In!
March 2014; Vol. 6, No. 2
Occasionally I have a student who is reluctant to move past the first method book, or is easily discouraged when things get the least bit challenging. Some are unwilling even to explore past a C-major pentascale. Fortunately, I discovered “Pepperoni Pizza,” a captivating little piece...
The twenty-five year interlude: An amateur returns to the piano
March 2014; Vol. 6, No. 2
Playing the piano is a marriage of sorts. Just like a traditional marriage, there are three phases. Phase One, “The Honeymoon Phase,” is when we are excited about a new piece and can’t wait to explore it. Phase Three, “The Silver Threads Among the Gold...
March 2014: Winds of Change
March 2014; Vol. 6, No. 2
Time’s passage has been much on my mind of late. The winds of change blow on. We rush toward the future, the way paved by technologies that only get faster and more pervasive. I long for a leeward island, enough out of the wind to...
What Do We Do When Our Students Forget?
January 2014; Vol. 6, No. 1
At my house, it takes a ladder to reach Richard Chronister’s book, A Piano Teacher’s Legacy. It is on the top shelf of the floor-to-ceiling bookcase next to my grand piano. This seems like the perfect resting place for it, because I always did put...
Piano As Art: An Interview with Shauna Holiman
January 2014; Vol. 6, No. 1
Fascinating for anyone interested in the piano, music or art…” wrote John Rockwell, former Arts Critic of the New York Times. Brian Levine, Executive Director of the Glenn Gould Foundation, called Piano as Art “a wonderful re-imagining of the piano as sculpture, architecture, and the...
Piano Music Inspired by Art
January 2014; Vol. 6, No. 1
Works of art make rules; rules do not make works of art.Claude Debussy With the rise of program music in the nineteenth century, composers of piano music turned to the visual arts for subject matter and inspiration. This reflected the Romantic concept of combining arts,...