The Teaching Legacy of Rosina Lhévinne: An Interview with Daniel Pollack
Spring 2019; Vol. 11, No. 2
“Audiences across five continents—North America, Europe, Asia, South America and Africa—recognize the pianism of Daniel Pollack for its signature colors in sound, coupled with over-the-edge thrilling virtuosity, giving his performances an electrifying element that catches the imagination of concert audiences. Critics speak about ‘his astonishing...
Subverting the Pianistic Psyche: Learning Approaches to Webern’s Concerto for Nine Instruments, Op. 24
Spring 2019; Vol. 11, No. 2
A well-trained pianist is a musician fundamentally chained to notational accuracy—one of the prime pianistic obsessions. In traditional pianistic modes of learning, embracing tonally centered repertoire, accuracy of notational acquisition has absolute primacy. Pianists at all levels of accomplishment are guided by an inherent, perhaps inherited,...
Summer 2019: Questions and Answers
Summer 2019; Vol. 11, No. 3
Q: What can you tell us about the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy coming up this summer? A: The National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy will meet for the tenth time this July, marking the 40th anniversary of the original National Conference on Piano Pedagogy. These...
Summer 2019: New Music and Materials
Summer 2019; Vol. 11, No. 3
(S2) Bastien New Traditions All In One Piano Course, 2B, 3A, 3B, by Lisa, Lori, and Jane Bastien. In a grand family tradition, these materials continue the recently published Bastien New Traditions All In One Piano Course by Lisa, Lori, and Jane Bastien. As with the first...
Summer 2019: Book Reviews
Summer 2019; Vol. 11, No. 3
Review by Ann DuHamel Debussy’s Paris: Piano Portraits of the Belle Époque, by Catherine Kautsky. The first time I heard Professor Catherine Kautsky speak at a conference, I was utterly entranced: she gave a captivating, lively, and energetic session that I still remember years later....
Creativity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Summer 2019; Vol. 11, No. 3
A 2018 McKinsey report exploring the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the future of work predicts that 50 million jobs in the United States will be eliminated as a result of robots and automation.1 Other reports suggest that, while the workforce will change substantively and...
What My Adult Students Have Taught Me
Summer 2019; Vol. 11, No. 3
Be Willing to Change Your Idea of Success “Don’t worry. I know my playing jerks along. I probably won’t get much better, but that’s OK. I simply love playing the piano, and I love coming here every week to learn more about it.” This wise...
Brain and Learning Myth Busters!
Summer 2019; Vol. 11, No. 3
Good teachers want to help students learn as efficiently and effectively as they can. Unfortunately, misconceptions about the brain and learning are rife in education (not to mention corporate training programs and late-night infomercials promising to unleash 90% more brain power), which can cause confusion,...
Summer 2019: Pupil Saver: Dramatic Chords and Incomparable Views
Summer 2019; Vol. 11, No. 3
Rebecca is in her senior year of high school. She is a lovely person who is a talented artist and is also a good pianist. Rebecca leans probably more toward art than music, thus her playing level has stayed around late intermediate to early advanced....
Illuminations of the Past, Innovations of the Future: Piano Playing and Building in the Twenty-first Century
Summer 2019; Vol. 11, No. 3
The advent and popularization of historical performance practice in recent years has led to some wonderful innovations in piano performance. In many circles, Mozart’s original and intimate ideas of phrasing are now readily reinstated and relegitimized over more long-line Romantic approaches; familiarity with Bach’s ornamentation...
The Power of Piano Ensembles: Building Collaboration, Musicianship, and Community
Summer 2019; Vol. 11, No. 3
I was raised in Caracas, Venezuela, a prominent musical center in Latin America, and I enjoyed seeing how music activities were common in the daily life of this city’s youth. Ensembles, choirs, and orchestras were prevalent, and from very elementary to advanced levels string, wind,...
The Whole Piano is Mine! Keeping Today’s Beginners Engaged Through Attractive and Motivational Repertoire
January 2019; Vol. 11, No. 1
When I began teaching in the United States as a fresh artist-teacher graduate of the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, I soon recognized that to make my teaching style appropriate to the experiences and circumstances of my students it was crucial to familiarize myself...
Feel the Beat: Building a Strong Rhythmic Foundation for Musical Success
January 2019; Vol. 11, No. 1
As piano teachers, we strive to instill a love of making music in our students. The inevitable process of making mistakes along that journey, however, creates challenges and intriguing mysteries to be solved. “Why did the mistake happen?” “What in the score did the student not...
Counting Out Loud: A Fresh Look at a Traditional Practice Tool
January 2019; Vol. 11, No. 1
I give my piano students many tools to improve their practice, such as logging their time and playing their music backwards, but one of the most useful tools is counting while playing. This technique is one of our most-loved pedagogical practices, and its benefits cannot be...
Steps to Parnassus: Preparing Students to Play Advanced Masterworks
January 2019; Vol. 11, No. 1
All learning of complex knowledge and sophisticated skills must be approached by first learning more limited and simplified versions of what students are eventually needing to master. The nature of the simplifications—the substance and magnitude of each task, the sequence in which the tasks are presented, the speed of the presentation,...