Creative Commemorations: How a Performer, Composer, and Teacher Celebrated Beethoven’s 250th Anniversary
Winter 2021; Vol. 12, No. 5
Josh Straub Chris Madden (CM): How did the Beerthoven concert series begin? Josh Straub (JS): I have to admit that I’m not the person who started the Beerthoven concert series—it was my partner Daniel Swayze—but I was involved relatively early on. It’s kind of ironic that Daniel and I...
Creating New Piano Music in the Digital Age
Winter 2021; Vol. 12, No. 5
Introduction By this point, you’ve probably heard a narrative that goes something like this: in the age of YouTube, Spotify, smart phones, and eBooks, the traditional gatekeepers no longer determine who can publish, who can be seen, and who can have a voice. Any artist, writer, or performer has the opportunity...
A Tribute to Nancy Bachus
Winter 2021; Vol. 12, No. 5
A Tribute to Nancy Bachus It is inevitable that our profession will lose valued members of our community, but that does not make the loss any easier. Our colleagues touch our lives and influence our work and the work of those around us. Nancy Bachus was one...
Fred Kern: A Pedagogical Giant
Winter 2021; Vol. 12, No. 5
Fred Kern could light up any room. Those who knew him—and even those who didn’t—couldn’t help but smile anytime he was near. Dr. Kern, widely known as a clinician, author, teacher, composer, and arranger, published numerous texts on piano pedagogy and wrote more than 500 arrangements and original...
Reminiscences of Leon Fleisher (1928-2020)
Winter 2021; Vol. 12, No. 5
The scene: Leon Fleisher’s fourth-floor studio, Tuesday afternoon, September 3, 1985, 88 degrees, no air-conditioning. Thirty-five students line the walls of his studio. Some sit on the floor and others lean against the sills of an open window. “I know what you’re thinking,” he says...
Winter 2021: Questions and Answers
Winter 2021; Vol. 12, No. 5
As educators, we hold so much power in the music we choose to teach our students. When we decide which curriculum to use, we are deciding which music is most important in the canon to help our students progress. We also hold power in the...
Winter 2021: Pupil Saver: A Glimpse into Colorful Mexican Romanticism
Winter 2021; Vol. 12, No. 5
INTERMEZZO NO. 1 IN E MINOR BY MANUEL M. PONCE Manuel M. Ponce (1882–1948) is undoubtedly one of the most prominent composers in Latin American history. Among his piano pieces, one of the most beloved is his Intermezzo No. 1 in E Minor. This intermezzo has similarities...
The Gift of New Musical Experience: Creating a Studio Commissioning Project
Winter 2021; Vol. 12, No. 5
For many students, learning a new piece can be an adventure. This sense of mystery and excitement wanes as we get to know the repertoire for the piano and become familiar with the music of various composers. But what if there was a way to...
Becoming Weavers: Piano Students and Their Commissioned Arrangements of Music by Under-Represented Women Composers
Winter 2021; Vol. 12, No. 5
Weave: The Social Fabric Project is an Aspen Institute initiative that seeks to celebrate people who work to heal divisions in our society. David Brooks, the director of Weave, describes the movement: “Weavers are repairing our country’s social fabric, which is badly frayed by distrust, division and...
Building Diversity in Your Music Career: Interview with Michelle Cann
Winter 2021; Vol. 12, No. 5
Michelle Cann is making history as the newest female Caribbean American to join the piano faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music. Artina McCain (AM): It is a pleasure for me to interview you after watching your career blossom over the past decade. Let’s start at the...
Northern Canvases: Canadian Piano Music from the Twentieth & Twenty-First Centuries
Winter 2021; Vol. 12, No. 5
When I first came to Canada, I remember an enthusiastic introduction to a group of painters known as the “Group of Seven.” For many Americans, this group and names like Lawren Harris, Tom Thompson, and Emily Carr may be nothing more than an obscure footnote encountered...
Zoom & Gloom: The Melbourne Experience of the Perils and Pleasures of the Online Advanced Piano Lesson
Winter 2021; Vol. 12, No. 5
Australia’s University of Melbourne houses a large center of higher-level piano education and research. Comprising a salaried staff of five —one professor, two associate professors, and two lecturers 1—and some twelve sessional instructors, its student cohort across all available programs generally numbers between 150 and 200. At the beginning of...
Winter 2021: Poetry Corner: Stampede of Fingers
Winter 2021; Vol. 12, No. 5
A stampede of fingers Over the keyboard, in parallel And contrary motion. Accidentals, Crowd the corridor, gate the rush Of impetuous fingers In whole and half steps. Keys: The C scale, devoid of accidentals, Is yet a trick to pull off, tells all To an...
Anne-Marie McDermott: Artist, Leader, Innovator
Winter 2021; Vol. 12, No. 5
Andrea McAlister (AM): How are you holding up during this time? Are you enjoying a more relaxed schedule? Anne-Marie McDermott (AMM): The world is stopped but we’re all busier than ever! It seems that everything takes more effort and time these days. AM: And then you suddenly...
Reclaiming an Alternative History: New Piano Music of Florence Price
Autumn 2021; Vol. 13, No. 3
The unconscionable neglect of one of America’s greatest composers is finally encountering a slow-burn renaissance which one hopes, for all those pianists and piano teachers with progress in their sights, will become an incandescence of music-making. While those interested in the keyboard music of this composer, described by some as...