C.P.E. Bach Meets Death Cab for Cutie
May 2012; Vol. 4, No. 3
I think I have finally reached an age where I can say: “Teaching today just isn’t like it used to be.” In the “good old days,” my way of working with a high-school sophomore went like this: I would peruse the MTNA Syllabus and choose several...
From Good to Great
May 2012; Vol. 4, No. 3
Jim Collins’s book Good to Great 1 has spent years on business bestseller lists and has been translated into thirty-five languages. In the book, the author and his team of researchers investigate how some companies have transformed themselves from good into great, increasing and sustaining growth...
Music Teacher as CEO: Marketing Your Strengths as a Teaching Artist
May 2012; Vol. 4, No. 3
During this political season, you will hear a lot about small businesses and their role as the engine that drives our economy. Did you ever stop to think that the politicians are talking about piano teachers? As an independent teacher, YOU are a small business....
The Career Challenge: Problems Facing Today’s Pianists
May 2012; Vol. 4, No. 3
The career challenge: Problems facing today’s pianistsAn interview with Jacques Leiser The twenty-first century is blessed to be an era with no shortage of talented young pianists, many of whom are armed with impressive technique and a commanding repertoire. For the pianists themselves, this poses...
Surveying the College Job Market
May 2012; Vol. 4, No. 3
Teaching piano or working as a staff accompanist at a college, conservatory, or university is a desirable career for many pianists. Holding a full-time position in academia can have many rewards: teaching piano, chamber music, piano pedagogy, and piano literature to promising young musicians; performing...
An Aural Journey Through “Spring is Here”
May 2012; Vol. 4, No. 3
I recently performed a concert celebrating the arrival of spring with a program featuring songs with the word “Spring” in the title. It Might As Well Be Spring, Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most, You Must Believe in Spring, and Joy Spring proved to be fun...
Music Reading
May 2012; Vol. 4, No. 3
Experience and research tells us that the more one reads a language the more fluency is gained. This is, of course, true of sight-reading as well. Making this happen with our students in an organized and motivating manner eludes many of us, myself included. This...
Tackling a Twelve-Year Old’s Slump
January 2012; Vol. 4, No. 1
Katherine, one of my more talented students, recently gave me this honest description of a typical practice session. She is twelve. “It takes me forever to get myself to stop what I am doing and go to the piano. When and if I do get...
Creative Being and the Disciplined Life
January 2012; Vol. 4, No. 1
Imagine living our lives sans creativity. We would never vary our diets or the kinds of books we read. We would dress in similar styles every day, no variety, ever. Inevitably we would slow down our personal growth. We would minimize the “highs” in life,...
An Interview With Jean-Yves Thibaudet
January 2012; Vol. 4, No. 1
French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet has had a home in the U.S. for many years, first in New York, and, since 1998, in Los Angeles. French in his accent and his Gallic enthusiasm, he is really a citizen—and a musician—of the world.His programs and recordings incorporate...
The Story of Music on Board the RMS Titanic
January 2012; Vol. 4, No. 1
It was to be an unforgettable voyage. The RMS Titanic was a ship orchestrated to be grander than any other. For those who designed her she was an achievement of the modern age. For the citizens of Belfast, Ireland, who built her, she was a point...
The Enchanted World of Fairy Tales
January 2012; Vol. 4, No. 1
Throughout their long history, fairy tales have fascinated people the world over. Their multi-generational appeal contradicts the notion that they are solely for children. Composers have been inspired by fairy tales to write music in various genres, including a wealth of piano pieces at varying...
The Rhythms of Jazz: Syncopation
January 2012; Vol. 4, No. 1
An important aspect of rhythm (in any style of music) is the alternation of accented and unaccented musical elements. When the accented elements differ from what is expected, we have syncopation, an essential part of jazz. This article will examine two kinds of syncopation first...
Boiling it Down: Recipes for Effective Teaching
January 2012; Vol. 4, No. 1
When I think back on the great teachers I have encountered in my life, I find that they all had one thing in common—the ability to boil things down to their essence. These teachers’ abilities to reveal the essence of the subject matter made my...
Feeling Singing? Coping with Burnout
January 2012; Vol. 4, No. 1
As you returned from the holiday break (or madness!), did you look forward to your regular teaching schedule, or did you feel less than enthusiastic at the idea of seeing your students again? Most of us have times in our lives when we feel tired...