Winter 2020: Book Review
Winter 2020; Vol. 11, No. 5
With The Mindful Musician: Mental Skills for Peak Performance, Vanessa Cornett demonstrates how mindfulness has the potential to change musicians’ lives, fostering a healthier outlook and improved performance—both in the practice room and on stage. Promoting mindfulness as a way to increase attentional focus, emotional...
Winter 2020: New Music & Materials Reviews
Winter 2020; Vol. 11, No. 5
(S4) TOCCATA “HYGAGAN,” OPUS 229by Dianne Goolkasian Rahbee From the FJH Contemporary Keyboard Sheets, Toccata “Hygagan” by Dianne Goolkasian Rahbee is an engaging and virtuosic late-intermediate piano solo. Born in Massachusetts, Rahbee is a first-generation Armenian American. She was a piano major at Juilliard, and a...
Art—A Mirror Beauty
Winter 2020; Vol. 11, No. 5
The other evening, I was reading from an interview with Joseph Campbell about myth and ancient cave art. In the discussion, he mentions the beauty of bird calls. He asks: “Is the beauty of the bird’s song intentional…or is it the expression of the bird,...
Celebrating 100 Years: The Australian Music Examinations Board
Winter 2020; Vol. 11, No. 5
EDITOR’S NOTE: As a new resident to Australia and having recently joined the faculty at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, I am naturally quite eager to learn about music education in this region of the world. What common denominators exist between the United States and Australia, and which differing...
The Role of the Arts in Social Justice
Winter 2020; Vol. 11, No. 5
What do weddings, funerals, bar mitzvahs, quinceañeras, and other celebrations and rites of passage have in common? How many times does someone say they relate a particular piece of music to a specific event? What can invoke a meaningful childhood memory? For some it may...
Self-Compassion In the Studio: Helping our Students Practice with Kindness
Winter 2020; Vol. 11, No. 5
As musicians striving towards perfection, we engage in destructive self-talk while practicing, undermining our confidence, disconnecting us from our bodies, and cutting us off from authentic artistic expression. With increasing rates of anxiety and depression among adolescents and teens, our young students often feel overwhelmed and unworthy while...
Community Music Schools as Advocates for Social Justice
Winter 2020; Vol. 11, No. 5
As music educators we know that music serves multiple functions across society. Music helps a community mourn the loss of a friend, it serves as a chant at a sporting event, it gives space for self-expression, it inspires a cause, and so much more. Music...
Winter 2020: Pupil Saver: First Steps into Ragtime
Winter 2020; Vol. 11, No. 5
First steps into Ragtime If you’re looking for a lively early-intermediate piece in ragtime style, you can find it in the music of Florence B. Price, one of America’s preeminent African American composers. Ticklin’ Toes checks all of the ragtime boxes, yet in a way that...
The Music Inside
Winter 2020; Vol. 11, No. 5
The Piano Program In the spring of 2012, I began a small program for piano study at a women’s correctional institution in Columbia, South Carolina. Over the past eleven years, the program has been through numerous changes. The lesson location changed from Goodman (2012–2016) to...
Working with Pianists with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Winter 2020; Vol. 11, No. 5
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, is a common childhood disorder that piano teachers are likely to encounter during their career. This disorder can continue through adolescence and into adulthood. Common symptoms of ADHD may include extreme difficulty maintaining focus, paying attention, and regulating emotions...
When our Piano Students Inspire Others: The Socially Conscious Piano Studio
Winter 2020; Vol. 11, No. 5
Engaging in acts of kindness and collaboration is a mainstay of healthy living and a profound way to head off feelings of isolation, burnout, and depression. At the age students typically start piano lessons, they are also reaching a developmental stage in which they begin...
Life After the Diagnosis: A Pianist’s Reflections on Life with Parkinson’s Disease
Winter 2020; Vol. 11, No. 5
After thirty years as a Professional-in-Residence and Coordinator of Collaborative Piano at Louisiana State University (LSU), it was life as usual at the School of Music. First, I played for a cello lesson on the second floor, then a graduate voice student on the third...
The Composer’s Score from Conception to Publication: The Evolution of Ginastera’s Piano Sonata No. 2
Winter 2020; Vol. 11, No. 5
Pianists, when learning repertoire, are not always aware of the challenges faced in producing a published edition. Some composers seem to frequently change their minds, making it difficult for scholars to agree upon a definitive score. Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 53, by Alberto Ginastera...
Using video recording to improve your teaching
March 2016; Vol. 8, No. 2
Do you remember teaching your very first piano lesson, perhaps facing a “scary” five-year-old boy or girl, not knowing what to do, how to do it, or even where to start? When I teach piano pedagogy to university students, they are often interested in learning...
Always give your maximum: A conversation with Menahem Pressler
March 2016; Vol. 8, No. 2
Menahem Pressler, best known as the pianist of the unparalleled Beaux Arts Trio for more than fifty years and a revered Distinguished Professor at Indiana University’s Jacob School of Music for even longer, continues a daunting schedule of performing and teaching. At age ninety-two, he...