Dear Friends, I hope youāve been doing well these past few weeks. I havenāt sent an edition of Notes From the Piano Prof in a while. Itās been a busy time: I went to Hungary for the Chroma festival and to central Wisconsin to play chamber music at the Music in the Shed festival - both were amazing experiences! Iāve also been hard at work finishing up The Art of Piano Scales, my scales course for pianists who want to review or level up their scales, which is coming out next Thursday. (You can...
8 days agoĀ ā¢Ā 2 min read
Dear Friends, Quick note before we start: for those of you in the central Wisconsin area, Iāll be performing at the āConcerts in the Shedā festival in Marshfield, Wisconsin on Tuesday, August 11, at 6 pm Central Time. Weāll be playing Brahms G Minor Piano Quartet and Shostakovich Trio No. 2. Admission is free, but due to limited space, RSVPāing is encouraged: click here or here for more information. I just got back from the Chroma International Music Festival in Miskolc, Hungary, where I...
29 days agoĀ ā¢Ā 3 min read
Dear Friends, Greetings from Miskolc, Hungary! Iām here at the inaugural Chroma International Music Festival for about ten days, along with around 30 other piano and composition students and faculty. Yesterday in a group studio class, one of the adult students said that already in these first few days of the festival, she has started āfalling in love with the piano all over again.ā I loved her comment, because this kind of community feels special; it's simply lovely to spend these days...
about 1 month agoĀ ā¢Ā 2 min read
Dear Friends, Greetings from Charlottesville, VA, where we are sightseeing for a few days before going to visit family in central PA. It's nice to have the chance to see a different part of the country, and also travel just for fun, without the added pressure of playing a concert, presenting at a conference, or teaching at a festival. This week Iāve been thinking about Mozart. We all know him as a composer, but what kind of teacher was he? Iāve been pondering this question in the context of a...
about 2 months agoĀ ā¢Ā 4 min read
Dear Friends, In case you noticed that last week's newsletter never came (and, let's face it, I'm sure most of you probably didn't š), I skipped writing the newsletter in order to prepare for Piano Camp, which took place this past week on the campus of Butler University. One of the flashbulb memories that has stayed with me from the week was seeing all of the students crowded around the harpsichord on the stage of the recital hall, while Matt, our piano technician, showed them in great detail...
2 months agoĀ ā¢Ā 4 min read
Dear Friends, I'm writing to you from an airplane, taking advantage of some free Wi-Fi. I'm en route to New York to visit a friend in Brooklyn for her birthday. For those of you who are keeping track, my Fanny Hensel recording was rescheduled to October, which gives me a glorious feeling of freedom. I look forward to continuing to refine and practice it over the summer as I prepare for the recording sessions in the fall. This week I've been thinking about what I've come to know as the Three...
3 months agoĀ ā¢Ā 5 min read
Dear Friends, A few weeks ago I had lunch with a former student of mine who finished her masterās degree a couple of years ago. I hadnāt seen her in a while, and I was looking forward to catching up and hearing how things were going. It was wonderful to see her again. And what I was especially glad to hear was that in the short time since graduating, she is already sustaining herself through a full, active, and varied professional life as a musician, while at the same time continuing to...
3 months agoĀ ā¢Ā 5 min read
Dear Friends, A few weeks ago I gave a talk for a piano teacher group at the Kawai Piano Gallery of Detroit, Michigan. The room where I gave my presentation had colorful portraits on the walls. Bach, Beethoven, Handel, Brahms, Schumann, Debussy, Chopin: all famous composers, lining two of the walls and looking down at us. I noticed them as I was setting up and preparing to speak, and it made me think about how familiar those faces are to us: even though I had never seen those particular...
3 months agoĀ ā¢Ā 4 min read
Dear Friends, It's the day after Commencement at Butler University. The past couple of weeks have been filled with farewell rituals and gatherings. Four of my piano students graduated this weekend. One of them, Cora, will be starting her master of music in piano performance and piano pedagogy at Southern Methodist University in the fall. She had her pick of programs, auditioning at six different schools and getting accepted with full rides at all six! Another student, Sally, finished with her...
4 months agoĀ ā¢Ā 4 min read