Dear Friends,

Before we get started, I wanted to let you know that I have added new dates to my availability for consultations/lessons. I have availability posted through the end of June. If you're interested in booking a time, click here.

This past Friday, we went to the Miller House in Columbus, Indiana. It was recently featured in the New York Times as one of the 25 gardens to visit in your lifetime. A close friend of ours saw the article and invited us to join him and his wife for the short road trip.

The Miller House represents an incredible collaboration between Eero Saarinen (architect), Alexander Girard (interior design), and Dan Kiley (landscape design). The result is a perfectly preserved specimen of mid-century modern architecture and design.

As we were touring the house, I couldn't help but think of the music of John Cage. Just a few years earlier, in 1952, he premiered his famous silent piece 4'33", exploring music with the same modernist approach.

Girard’s eclectic, international aesthetic (the house is filled with artifacts from around the world, and decorated with a whimsical use of color and texture) reminded me of Cage’s fascination with non-Western traditions, especially music and instruments from Africa and Indonesia.

That visit reminded me that modernism isn’t just a style; it's a worldview. Modernism asked what would happen if you cleared away tradition and sentimentality, and started from scratch. Cage did this by questioning what we even consider to be "music" - as opposed to "sound" or "noise." Through works like 4'33" he asked, "Isn't everything music?" And through his use of the prepared piano, he pushed the boundaries of what the piano can even sound like.

I hope you're having a great week, wherever you are. May you stumble across something this week (visual, musical, or otherwise) that sparks your imagination!

👋 Happy practicing! 🎹

-Kate

Practice TIP of the week:

Here are the most recent practice tips I have covered:​
​🎵 April 20: What is Phrasing?
​🎵 April 27: Connecting Dynamics to Emotional Expression
​🎵 May 4: "Chunking" for Easier Memorization​
🎵 May 18: Memorize Jump Spots​

Each month, I focus on a specific theme for practice tips. This month’s theme is Memorization Strategies.

Today's Practice Tip: Analyze to Memorize

Memorization becomes so much easier when you understand what’s going on in the music. Instead of relying on rote repetition, you can use analysis to help build a mental framework: a "map" you can follow.

Now, when I say “analysis,” I don’t mean a formal theory assignment with Roman numerals and labels! I mean looking at your music and asking simple, intuitive questions: What key is this in? Where is this phrase going? Where does this material repeat? What patterns can I find? What changes, and what stays the same?

I certainly use analysis when I memorize music, and I’ve also seen this make a huge difference for my students. I had a student working on a Beethoven sonata last semester, and she kept getting stuck in the same spot. It was a short transition connecting two sections. She’d try to play it from memory, but then she would get lost and fumble around until she found her place again.

I asked her to describe to me what was happening harmonically. After some thought, she realized that the passage was a sequence that went through several different keys, and that the left hand was descending chromatically. Once she described it to me in detail, that was it! From that point forward, the memory issue was gone: not because she practiced it over and over, but because she finally understood how it worked.

This week, try looking at a section of one of your pieces analytically. Ask yourself what’s going on with the phrasing, harmony, and structure. Are there patterns or sequences? Where do the phrases begin and end, and are they all the same length or irregular? What are the main themes in the piece. Write down what you notice. Or, better yet, try explaining it out loud, as if you were teaching it to someone else.

And don't worry: it doesn't matter if you get it "right" from a formal analysis point of view. It's more important that you identify patterns in the music that make sense to you, and that help you remember it.

Even a few minutes of analysis can make your memory more secure. Try it this week and see if you get some good results!

💜 Some of My Favorite Things

1. 🎶 John Cage - Sonatas and Interludes: Since I was just talking about the music of John Cage, it reminded me of his incredible work for prepared piano Sonatas and Interludes, which I recorded about ten years ago. Each time I played that piece, I had to spend two hours "preparing" the piano by putting screws, nuts, and bolts in between the strings. As a result, the piano sounds much more like a percussion instrument! Here's a link to that recording.​
2. 🖥️ Wispr Flow: I've been using a voice-to-text tool called Wispr Flow for the past three months, and it's really good. You just press one key on the keyboard and talk for as long as you want, and it will transcribe it. It works on any app and is available on both Mac and PC.
   I was showing it to my husband the other day, and he was so blown away I knew I had to share it with you in this week's newsletter.
   You can try it out on their free trial, but you have to upgrade after a few thousand words. They also have an educator and student discount available.
   I type quickly, but I speak even faster, and it has saved me a ton of time. I often use it to write my emails, or I speak a draft of something which I then revise from there. So far, I have logged 330,000 words.
   (And yes I wrote this using Wispr Flow!)
   ​Note: this is a referral link, which means I may earn a small commission if you sign up at no additional cost to you.
3. 🎹 Repertoire Collection: Complete Preludes: 24 Original Piano Solos in All Major and Minor Keys, by Robert Vandall. I first learned of this collection from my good friend Christina Whitlock, and it does not disappoint! Robert Vandall composed these 24 preludes to commemorate JS Bach's 300th birthday. Vandall is a wonderful composer - these pieces are really lovely to listen to and play. Recommended for intermediate/ upper intermediate. Click here to purchase.​