My to-do list is long. It is brimming with promises and obligations. My commitments are palatial in their expansiveness; I am opulent with burden.
Every bullet point on my list anchors me to something I hold dear. These are touchstones in a world that has seemed to be undergoing seismic change for quite a while, now.
Some of the things — seminars, masterclasses, performances, oh my! — that have occupied my time may be of broader interest, so I’ll be posting those updates here in the near future.
What I wish for you is that the nature of your particular set of obligations is something you would choose again and again; that the path by which you arrived at your current troubles has been a rewarding one.
Until then, thanks for visiting and reading. Please enjoy this performance of Chopin’s Ballad No 4 by Benjamin Hochman, who recently flew in from Berlin to perform in Portland —
Thanks to the Covid-19 Quarantine, social-distancing, whatever you care to call it, I’ve found some time to experiment with creating videos for my Youtube channel.
This charming “Little Nocturne” by contemporary composer Jakub Metelka is just yearning to keep you company at a reflective moment.
I discovered the piece in Jakub’s book entitled “Modern Piano Studies.” (Absolutely recommend. Many pieces varied in tone, each a whimsical delight.)
Actively posting YouTube videos, like most forms of self-promotion, is something I resisted for years (and years and years.)
In fact, I only started really exploring this YouTube debut when I was creating recordings for the students who’ve transitioned to online lessons from their traditional, in-person lessons. The momentum from that process led to two new posts in as many weeks. Will the trend continue? It remains to be seen.
But I do sincerely hope you’ll enjoy this recording. Thanks for listening.
The voice of your mother was the first instrument you ever heard.
Perhaps she became your first piano teacher; perhaps she became a student like you, sharing the experience of learning.
Perhaps she knew that 20% of kids learn to play a musical instrument, but 80% of adults wish they did.
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Marcel Zidani recently released the sheet music for his advanced piano solo, Butterflies. He shared some thoughts with me about this new work as well as his creative process, the influences that led him to become a composer, and some of the challenges facing living composers today. At the end, he leaves a note for students who are learning his piece...
CONTEST: Comment at the end of the blog for a chance to win a signed copy! Winner will be selected Monday, October 5th.
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Grand pianos are suspended from hot-air balloons over a European cityscape in this fanciful watercolor painting by Tytus Brzozowski. That city is a surreal intermingling of present and past Warsaw, the very same city where the composer Chopin lived and studied the piano for the first half of his life, ultimately moving away to Paris until his death at the age of 39. After the November Uprising of 1830-31 was crushed by Russian forces, "Warsaw [was] little more than a military garrison, its university closed."
Chopin was never to return.
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[Originally appeared April 1, 2015 on the Rosewood Piano Studio Facebook page.]
Today is April Fool's Day, and I am going to break every rule associated with it.
I am going to let you in on one of those first moments of musical transcendence I ever experienced.
April 1st, as well as being a day that perpetuates all manner of internet hoaxes and a very small percentage of truly clever capers, happens also to be Sergei Rachmaninoff's birthday.
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"There are two kinds of great pianist: those who make you aware of their interpretative choices, where part of what you listen to is the brilliance of their thinking; and those where you forget that any interpretation is involved. Murray Perahia is of the second kind."
- Guy Dammann for the Guardian, reviewing a performance by Murray Perahia in London almost 3 years ago.
On Tuesday, March 10th 2015, celebrated pianist Murray Perahia performed at University of Arizona's Centennial Hall.
I attended with cautious expectations of Perahia's emotional versatility.
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"I wish I didn't learn how to play the piano," said nobody, ever.
Music keeps our brains sharp and spirits youthful. There's a good deal of consensus about this, and in recent decades...
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