Nancy M. Williams, Founding Editor

Power Poses for Piano Practice

Power Poses for Piano Practice

That neighbor walking past my house with his dog: did he hear snatches of my music through the window, and is that a smirk on his face?

Top 10 Holiday Gifts for Piano Nerds

Top 10 Holiday Gifts for Piano Nerds

Perhaps you—a cool indie-pop fan with a dusting of a beard or sleek leather booties—could not care less as to who came first, Bach or Beethoven.

Top 10 Benefits of Being a Piano Nerd

Top 10 Benefits of Being a Piano Nerd

After years of practice, attending adult piano lessons, and perhaps even performing in amateur piano concerts, you’ve accepted that the piano is a focal point of your life.

My Clacking Shoe

My Clacking Shoe

Over the years of playing the piano in public, I’ve passed through many stages of performance anxiety. Perhaps the most difficult time was early on, when I expressed my stage fright through visible physical reactions. I will never forget my adult piano recital of Debussy’s Rêverie, in particular, my clacking shoe.

The Willy Wonka of Classical Music

The Willy Wonka of Classical Music

A pianist seated at a grand, a violinist standing nearby in a small recital room: at first we expect a conventional performance video of a Bach violin concerto.

Veteran Plays Piano Despite Suicide Bomber Attack

Veteran Plays Piano Despite Suicide Bomber Attack

Captain Mark Brogan lay on the ground of an Anbar province marketplace in Iraq in April, 2006. He had shrapnel in his spinal chord, was missing a third of his skull bone, and had severe arm injuries as well as hearing loss and tinnitus.

Cast a Spell with Schumann’s Album for the Young

Cast a Spell with Schumann’s Album for the Young

Schumann’s No. 30 from Album for the Young has a way of casting a spell of contemplation over its listeners. Whenever I perform this music, I meditate on how I reclaimed my passion for classical piano music. I want to share with you my secrets on how to study and play the No. 30 with best effect.

Why Musicians Need Hearing Protection

Why Musicians Need Hearing Protection

All musicians, including pianists, should invest in a set of custom musicians’ earplugs and keep them on hand for hearing protection in loud environments.

How to Find the Right Audiologist: Service, Service, Service

How to Find the Right Audiologist: Service, Service, Service

Since I was first diagnosed with a hearing loss at age six, I have been a patient of no less than 10 audiology practices over four decades. As an active person and a musician with hearing loss, I have special requirements for my hearing aids.

Understanding Tempo Rubato

Understanding Tempo Rubato

For several years after I reclaimed my passion for the piano, I struggled with the concept of tempo rubato.

Piano Trills and Bach

Piano Trills and Bach

On a wintry Wednesday, my scarf wrapped over my face, I walked to the university’s music building for my piano lesson. In my gloved hand, I held a book with the Bach Invention No. 1 in C Major, with its tricky piano trills. On the rhododendron bushes lining the path, the leaves hung limply.

A Listening Profit from My Hearing Loss

A Listening Profit from My Hearing Loss

My first career was in management consulting and high-tech marketing, and for the 20 years that I was in that line of work, I spent a lot of time and energy trying to hide my hearing loss.