Rabbi David Posner, amateur pianist, plays the Brahms Intermezzo B-flat Minor: a video, his story and insight from a music masters student at Mills College.
Nancy M. Williams, Founding Editor
A Senior Rabbi Finding Time to Practice Piano
Sometimes when seated at the piano–besotted with the harmonies, exalted by the rhythms–adult piano students relegate their careers to time-consuming day jobs. Their chief concern becomes finding time to practice piano.
Stamping Out Perfectionism in Adult Piano Lessons
For 2012, the piano teacher and concert organizer Catherine Shefski, disenchanted with how little she played the piano, resolved to upload to SoundCloud a new classical piano music recording each week.
A Piano Teacher Reclaims the Piano
January is the month of resolutions, and in January of 2012, Catherine Shefski resolved to reclaim the piano by recording classical piano music, one piece each week for a year.
How to Find a Good Piano Teacher: Making the Decision
In this final article on how to find a good piano teacher, I describe how to make your decision after you take trial lessons from a short list of teachers.
How to Find a Good Piano Teacher: Taking Trial Lessons
You have defined the characteristics of your dream teacher and developed a list of potential candidates, and now your search for a good piano teacher begins to sizzle.
How to Find a Good Piano Teacher: Getting Started
The question I receive most often from readers of GRAND PIANO PASSION™ is whether I might be able to recommend a good piano teacher.
A Fresh Approach in Adult Amateur Piano Competitions
The Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition judges amateur adult contestants on the basis of a submitted video. The philosophy underpinning the competition is that pianists often lack the time and funds to travel long distances simply to compete.
What Happened When I Read Reinventing Bach
For a train journey down south, Paul Elie took along a triple-CD set of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion.
Pulling Bach’s Music into 21st Century
I think the best definition of polyphony that I ever heard was from Arthur Jacobs, who defined it as “the simultaneous combination of two or more melodies to make musical sense.”
Visualization for Carnegie Hall
For my performance at Carnegie Hall, I wanted to infuse my music with the same emotion I experienced at home.
The Great Recordings of Scenes from Childhood
Recently I decided to relearn a piece of classical piano music that I had performed in recital some years before, the Träumerei from Scenes from Childhood by Robert Schumann.
When An Adult Saw a Piano for the First Time
Indusekhar Menon hails from Pune, India, a city known as the Oxford of the East. In his early 30s, after looking upon a grand piano for the first time, he joined the global community of people with a passion for classical piano music.
Classical Piano Music in a Brownstone
On New Year’s Eve in 1986, a crowd wearing pointed party hats pressed against the velvet ropes outside a Manhattan club.
Angela Hewitt Performance of Clair de Lune
Perhaps one of the most uplifting interpreters and performers is Angela Hewitt, the Canadian concert pianist. Her live performance at Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music of Clair de Lune—a favorite of many students of adult piano lessons—is so pristine that it becomes instructive.
Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 10 K. 330 Amplified
The systems architect Gorden Cheng took an unconventional path to winning the 2012 Chicago Amateur Piano Competition by playing the Mozart Piano Sonata No.10 in C major, K.330/300h.
An Amateur Pianist Creates a Concert Series
When Glenn Kramer visited London in 1999, the noontime classical piano concerts enchanted him. In London for six weeks while on a summer sabbatical, he checked TimeOut London in the mornings and attended the concerts, usually free to the public, during lunchtime. At Wigmore Hall, he heard Liszt’s “Benediction de Dieu dans la Solitude” for the first time.
When Your Piano Teacher Doesn’t Fit
Sometimes when students remain stuck with a teacher ill-suited to their needs, the results may be more dire than expected.
An Incredibly Deaf Musical Probes Hearing Loss
Directed by Dev Bondarin and choreographed by Wayne Williams, the show features Sarah Statler, Pierce Gidez, Brittany Silver, Greg Laucella, Lisa Lamothe and Jay Alan Zimmerman as himself.
Practicing Classical Piano Music in Your Mind
I fell in love with the Chopin Nocturne in E-flat Major after I heard the work performed in concert. Five times the melody arched up over an octave, as though calling out.
Lent’s Thirds in Clair de Lune
Three weeks into Lent, I saw her slumped on a side staircase at Penn Station, her face set with weariness although she was fast asleep.
A Piano Teacher Takes Adult Piano Lessons
In his early 30s, Matthew Harre felt disenchanted with his piano technique. So this graduate of composition from American University and a teacher of adult pianists enrolled himself in adult piano lessons.
Lowered Shoulders: When Piano Technique Spreads Out to Life
When I enrolled in adult piano lessons in my early forties, after a twenty-five year hiatus, my piano teacher, Stephen, pointed out that I held my shoulders scrunched up towards my neck.
How to Perform a Piano Concerto
For years, Ricker Choi, an amateur pianist from Canada, wanted to play a concerto with an orchestra, a dream shared by many students of adult piano lessons.