Picking Up a Beethoven Sonata After 50 Years
Starting up piano lessons again in retirement, this student dives right back into a Beethoven sonata and learns the benefits of studying music as an adult. »
Adult piano students
My Clacking Shoe
While performing Debussy at a recital, this adult piano student faced performance anxiety, her foot shaking on the pedal and making an embarrassing noise. »
Putting the Piano at the Center of My Life
Twenty-something Priscilla Rodgers felt like a failure until she decided to reclaim her passion by enrolling in piano lessons, while pursuing a new career. »
How to Memorize Piano Music, With Help from Music Theory
An adult piano student resolves to memorize Schumann’s “From Foreign Lands and People,” and uses music theory and her tactile sense to accomplish the feat. »
Joyce Morton Plays Beethoven’s Appassionata, Second Movement
In relearning the second movement of Beethoven's Appassionata, Joyce Morton practices fluid motions, and relates to the composer's progressive hearing loss. »
Musical Mirages
While on a beach vacation, this adult beginner piano student missed piano practice so much that she began to see mirages of the piano and music everywhere. »
Alberto De Salas Plays Bernstein’s Suite from West Side Story
Performing Leonard Bernstein's Suite from West Side Story taught Alberto De Salas about the power of silence, and helped him grow as an ensemble musician. »
A Fly on the Wall at an Adult Piano Lesson
This video of an adult piano lesson and interview with Cosmo Buono provides tips on finding your own musical interpretation and remembering to be grateful. »
Goodbye, Dear Yamaha
After hastily selling her Yamaha piano, Robin Sloane Seibert felt like she had lost a friend, even though the upright had a faulty action and wiggling keys. »
Robin Sloane Seibert Plays Beethoven Bagatelle No. 2
Robin Sloane Seibert plays the Beethoven Bagatelle No. 2 and discovers the joy of crossing hands and the challenge of playing triplets against eighth notes. »
Joyce Morton Plays the Liszt Un Sospiro
After not playing the Liszt Un Sospiro for 10 years, adult piano student Joyce Morton relearns it and encounters both technical challenges and satisfaction. »
Nana Asatiani Plays the Debussy Clair de Lune
The amateur pianist Nana Asatiani performs the Debussy Clair de Lune at her patient's elder care facility after she taught herself the music. »
Finding Her Dream Music at a Hair Salon
Amateur pianist Nana Asatiani had never seen the Debussy Clair de Lune until she took her patient to a hair salon. Then Nana's life as a pianist changed. »
Piano Practice: The Wonder of Solitude
Beset by an internal clamor, essayist Robin Sloane Seibert tries to drown out her worries with noise, until she discovers the solitude of piano practice. »
A Senior Rabbi Finding Time to Practice Piano
Rabbi David Posner was hired by his New York City Temple at young age. Finding time to practice piano was also crucial, so he devised a creative solution. »
Falling in Love with Bach
While on vacation, Robin Sloane Seibert stays inside the beach house to tackle the challenges of Bach's Prelude in E Major, and ends up finding summer love. »
The Old, Yellowish Piano Keys
Nino Dangadze plays Rêverie by A. Ovenberg. At age 14, drained by the pressure of the piano lessons for the previous seven years, I was looking forward to moving on with my life, as far away from the ... »
Don’t Sit at the Piano Like a Tree Trunk
Amateur pianist Nino Dangadze discusses the Georgian style of playing, useful advice on posture at the piano, and how her piano teacher helped her open up. »
A Marriage of Poetry and Classical Piano Music
“. . . Now I want something different, Something different, without a name, I know surely that I will be lost, dead. . .” So lamented Terenti Graneli, the 20th century poet from the Republic of Georgi... »
On the Hook to Play at My Brother’s Wedding
Preparing for a performance at her brother's wedding propelled amateur pianist Joanna Eng from feeling depressed about the piano to finding purpose. »
