How Flow Enhances Piano Practice
The author of The Positive Pianist explores the idea of flow, or how finding a state of peak joy and concentration helps us get more out of piano practice. »
Inspiration for piano practice
Back to Piano Practice—Now with a Piano
After two years of piano practice without owning a piano, Joanna Eng gets a piano in her new home, but the time and motivation to play don’t come so easily. »
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. »
Grandpa’s Gift
This amateur pianist received a valuable life lesson from her concert pianist grandfather, but his words didn't sink in until many years after his death. »
Back to Piano Practice
Committing to learn the Debussy Clair de Lune is an important step for this amateur who hasn't practiced regularly in a decade and doesn't even own a piano. »
Beethoven’s Menacing Bust
Robin Sloane Seibert went from loathing piano lessons and being frightened of a menacing bust of Beethoven to voluntarily learning the Beethoven Bagatelles. »
The Minute Waltz, a Poem
Hearing Chopin's Minute Waltz on the piano was the poet Mary Jo Balistreri's first experience, at 9 years old, of music as more than just pleasant sounds. »
Deserting the Piano: A Personal Essay
The author imagines a piano in her home as a sulking, poisonous guest. Although the piano used to be her passion, she has not touched the keys in 25 years. »
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. »
The Steinway Factory Tour Leads to Creative Inspiration
Seeing the piano-making process in action during the Steinway factory tour inspires this writer and amateur pianist to push on through creative challenges. »
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. »
From Accounting to Adult Piano Lessons to Guiding Light
In this interview, the second in a series, Indusekhar Menon relates how adult piano lessons sparked a significant career change and a foray into composing. »
When An Adult Saw a Piano for the First Time
ndusekhar 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 p... »
How Adult Piano Lessons Enriched My Writing Life
Returning to adult piano lessons after a 25-year hiatus from the piano becomes the fodder for Nancy M. Williams's intensive writing residency and memoir. »
Music to Write By: The Piano Music of Frédéric Chopin
The Chopin Collection boxed set is writer Erika Dreifus's most prized possession, seeing her through novels, short stories, a dissertation—and this article. »
From 9/11 to Classical Piano Music
Frank Schramm, the gifted portraitist and fashion photographer who did the photography for this website, has commemorated the tenth anniversary of September 11 in an original and moving exhibition, In... »
Levitating with Scales in Adult Piano Lessons
After my parents had burdened the piano with so many antagonistic representations, the Russian playing the scales with such pure concentration was a relief. »
Hope for Adult Piano Lessons
An adult piano student considers her music ugly, a holdover from her childhood. Then when looking to buy an antique Steinway, she instead leaves with hope. »
Why this Student of Adult Piano Lessons Wished for a Chinese Father but Became a Western Mother
Somewhat eerily timed with the Chinese mother debate, my daughter, Mena, and I had a piano recital this past Saturday. Rather than performing at Carnegie Hall, where Chua’s daughter Sophia play... »
My Debut of Chopin’s C-sharp Minor Nocturne
Coiled inside, along with my fear of performing, was the desire to share this music, Chopin's C-sharp Minor Nocturne, about which I felt so passionate. »
