An Inside Look at the Life of a Professional Musician
These excerpts from Marcia Butler's memoir The Skin Above My Knee show that even for a professional musician, preparing a new piece can be frightening and all-encompassing. »
Best movies novels memoirs on piano
Seeking Expert Piano Tuner
In this piece of short creative nonfiction, the author’s out-of-tune piano brings up everything from the elephants’ ivory to her current family dynamics. »
Playing Scared: Getting Over Stage Fright
An adult pianist who suffered from stage fright since childhood, Sara Solovitch, author of Playing Scared, decides to take her performance anxiety head on. »
American Grand, PBS Documentary, Created by Amateur Pianist
A film director and amateur pianist describes the making of American Grand, a documentary depicting the drama of taking apart and rebuilding a grand piano. »
The Wurlitzer
In this literary short story by Christi Craig, a piano tuner reluctantly turns up at the house of a flighty woman who has no appreciation for her Wurlitzer. »
Happy Fingers: An Oscar Winner
After playing piano for a century, Holocaust survivor Alice Herz-Sommer looks back on her life in the Oscar-winning short documentary The Lady in Number 6. »
Poetry for Musicians
Writer William Giraldi reflects on the stanzas of English poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, and how the characteristic “sprung rhythm” relates strongly to music. »
Piano Gone Missing
A news story about a missing grand piano brings to mind August Wilson's 1990 play The Piano Lesson, about a family's complex relationship with their piano. »
An Equal Music Review for Lovers of Classical Piano Music
Michael Holmes, the second violinist of the successful Maggiore String Quartet, by all counts should be happy. Yet ten years before, he abandoned Julia, the love of his life, at their Viennese conserv... »
A Good Yarn for Adult Piano Lessons
In this exclusive video interview with Lynn York, she reads two selections from the book. Two love stories, a murder mystery, and a mother-daughter tale, juiced with plenty of comedic and sexy moments... »
A Grand Obsession for Adult Piano Lessons
In the autumn of her forty-third year, Perri Knize realized that the piano was all she wanted to do with her life. Startled by the quiet force of her intentions, she enrolled in adult piano lessons an... »
Summer Read for Students of Adult Piano Lessons
One summer in college, Robin Meloy Goldsby takes a waitressing job in Nantucket, far from her hometown of Pittsburgh. She misses her piano. She wanders into the Club Car, a famous old restaurant, as... »
The Piano Shop on the Left Bank: Adult Piano Lessons in Paris
One of my dearest friends, Jacqueline, recently asked me to suggest a well-written book that was free of frightening suspense or family trauma. I sent her a list of my favorite literary chick-lit, but... »
![[from left to right] Gertie (Amy Forsyth), Ruby's best friend; Leo Rossi (Daniel Durant), Ruby's brother; Jackie Rossie (Marlee Matlin), Ruby's mother; Frank Rossi (Troy Kotsur), Ruby's father. Still from the film CODA, copwright by Apple Inc. 2022](https://grandpianopassion.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/coda-1-scaled-50x50.jpg)
