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Not to be confused with the layman’s understanding of a “festival,” a piano festival is not some kind of extravaganza piano sales event with balloons, parades, and food trucks. In the world…

I’m proud to announce my most recent music publication: a four-piano arrangement of the opening chorus (“Herr, unser Herrscher”) of St. John’s Passion, available at Orange Note. A…

A series of 9 articles. Open it to see the list of parts.

As a composer in recent years, I’ve been approached to do some very non-conventional projects: writing and recording video game piano arrangements (digital album and sheet music here and…

I have completed and released a 6-hour online video course teaching in great detail how rubato works! It is called The Art of Rubato: The Musical Expression of Tempo. The price is now…

To see the first Ten Rejected Topics For Piano Teacher Conferences, click here. Music and the Brain: The Undeniable Connection This session will present the findings of several new radical…

Three years ago, in a lesson I was giving to my oldest daughter, she completed a Burgmüller piece from the Op. 100 set. After I put a sticker on the page, she said, “Daddy, remember those…

Private music teachers, I’d like to propose a business deal. Here are the terms: You compose a musical work, put together and record a well-researched presentation, write a major article,…

One of my hobbies is debate, especially when it involves a philosophical element. Years ago in an online piano discussion forum, someone declared that music is not a language after someone…

Years ago, a piano teaching colleague and friend of mine gave up teaching piano and switched careers. I could hardly believe this, because whenever we talked on the phone, he always brought…

Adding Verbal Color to Clementi & Burgmuller Discover the excitement that so many teachers are missing out on when they omit profane language from their teaching of late beginning and early…

When students play piano passages that push the student to (or near) their limit of dexterity, every student except the extremely gifted will demonstrate a lack of control. Such passages…

In 2012, I moved across the country and joined two different music teachers associations. One of these associations held certain education and experience requirements for joining, a foreign…

This article explains why rubrics are not appropriate for evaluation of musical performances, despite the success of rubrics in academic evaluations.

I wanted my piano students to have a quick and easy reference for all scale and arpeggio fingerings, but I didn’t feel that an entire book should be necessary, nor did I want to continue…

Speaking Piano For those readers who do play piano at a high level, surely you’ve had lessons at some point in your life during which your instructor asked you to communicate with the…

Many private music teachers have harsh make-up lesson policies or policies that deny make-up lessons altogether, and we are told in journal articles, conference sessions, blogs and teacher…

This article seeks to help the cause of music advocacy by identifying its weakest (and yet most commonly advanced) arguments (citing of secondary benefits, pocketbook bias, and use of…

The development of creativity is perhaps the most cited secondary benefit of musical study by music advocates, and yet musical instruction as it exists in current public K-12 education is…

Whenever I tell people that I give piano lessons to my own daughters, the most common response is any combination of joy and curiosity, such as, “That’s great that you are able to do that!…

“Why be the cow when you can be the farmer?” In my previous article, How Music Teacher Directories Hurt Private Music Teachers, I began with the same quote and compared music teacher…

“Why be the cow when you can be the farmer?” I’m not sure where this quote originates, but I heard it in a Leverage episode from season 3 titled, “The Studio Job.”  The context in this case…

I’ve been away from blogging for a few months now, obviously due to the time requirements of moving across the country. Things are finally starting to settle down to the point where I can…

As we prepare to move to Pittsburgh, PA in June 2012, my time to blog has been extremely limited. I still feel just as compelled as ever to write, but my life has been taken over by helping…

In May 2011, I outlined in great detail what I and my students enjoy doing so much at group piano classes. In the “High Schoolers and Adults” section, I mentioned that I sometimes like to…

It is no groundbreaking observation to note that the vast majority of piano teachers in the United States are female. One only needs to attend any MTNA National Convention or other keyboard…

The age of virtual music lessons is here. The computer geek music teacher is no longer the only type of teacher who gives distance lessons. Catherine Saint Louis wrote a good article…

In the field of private piano teaching, men make up a little over 15% of all MTNA members, but this low percentage isn’t all that I find peculiar about private male piano teachers. To help…

In the October/November 2010 issue of American Music Teacher, Rebecca Johnson pointed out a study done on whether female attire affects how audiences perceive females’ performances. Noola…

Some, including renown authors, downplay or even ignore entirely the significant role that talent plays in developing good musicianship.This article shows that talent doesn’t just play a…

As a private piano teacher, I’ve observed over the years that my female students seem to complain more of (or be affected more by) performance anxiety than my male students do. These…

Studying piano privately can be a lonely experience without social performance events.  That’s why I always looked forward to special music events such as festivals and recitals when I was…

Auto mechanics have a responsibility when they work on our cars, so there are standards in the mechanic field. Dentists have a responsibility when they work on our teeth, so of course they…

When American composers want to ensure that they will always share in profit derived from their works, they most commonly turn to BMI (Broadcast Music Incorporated) or ASCAP (American…

The word appearance often carries a negative connotation in society. Disney movies and bedtime stories tell us most definitely not to be concerned about outward appearances when the quality…

When a company wants to invest in their employees, they will often pay for the entire trip to go to a conference or seminar. Companies recognize that while they are investing in the…

I began learning Chopin’s Ballade No. 1 during my freshman year of college.  When the piece started to gain tempo in certain passages, these passages felt difficult when I knew they…

Scales and arpeggios have been an integral part of keyboard technique since before the piano was invented, and fingerings haven’t changed for hundreds of years. So then, why do scale and…

In the United States, if you have a piece of sheet music that is copyrighted literally 75 years ago or more, that sheet music is in public domain, meaning you could photocopy it and even…

In July 2010, I wrote about The Piano Voodoo of Tone Production, which demonstrates that pianists cannot control timbre of a single note independently of volume because of the physics of…

Note (6/27/16):  This article, first published in 2010, as well as the follow-up article (Studies Addressing Piano Voodoo of Tone Production), were edited and combined into one article, and…

In my Talent’s Role In Artistry blog entry, I make a case for the idea that talent exists and that it plays a notable role in the development of an artist. Most people probably don’t need…

Students, and unfortunately most teachers, believe that a student should move on from one piece to the next before the first piece is truly mastered. This article explores the benefits and…

The tenuto mark is by far the most confusing symbol in all of musical notation. I’ve noticed that transfer students rarely even know what it is called, much less know how to interpret it. I…

That’s right, the last two words of this article’s title are not accidentally swapped. We’re going to talk about the technique of looking. Most of us are well-aware of the four types of…

This article points out the inverted relationship that memorizing and sight-reading have with each other and also suggests that being a slow sight-reader produces numerous advantageous side…

It’s important to realize how critical of a role hard work plays in developing any skill, whether it be soccer, chess or music.  But it simply isn’t truthful to ignore the role of talent. …