Why I Walked Away “Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.”Mahatma Gandhi Walking. I know people who walk on treadmills at the gym, count daily steps with a wrist device, yet habitually look for parking spaces near buildings to minimize walking. Maybe we only give conscious thought to walking [...]
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On a whim, I looked up “November 18” in music history and discovered a coincidence of composer birthdays. 11/18/1680 is the birthday of Jean-Baptiste Loeillet. 11/18/1860 is the birthday of Ignacy Jan Paderewski. Maybe I'm easily amazed, but that was enough to get me going. Loeillet The Loeillet soubriquet has been a bit confusing for [...]
Piano Myths: Part III (See Part I and Part II) There are many young women, who, when they sit down to the piano to sing, twist themselves into so many contortions, and writhe their bodies and faces about into such actions and grimaces, as would almost incline one to believe that they are suffering great [...]
“If we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we aren't really living.” ― Anatole France, poet and novelist Change means challenge; challenge means growth. This fall, I’ll be teaching a new course at Peabody Conservatory– Stage An OrchKids Student Movement for Opera - and classes for children through Baltimore Symphony’s [...]
(Piano Myths Part I here) Myths of Piano Touch and Tone Could you hear a difference in a single piano tone depending on the way its key is depressed? Are accomplished musicians able to discern sounds produced by a virtuoso’s hand versus those made by an object? Is there any physical approach to a piano [...]
June 1st is right around the corner. Register today! Choose the course that fits your goals. For Dalcroze studies Level 1 toward international Dalcroze certification, register for Eastman School of Music's 2-week Level 1 Dalcroze Institute July 2-13, $815 non-credit (or $4,830 for 3 credits) in Rochester, New York. Housing is available! Learn more about new [...]
(News Alert!! Punxsutawney Phil's prediction for Winter was misquoted by fake news. He did not say, "Eight more weeks." His actual words were, "At least eight more weeks. Maybe more. Maybe MUCH more. We'll see.") Despite the weather we've had (brrr!!), the calendar says summer is waiting in the wings... so don't miss the early [...]
Old Myths Die Hard It’s human nature to look skeptically at information that contradicts something we believe. Once we become anchored to untruths, reality is an annoying intrusion. Psychology has terms for the ways we receive new knowledge. Confirmation bias: seeking only information that conforms to the belief, dismissing new information; Assimilation: reshaping new information [...]
I do not like April fools, or any other sort of fools. (I do not suffer them gladly.) I don’t like practical jokes when they’re mean-spirited, and so often they are. For example, there's the family that gathered the kids for an Easter egg hunt, with no eggs. (Something like this happened to my daughter [...]