Tag: piano drum teacher

  • Making peace with music part 4

    We all have obstacles that prevent us from playing an instrument. Even musicians have a hard time practicing. Yes, even us! Practicing music and staying motivated to learn will always be a challenge (even if playing music is your job). Life gets in the way: cleaning the house, spending time with the family, running a…

  • Making peace with music part 3

    Fun is a very important element of music. It is easy to remember, easy to pass on and easy to talk about. But how many people talk about it? How many do some books about it? Fun is in doing. Absolutely. And feeling. Yes. And understanding. Maybe. And studying. Whaaat?! Studying? You lost me. It…

  • Making peace with music part 2.

    I want to talk about the process that gets a person to accept music into their life. They are many traps awaiting the potential hobbyist. The first one being that everybody knows what it is to be a musician. At any level. Anyone can tell you what being a musician is. Even if you just…

  • Making peace with music part 1

    I teach two kinds of students, mainly. The kind that is pro, and the kind that is not a pro and needs to understand how to make room for music in her life. This blog is about the second kind. The ones that will eventually make music their hobby. So, here goes a typical script.…

  • Is classical music up for interpretations?

    A written classical music piece of music must be played exactly. That’s the premise. The composer worte the notes, you have to play them. All of them. And, you do not mess with the notes. What the composer has written, you play. Nothing less, nothing more. Right! I’ll take a famous work from Mozart: Sonata…

  • From the great ones

    I am thinking about Chopin, Johann Sebastian Bach or Mozart. They made the effort to pass on their knowledge to the next generation. Bach, famously, wrote a whole book for his wife, some very simple pieces that every piano student has studied at a moment or another. Mozart also composed some short pieces. But his…

  • Vinnie Colaiuta

    Vinnie Colaiuta is regarded as one of the best drummers of our times and with reasons! This guy actually played on a heavy metal album with Megadeth and a week later recorded a jazz big band album with Paul Anka.  Very few in the drumming world are able to change their hat and provide authentic…

  • Challenges of learning a new instrument

    One of the obvious challenge of learning any new instrument is discipline. A typical scenario goes like this: We watch a marvelous drummer or piano player, we are in awe at the mastery of the player, the flow, the command he has over his craft. We mull that bit for awhile inside the soft mechanism…

  • No rhythm.

    There are all kinds of students. Sometimes you get the novice, sometimes you get the pro. You never know what’s in the box of chocolate. But, the ones that are truly fascinating (the students, not the chocolates), are the ones who claim to have no rhythm. What is a drum teacher to do with someone…

  • American

    Something I pondered. I was looking for a watch. I saw the brand Hamilton, supposedly a reputable American icon… but it’s made in Switzerland now. I got one, nonetheless. It ticks and tocks all right. I would have preferred if it was American though. I got it before I knew it wasn’t. I was looking…