Category: Blog

  • Emotion in music.

    I used to think that dynamics were the be-all and end-all solution to carry emotions in music. But, as I move forward on my journey towards ultimate music (I’ve still got a long way to go), I think that it’s a bit more complicated than that. Here I will mention something fairly obvious. For most…

  • Speed is not all that.

    I often see my students get obsessed with speed. You get the little shrimp, seven years old, ready to take on the world, and trying her best to speed the crap out of every exercises. Of course, some of them do it to get rid of said exercise as fast as possible, musicality be darned.…

  • Music and performance.

    Something is fishy in the kingdom of musicians. Let me tell you what it is. Some people barely practice and they’re able to perform whatever was assigned, and some people have to labor and slave and repeat the same piece over and over and still make mistakes once they’re on the spot. This is totally…

  • Mind blown.

    Every now and then, you are witnessing something and you get such pleasure that you can’t understand where it comes from, like a tsunami of emotions. Those kind of sensations happen to children and teenagers frequently and with great intensity. That might be the reason why all adults listen for the rest of their lives…

  • Studying with music.

    I probably did it as a father. I would put some CD on (it was the time of CD’s back then) while my two young children were quietly playing in their bedroom. Probably Mozart, probably something syrupy. Guilty as charged. The music was pleasant enough, for sure, just not very educational. What I certainly didn’t…

  • What music teaches you.

    A brand new student, eyes wide open, will have a ready answer to this age old question of what the purpose of music is. They will get on the seat of the piano or the drums and they will say “Fun!” as they play. At this point, that’s all that matters. They decided to take…

  • How I roll.

    Hey, I’m not proud of it. Not at all. But that’s the way I operate, almost despite myself. When a student decides to stop lessons for reasons X, Y or Z, I never ever prevent them from doing so. First, I always remember that these people chose me every week for 1, 2, 3 or…

  • Knowing is freedom in Music.

    There was a teacher in Paris that enjoyed a great reputation. Her name was Nadia Boulanger. Her and her sisters were in music since they were born. Nadia Boulanger’s sister, although predestined to be a great concerto player, died in her prime and never saw the fame and fortune her skills promised. Nadia became a…

  • For a drummer or a pianist sitting hurts.

    The tittle of this blog says it all, today’s subject is a pain in the rear. This is a topic not enough talked about, maybe because most of the literature is geared towards beginners the kind of people who do not know yet the joys of aching vertebrae’s. I practice every day. Sometimes 1 hour…

  • My roots. Part 2

    Once my stepfather had paid his dues on a small boat off the coast of Brittany trying to catch a living, we came back to my little village close to Switzerland. It was a very small and charming place where you had the lower part and the higher part of the community divided with one…