Tag: piano instructor
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The secrets of motivation
There is a subject I cannot really share on my blog: how to motivate people to practice. I don’t want to share because I am afraid people will not believe me when I try to tell them to practice, they will think I am just using a trick. I am not using any tricks. Barely…
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Tips in cash.
I used to be in a circus. It was called “Cirque Plume” in France. That was before they got famous and grew to be the biggest circus in Europe. There were no animals in that organization, just a troop of jugglers, acrobats and interesting people. That was what was selling really well, the interesting part.…
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Muscle memory.
As instrumentalists, we want it so bad, especially when we are beginners, we strive, we long for Speed! The reason why we started this whole enterprise is because we saw that person going a million miles an hour on them drums/keys. The person was flowing, with an easy smile and easier gesture. What they were…
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What is a reference?
I am thinking about artistry, what it means, what it does. Because when we are confronted with it we are never sure of how to approach it. It seduces and repels. All right, enough with the mystery talk. Artistry is a figment of someone’s imagination. And that goes for the listener as well as the…
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The greatest gift.
You learn something when you watch documentary about music. Even if it’s a small YouTube snippet. For example, I saw Kenny Aronoff (if you don’t know who he is, keep reading) who’s talking about the few steps that decided his career. Literally steps with legs and feet. He describe how he went from the studio…
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The mistakes.
Did you know that musicians make mistakes? No, I mean, the famous, great, incredible musicians make mistakes. They do! I am reading a book written by Charles Rosen where he dedicates a chapter to stage performance. In it he unveils that some famous classical piano players make mistakes during concerts. Sometimes, if there’s a repeat…
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The bass player
When I first went to Berklee College of Music, it was with the firm intention to learn jazz. In my family, in France, it was accepted as a noble style of music. So, I learnt jazz. It was not an easy feat, I was practicing 10 to 12 hours a day the basics then the…
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Top of the mountain, bottom of the pit.
There is a harsh reality in the music world. It goes like this: one day you’re being adored and cheered by loving fans and the next booed and driven off the stage by rotten tomatoes. Come to think of it, that might be the fate of every job. As a matter of fact, every person…
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Difficult performance
I purposely took a misleading title. Why? Because I can, that’s my blog, I do what I want. So there. One might think that the difficult performance refers to someone on stage having a hard time for reason X, Y or Z. But no, I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about the spectator, in…
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The chariot
There is a practice in France that college students use to pass their exams (or not). It’s called “Une charette”, a chariot in English. It goes like this. We have a student, someone who is in first, second or whatever years of college and is enjoying the newly found independence from parental supervision. That student,…