Tag: piano instructor

  • Making peace with music part 5

    Here is a good question: How do you pursue a hobby for a long time? Here’s an answer: passion and moderation. Another answer: Humility and confidence. Another answer: put something at stake that you can control. Another answer:relate to the work at your level. I’ll review those answers one by one. When we want to…

  • 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…

  • How long does it take to learn the drums?

    What a good question! Thank you for asking. The answer is this: in my class, during the first lesson, the brand new beginner gets to learn her/his first rock beat. We shall also, while we’re at it, try to play together. I might be on the piano or the guitar. I might sing a song…

  • New Orleans 1

    The first evening I was in New Orleans, I got star struck, and furious about it. We landed in the heart of it all: the French Quarter. What a pretty town! I could relate to those high balconies, looking like the front of boats. I could understand why the prostitutes of the old days would…

  • How long does it take to learn the piano?

    This is a very good question. Every beginner I know, whether they are 6 or 66 years old, want to know how long it’ll take before they are able to play what they want to play on the piano. If I give a cookie cutter answer, I’d say that with a little practice and a…