Tag: piano teacher
Packing light.
I came to this country in 1991. I had 2 suitcases, two large ones. And that’s it. Actually, no, that’s not quite “it”. I also had my drum set with me, which is a big Madonna, we’re counting about 7 packages here. The lightest would be around 14 pounds, that’s the hi toms in his…
A royal waste of time.
I’ve been hacked. This very account, the one I use to write my blogs on has been taken over by, of all people, Russians. How do I know? Because I do not understand the Cyrillic alphabet, and it was all over the dashboard of my site. I am not accusing the Russians of being particularly…
Anticipating versus coping.
When you’re a musician, all to often, you’re self-employed. And, contrary to the common belief, if you are a musician who wants to stay in business, you need to get busy in order to be busy. This is the subject of this blog: where to spend your energy. I discovered very early on in my…
Writing notes on music sheet.
I don’t do it often and when I do, it’s usually to specify that this note is sharpen or flatten. I do not underline the dynamics or write with red ink one word comments like “Dynamics!” or “Expression”. Why don’t I do that? I am not sure. Maybe because I estimate that what’s written on…
Double checking.
It happens to me all the time. Let’s suppose I have a song to play. I’ll first listen to it. Chances are I will write it down. Once written, it’s ready to be played. Then I’m done. I throw myself on the drums and I start to play. I never go back to what I…
The daily practice.
I used to practice piano maybe one hour per day. It wasn’t much. At the beginning had a very dingy little keyboard that was maybe 61 keys. I was doing the songs from the booklet that came with it. The tunes were dreadful and the way I played them even worse. But it was glorious,…
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…
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…
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…
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…