York's World War II Memoir (Short Story) - 12/7/2014 8:48:31 AM
Nice job, Shirley. This anniversary is of a violent beginning and the end is o-so-tragic, too. It seems this war never really ended, just moved around. But York's memory is of healing and humanity. Thanks for recording it and for relating it to us.
The Best Interview with Seymour Bernstein (Article) - 3/5/2018 6:56:10 AM
What a wonderful interview and what a wonderful man. That's why I've always liked older people. They are full of wisdom and often quite humorous. I have a mentor who is 93 that I call often and have sent him many emails with oddities and nature. He says he likes my jokes that I relay so that he can tell them to others at the assisted living place that he and his wife have an apartment. Both are still healthy enough to travel.
Stage fright. For me, fright started when I tried to perform on radio as a child and was so ill-prepared I played very badly. I was never good at memorization and afraid to "screw up" while talking to audiences.
I finally cured that in my college speech classes where I was taught how to bring notes (no teleprompters in those days) and the first line to help me begin a speech. It worked. And, as Bernstein so eloquently stated, experience turned my first frightful days as a college instructor into a seasoned associate professor a few years later who could literally talk to large bodies even without notes, but with a well-planned agenda before hand. I still had detailed notes and diagrams for all my classes that I shared with my students for the difficult concepts I taught.
Ron
Jeanne Bamberger, 94, shares a rich and abundant musical life (Article) - 2/7/2018 6:36:47 AM
That was a wonderful interview of a wonderful woman pianist and teacher. Jeanne has remarkable ability and memory at 94. What was interesting was her talking about, "knowing without learning." I recall so many skills that I just seemed to know how to do without having to be taught. Unfortunately, music wasn't one of those skills. ;-)
Your interview is so well structured and videotaped, that this interview will remain part of Jeanne Hamburger's legacy like her books.
I recall both of my grandmothers who played the piano telling me that they, "learned by ear." My father said that about playing the bugle and trumpet. I couldn't help comparing Jeanne with my mother, 93. My mother had to have carpal tunnel surgery last year so that she could reduce numbness in her hands. She also has arthritis. Her longtime acute hearing has been reduced to near deafness, and three mini strokes in 2011 resulted in aphasia affecting her speech and writing. While she sang us popular songs when we were young, she never showed us that she had any real musical talent, while pushing my brother and I through piano and accordion lessons that didn't take. Like Jeanne, her mind remained sharp, but it's difficult for to express herself when the words get mixed up in aphasia.
Ron
Attitude and Adult Piano Study (Article) - 10/7/2017 11:31:23 AM
As usual, some very good observations why it does have a more difficult time learning to play the piano than youngsters. Reminds me of the difficulty I had getting people who relied on secretaries to type and sometimes write to use computers and for secretaries who were very good on the typewriter to move to wordprocessing on personal computers or terminals. I called the “hardening of the attitude.”
Piano playing and language learning are probably a function of the cerebellum because the more you practice the more the routines are hardwired there in long-term memory and not easily forgotten. Studies have shown that youngsters, probably because they have more empty storage space and fewer conflicting routines already learned like walking, bike riding and swimming find it far easier to learn these routines than adults.
Ron
A Happy Day for a 9-yr. old playing on her first recital (Article) - 5/8/2017 5:08:06 AM
What a lovely girl and beautiful recital. She certainly started off her piano playing career on a great note.
But you made me recall a rather embarrassing debut for my twin brother and I. When we were seven, we moved to a rambling Victorian house. A woman and her teenage daughter moved in upstairs and I recall my father carrying the upright piano up those stairs with his strong back.
Immediately, our mother enrolled us in piano lessons with our young teacher upstairs. We both struggled learning music (that I have since forgotten) but enjoy playing and singing simple children's tunes.
We were both terribly shy, but our mother was always pushing us to get out in public because we were so "cute." Anyway, a local radio station had talented kids on in the afternoon and we were invited to come and play and sing.
Not only was I shy and nervous, I just wasn't interested enough in piano to try to play and sing well. It caught up with both of us when we had to go on the air. We both played badly and sang terribly as I recall and were very embarrassed at the mistakes we made while playing, even forgetting the words in a couple of places. Fortunately, it was just us and the announcer in a small studio with no audience. Still, I thought about all the people out there listening and hoping to hear something cute from us and only getting gibberish. But it was a good lesson to learn because we always did better after that when in a public setting.
Ron
The Benefits of Piano Lessons for the Aging Student (Article) - 3/26/2017 6:30:34 AM
A cure for arthritis? The dog is priceless.
I had my Pomeranian for about eight years. One evening he leaned back on his haunches and howled. There was no music prompt. I never saw or heard him do it again. Something primal had stirred him and brought out the wolf.
The sooner we cure Alzheimer's and dementia, the sooner ultraconservative thinking will go away.
Ron
Student: I get so nervous when I play for you! The Teacher responds! (Article) - 3/19/2017 6:44:48 AM
I never shook in the boots in the presence of any my teachers, although some of them were quite intimidating. I found them all interesting, not only from their knowledge and teaching methods, but their personalities.
But as a teacher, I did find some students to be quite intimidated by me even though I tried to treat everyone as fairly as possible and make them comfortable with the subject at hand.
I can begin to imagine the difficulties trying to teach via the Internet. There is so much computer phobia that gets in the way of trying to do the simplest things.
Once again, a superbly written account. Your use of capital letters works very well in this case.
Ron
Experiencing the first Sunrise in your playing (Article) - 3/13/2017 6:41:13 AM
As usual, so beautifully written and complemented with videos. Another superb article on how Alexandre Tasman had given you your first epiphany in piano playing.
Ron
Patience and Practicing (Article) - 2/9/2017 9:24:07 AM
Another superbly written article on a subject that I dearly love.
Probably the reason I never excelled in music was losing patience and failing to practice. If I learned anything in this life, doing something well if one does not have immediate talent, requires the patience to let that happen and not quit. And, the only way to turn poor performance into something much better is to learn from one's mistakes and practice, practice… practice.
Ron
My Review, Tales of a Musical Journey: Primer Method (Irina Gorin) (Article) - 2/1/2017 8:05:40 AM
A very fine and well annotated review of Irina Gorin's book. Based on the excerpt below, you are as excellent a writer as you are a piano teacher virtuoso.
"In essence, she teaches a student to think of the piano
like a bowl of jello, to avoid a “fingers down, superficial, skimming the surface” approach to the keys. The imagery promotes a “slower” if not denser penetration, preventing a pokey, percussive attack."
Ron
A 9-year old's complete piano lesson integrates theory and ear training (Article) - 12/8/2016 7:35:06 AM
You really understand the theory and science of the piano. In your videos are very good at showing how your students learn.
Both my grandmothers were piano players and my sister plays the piano and organ. At Christmas time, my paternal grandmother or her daughter, my aunt, would play Christmas carols and the whole family would gather around the piano to sing. My maternal grandmother told me one time that she taught herself how to play the piano. I never had the patience for that.
Ron
Piano Pedagogy article by Byron Janis in the Wall Street Journal (Article) - 9/10/2016 1:26:14 PM
Not only are you an exemplary piano teacher for your use of distance learning and many other innovative and technological techniques for imparting your joy to your students, you are also an exemplary article writer.
A neophyte of piano understanding, I find your articles, like this one, so well written that even I can understand some of the nuances that you share from your vast repertoire of the English language, music in general, and the piano. In short, your articles are a symphony to my sore reading eyes.
Ron
Scenes from the Statewide Music Teachers Convention in L.A. (Article) - 7/5/2016 7:41:23 AM
It looks like you should've taken the train or a plane to the convention. ;-)
Almost 50 years ago I went to a convention in LA. I was picked up at my apartment in Redwood City by a limousine, given incidental cash to spend, flew to LAX where another limousine took me to the convention hotel. My company paid for everything. I can see that things have changed in 50 years. Why didn't you get your company to pay your way? ;-)
As always, a wonderful article covering both visually and beautifully written of your adventures.
Ron
Don't Choke through peak sections of a Chopin Nocturne (Article) - 6/12/2016 6:14:31 AM
If you are as good a piano player as you are a writer, you are a virtuoso. Your articles here, for a someone who is not a musician, are so beautifully written with language that draws one and wants to fully appreciate what music does for you and your students. You also have the most multimedia approach of anyone on AD, showing that you are a Renaissance woman in every sense of the word.
Ron
Great pianists speak about imagination and the singing approach (Article) - 5/21/2016 8:59:51 AM
I find that some of the most beautiful instrumental music I've heard is when it imitates the human voice or when it's used as a lead in to a classic song. More often than not, setting the mood, for what is to come.
Ron
One grand piano in, and another out, but not forgotten (Article) - 2/7/2016 7:29:04 AM
This is the case where older is better. And, you certainly moved up the alphabet that from M to A. It was really wonderful that your beloved Steinway M is not lost, just down the hall.
Ron
When Your Song Breaks the Silence: A book about Franz Schubert (Article) - 1/2/2016 11:12:32 AM
How wonderful that Natalie's works were discovered on that computer and recovered. Just the other day I wondered if all that I have stored on my computer will be returned to my family and if they will even ever be able to go through all of it.
Thank you for the musical review of a too young to die author's work.
Ron
The Lang Lang Controversy (Article) - 12/9/2015 6:31:33 AM
I've never heard of Lang Lang, but as you know, my appreciation of music is sadly lacking. ;-) I sense a bit of jealousy from his detractors. I seem to recall two other pianists who were quite flamboyant: Mozart and Liberace.
Ron
Joining the league of Left handers by an accident of fate (Article) - 11/23/2015 10:15:55 AM
While that scar on your elbow will heal quickly, those fractures will take a little longer and you soon will leave the land of left-handedness, behind… At least in a couple of months. In the meantime, it looks like you are enjoying your adventure into the League of Left Handers.
I joined that League 52 years ago and still have trouble making that damn left hand operate like a right one. Notably, my left hand became useful for carrying things, shooting pool, playing badminton, and picking up small objects with the little grip that I have left, losing more all the time. Thanks to my stainless hand splint, I've been able to type with my right thumb, pick up small objects, and write with a pen until 1998 in my normal, right-handed way.
Get back to playing beautifully with all of your fingers very soon
Ron
