The piano student’s touch on the piano keyboard is rarely if ever mentioned, let alone addressed. Yet, it is certainly one of the major factors in making music at the piano. ‘Piano’ and ‘forte’, may be mentioned, but that’s not touch.…
Debussy’s “Golliwog’s Cake Walk” from the ‘Children’s Corner’ Debussy and early jazz stand hand in hand with a music that is the successor to the earlier period of the Romantics – Chopin, Liszt, Wagner, et.al. Ari Kast has said in his…
Dear Colleague, It’s Your Choice. Yes, it is your choice, and it’s between ‘memorize and practice’, and knowing exactly what you are doing every moment you are playing. The study of music theory, however is study about theory, not music… by definition.…
‘Memorize and practice’, a method used by those whose music will always be meaningless, has been referred to as ‘parroting’, like a parrot who, after enough repetitions will say a phrase, but with no understanding of what it is saying.…
These are not lessons in the music of Bach, per se, but he knew it all and gave it to us who are the benefactors of his genius. Indeed, he gave us the very scale we use; the ‘tempered scale’…
The training of music students with traditional theoretical principles; figured bass, secondary dominants, types of cadences, etc. are an egregious waste of time, as they contribute nothing to the understanding of a musical composition. Josef Lhevinne in his book, ‘The Principles…
Music is a language, therefore follows much of the same principles as the spoken language. For example, we may see an octagonal sign on the side of the road while driving at night. It’s red color may be dark because…
The Waltz begins with a pickup to the tonic (I) of ‘C-sharp’ minor, the key of the Sub-Mediant (VI).[1] Note that harmonic functions (I, II, V), etc. are placed below the bass clef, and harmonic identities (M, m, x), etc. between…
