Pearls Of Piano Wisdom

Last year, Jonathan Flowers presented to MLMTA a program on mindfulness, which was full of information about how to bring it to our piano studios. I was so pleased to revisit this topic with him, as well as chat about other things like: The concept of the anchorThe effect of technology on his public school teaching careerA great cat storyAnd more! Links from the show: Jonathan's website John Kline's Blog Post on Improvisation Four Star Sight Reading

What a fantastic time I had chatting with Dr. Patricia Powell about pedagogy, her life as a college professor, and more!  Dr. Powell has served as the guru of countless teachers and players, myself included.  She can most often be found at West Chester University, where she directs the Piano Pedagogy department; she also serves MLMTA as the facilities coordinator. Dr. Powell has an infectious enthusiasm for music and teaching, and I hope her story is an inspiration to you as it has been to me. A link: ABRSM Music Theory Practice Papers

Deborah Rodgers, our former PMTA President, is super-organized and creative.  It was a delight to visit her home teaching studio!   We discussed composition with students, the summer camp she runs every year, different "genres" of music, and more.  Links to some of the things we talked about are below: Irina Gorin's Tales of a Musical Journey Noteflight Learn KITS Theory AirTurn    

Dr. Resnianski graciously puts up with my children.   I caught up with Igor Resnianski in his office at West Chester University to speak a little further about Sound and Time, a program which he presented to MLMTA on January 9, 2018.  From the program's notes: "Learning the notes is only half the battle.  Knowing how to layer the voices for greatest musical effect and whether to play the notes on time or not on time are two issues with which pianists constantly struggle.  During this presentation, Dr. Resnianski will lead us through the process of organizing the sound in multi-layered piano literature."  As always, it was a delight to hang out with Dr. Resnianski and revisit such an important topic!

Elaine Friedlander is a super-smart piano teacher based in West Chester, PA.  She runs a studio with two teaching assistants who work for her, and they all work in the Suzuki method, but not exclusively!  I was very curious to pull back the curtain on the Suzuki method a little bit, and Elaine was gracious enough to indulge me.  She also talked about her long history teaching piano, and what she does with theory, technique, and the excuses of students who don't practice.  Also, Elaine is the 2017 winner of the PMTA Distinguished Service Award.  I was honored to spend an hour with her!

  What a treat, for my first interview, to spend time with the incomparable Dr. Richard Veleta, my own former piano teacher!  Dr. Veleta welcomed me into his home studio, where we sat at the piano and chatted about intermediate repertoire.  He played a number of examples, which was a delight for my ears, and then we improvised.  He played grandly and I tried to keep up!  A pearl from our interview: "The best intermediate literature was written by first-rate composers who had children--and liked them." Click on the above for Dr. Veleta's handout!