THE DIGNITY OF "TRIVIAL LITTLE PIECES"
If famed cellist Pablo Casals could do it – so can I! While Vivian Mackie was studying cello with Pablo Casals in Spain in the early...
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Rhapsodydmb.com
A soft place to land to read music poetry and stories, and share our love of piano adventures!
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- Aug 6
- 5 min
A NEVER-ENDING BATTLE: AGE AS A BLESSING OF CREATIVE OPPORTUNITY...OR ONLY A DEATH SENTENCE?
Rated 5 out of 5 stars.
(1)Am I past my "sell by" date? Let's just start out with a never-ending stereotype of what aging means in America today, by citing this...
62 views1 comment
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- Aug 1
- 5 min
OPENHEIMER, TAUBMAN.2, & MEDITATION
What do these three things have in common? Well, music for one thing. Openheimer and the A bomb have been in the news recently not only...
31 views0 comments
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- Jul 11
- 6 min
TEACHING ADULTS (ANDRAGONY) VS. YOUTH (PEDAGOGY)
Are we adult piano students horses of a different color when it comes to lessons taken up in later life? Are there different ways we...
46 views0 comments
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- Jun 27
- 9 min
NEW HORIZONS: THE TAUBMAN TECHNIQUE (WHAT DO PIANO TEACHERS ACTUALLY TEACH?)
Lately I’ve been wondering what it is, exactly, that piano teachers teach? Sometimes they teach about new horizons -- and I have one...
75 views0 comments
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- Jun 17
- 2 min
THE JOY OF "PRACTICING"
I was recently talking with a piano teacher who hails from Kentucky, when she corrected something I had said. I mentioned "practicing"...
19 views0 comments
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- May 10
- 5 min
THERE IS SOMETHING PERSONAL IN CRITICISM
In the world of "separate knowing," criticism is not personal. The knowers "must accept it with equanimity," explain the authors of the...
21 views0 comments
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- Apr 23
- 2 min
SELF-CONFIDENCE IS OVER RATED
I wonder if pianists of top calibur like Yuja Wang (pictured here at a March 2023 symphony where I heard her play Rachmaninoff's Third...
28 views0 comments
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- Apr 11
- 4 min
"COMPLICITE" AKA "PARTNERSHIP"
Reading the French word "complicite" (accent aigu) had a powerful impact on my understanding about the learning environment when it comes...
44 views0 comments
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- Apr 2
- 4 min
HOW JUSTICE & AMBIVALENCE CAN MOTIVATE PERSISTENCE & REDUCE STRESS IN LESSONS & PERFORMANCE
Theories in the field of psychology about motivation are vast. What can we use to motivate ourselves toward lessons with a goal of...
24 views0 comments
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- Mar 30
- 5 min
THE PAUSE THAT REFRESHES, AND MAKES MUSIC LIVE!
The COCA-COLA company claims that "Advertising slogans are a part of everyday life for consumers around the world,and Coca-Cola has...
40 views0 comments
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- Mar 26
- 6 min
PLAYING WHAT ONE LOVES, BUT LISTENING TO ALL
One of the principal elements I seek in any piano teacher with whom I work, is that I be allowed to choose the pieces I want to learn,...
51 views0 comments
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- Mar 5
- 4 min
HOW TO USE YOUTUBE - & - THE LAW OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES
HOW TO USE YOUTUBE: Cello teacher Hans Jorgen Jensen (from Denmark) taught me the "right" way to use many performances on YouTube to...
18 views0 comments
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- Mar 3
- 4 min
PERFORMANCE IN THE FACE OF PUSH-BACK
Joe, my neighbor-piano mentor friend pictured here before he played my Duchess, loves to prepare for months for his student recital every...
45 views0 comments
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- Mar 2
- 4 min
WHY IS DEFINING THE ELEMENTS OF PIANISM SO DIFFICULT?
Why is explaining how do make something happen on the piano, or what a term in the piano vocabulary means, so difficult for my piano...
19 views0 comments
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- Feb 28
- 5 min
WHY DO SOME PRACTICE DAYS GO SO WELL?
Last night I played Schumann's "Traumerie," Mendelssohn's "Confidence (intermediate arrangement)," Schumann's "Foreign Lands," Aram...
13 views0 comments
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- Feb 13
- 9 min
WHAT I WISH I HAD KNOWN AT THE START
At the end of March, 2023 I will accomplish 24 months of weekly piano lessons. So what do I wish I had known before I returned to study...
52 views0 comments
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- Feb 5
- 7 min
FINDING A MUSIC TRIBE: The loneliness of a long-distance piano student
Being an amateur pianist who studies in individual zoom lessons at home, is a lonely affair. It occurred to me after about a year of such...
71 views0 comments
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- Jan 29
- 4 min
QUALITIES OF AN EFFECTIVE TEACHER
I'm eternally curious about what makes for an effective piano teacher. Here's a helpful list of 19 common elements present in the methods...
13 views0 comments
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- Jan 20
- 4 min
“MUSICALITY” - AN ELUSIVE CONCEPT
The more I delve into new words and concepts from the world of music, the more I find ambiguity and vagueness. So often the experts I...
22 views0 comments
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