Ms. Bellamy , my high school classic spinet 1953 Baldwin Acrosonic, now for sale (San Francisco) Many modern piano teachers seem to emphasize the neccesity of learning improvisation. Well and good, for those who revel in what to me and many, are uber-anxiety producing. If I don't have a concertizing or public performance goal, why would I want to engage in that? Believe me, I have engaged in many other experiences that stretched me and my preferences to the limit, and I'm

The Phoenix Bird statue, carved out of the remains of a burned out tree and living now on the patio of Nepenthe, my favorite restaurant...

Giving people choices conveys many benefits in life, and to both or all parties to the equation. I was happy to learn there is one 2017...

My body betrayed me a few years ago during lessons with two piano teachers. One was my third teacher since taking up piano lessons after...

There is pain in learning the piano. And there are solutions to reduce the hurt. I'm not talking about tendinitis pain which I battled...

"The recognition, pursuit, and desire to explore novel, complex, uncertain, and ambiguous events" is as good a definition of "curiosity"...

"Everyone has a belief system ("B.S."); the trick is to learn not to take anyone's B.S. too seriously, especially your own." - Robert...

My November music-themed birthday party table decorations; photo courtesy of guest Grace Hueunemann. Thelonius Monk always said that the...

New Year's Resolutions represent the ultimate folly as far as human beings and my personal experience go. I've learned not to bother;...

Above is Rocket, my cat Tipsy's boyfriend, pausing under mentor Joe's gorgeous "Sir B" (seven foot special Beethoven edition Bosendorfer...

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...

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...

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...

I was recently talking with a piano teacher who hails from Kentucky, when she corrected something I had said. I mentioned "practicing"...

In the world of "separate knowing," criticism is not personal. The knowers "must accept it with equanimity," explain the authors of the...

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...

Reading the French word "complicite" (accent aigu) had a powerful impact on my understanding about the learning environment when it...

Theories in the field of psychology about motivation are vast. What can we use to motivate ourselves toward lessons with a goal of...

The COCA-COLA company claims that "Advertising slogans are a part of everyday life for consumers around the world,and Coca-Cola has...

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,...