It's always a relief to find a compatible partner in the universe of piano tuning and repair. From my perspective, finding Paul Larudee, (RPT) Registered Piano Technician, meant that my Steinway M, 1917, rebuilt three times between NYC and California's Central Valley, would obtain a spot on Concert A, 440 tuning without any qualifications about… Continue reading A Piano Technician to Treasure!
It took me only moments to turn back the clock to the 18th International Chopin Competition (2021) to pinpoint why I was compelled to speak up after being disappointed by the latest Third Round picks in this year's Chopin 2025 EXPO. The jury selections followed a grueling launch of 85 pianists in the First Round--whittled… Continue reading What is not right about the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw, Poland!
In 2012, when I moved from the Central Valley to California's East Bay, I knew that my transition to apartment living might need to include headphones and a partnered digital instrument. Otherwise, my neighbors might pound on thin walls when bright, resounding fortissimo's (FFs) emanated from my Steinway grand at inopportune hours. Many decades before,… Continue reading When buying a digital piano is a necessity: My memoir, and video comparison of Kawai and Roland brands.
On a weekday evening, near midnight, an e-mail from Scotland arrived that bristled with excitement. It was from a piano student who'd watched a Netflix documentary about Orin O'Brien, the first female double bassist to be hired by the New York Philharmonic. Enraptured by the story and its heartfelt message that embraced music-making in a… Continue reading The Only Girl in the Orchestra lands a deserving Oscar!
It's been two years since I last heard Mitsuko Uchida dish up a serving of mellifluous Mozart that she tenders phrase by phrase, with nuances of pure poetry. https://arioso7.wordpress.com/2022/03/28/mitsuko-uchida-and-mozart/ 3/24/2024 Performance at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley, California The pianist's runs, so well-shaped, curvaceous, and keenly melodic, afford a model for students of the piano, teachers,… Continue reading Mitsuko Uchida returns to Zellerbach Hall with a feast of Mozart Piano Concerti
Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall lit up with the glow of two Mozart concertos, as Maestro Uchida seamlessly mastered the dual role of soloist/conductor. From the piano bench, with her back to the audience bathed in sea blue radiance, her baton-less hands wove expressive lines that soared in the air, before they gracefully descended on the keys.… Continue reading Mitsuko Uchida and Mozart
As teachers, we're in a position to advise our students about navigating big stretches that may not comfortably fit hands that are small or even moderate in size. George Gershwin's Prelude No. 2, a bluesy lullaby, is exemplary in requiring artful phrasing of relentless measures that have these wide interval spans beyond the reach of… Continue reading Small hand challenges playing Gershwin’s Prelude No. 2
Most piano students experience the nemesis of hard-falling, accident-prone thumbs during their scale and arpeggio romps. If unchecked, these power-grabbing fingers of each hand have a tendency to interrupt smooth-playing keyboard journeys. As a start, a player should imagine a scale or arpeggio as a seamless outflow without "bumps" or undesirable "accents." Even in a… Continue reading Piano Technique: Folding in Thumbs for smooth keyboard transit
I often wonder why our music mentor community does not openly share a collective frustration with editors who permeate piano compositions with impossible fingerings. These sources of disarray can be Masterworks by Scarlatti, Mozart, Schumann, Schubert, et al, tarnished with "un-pianistic" maneuvers that beg for labor intensive revisions. Often a preponderance of these Internet driven… Continue reading A Teacher’s Challenge: Navigating Piano music with Awkward fingerings
Arioso7's Blog (Shirley Kirsten) 