Online masterclass series
Here’s an interesting online masterclass service that my teacher pointed out to me: Tonebase (https://www.tonebase.co/piano?submittedPersona_Piano=1#pbl-uvp)
Various systems grading difficulty of pieces
There are various systems grading difficulty of pieces. Rough guides, YMMV. Hinson’s Guide to the Pianists Repertoire and Friskin/Freundlich’s Music for the Piano. They both use level of difficulty as: Easy, Moderate, Moderately Difficult and Difficult Graded 1-5: https://www.pianolibrary.org/about/statistics/ Henle has a rating system of 1-9 The Great Britain ABRSM has a respected system. Canada’s Royal […]
A heartbreaking story of commitment
The New Yorker published this article about early Facebook employee and serious amateur violinist Eric Sun, whose life was cut dreadfully short by brain cancer. Knowing that his time was short, he devoted himself more than ever to his music. A Tech Pioneer’s Final, Unexpected Act _ The New Yorker
Nailed it!
No, not that insane Brahms broken chord accompaniment. The brain of various musicians. Enjoy.
Wow. Just wow.
This is *not* about playing the piano. But it is about creating music, and artistic dedication to a beautiful idea. The Wintergatan Marble Machine.
Better learning from practice that better engages our cognitive practices
Here are some practice tips from one of my favorite teachers, Polly van der Linde (who runs the Sonata and Sonatina piano camps for adults and kids in Bennington Vermont). These are winners, precisely because they engage deep processing of the sort that cognitive scientists have been showing in recent decades is so important for […]
Classical music video subscription site
Sort of a “Netflix for classical music” (but a lot more expensive: medici.tv. Subscriptions from $120 – $190 / year (as of today). They claim to offer over 100 live events per year, and the catalogue of viewable videos is currently over 1600.
Tagged performance, performers, videoFeeling better about practice: the peak-end rule
Kahneman and Tversky, in their many studies of cognitive biases, discovered the “peak-end rule”: our emotional memories off experiences are disproportionately affected by the end of the experience. For example, they had subjects submerge their hands in painfully cold water for 30 seconds, then another time but with an additional 15 seconds added, but at […]
Tagged blogs, practice, psychologyThe Bulletproof Musician
Just discovered this site — seems to have a wealth of useful advice and wisdom. Primary focus on helping musicians deal with performance anxiety, and also on more effective practice. But lots of other areas of advice as well. The Bulletproof Musician Posted with Blogsy
How much practice? Less if deliberate
A nice article on the advantages of mindful (deliberate) practice. Posted with Blogsy