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The first wonderful sight-reading I experienced was Lucy Spitzer’s flawless playing of the Berg Sonata in my teacher’s studio when I was 15 or so. Before then I had no idea how good reading could be; or, we might say, what reading even was!

The 21st-century student, like students of yesterday, arrives at university or conservatory eager to be recognized, eager to express his or her individuality, and uncertain about his or her place in the music world. Also like students of yesterday, he or she likely arrives with substantial gaps in intellectual knowledge, physical competence and musical mastery.

Too warm for a fire today, here in West L.A. Predicted high is 68; my “fireplace max” is 60. (OK, there have been days I’ve made a fire at a chilly 5:30 A.M., kept it going all morning for cozy practicing, and emerged at noon to find it 80 F outside.)

As Franck’s Prélude, Choral and Fugue moves through passage after fortissimo passage, the piano is moving, too—away from me. I’m already leaning forward to keep my hands on the keys.

A physicist student of mine was looking for a used grand. In six or eight weeks, we checked a number of instruments in stores and homes. At first she didn’t observe much, largely forgetting each piano by the time we reached the next. Then quite suddenly she started saying things like, “This one has sweeter […]

The Curmudgeon curmunicates. “When I was still posting to that teachers’ group, somebody asked, ‘Why are the ‘Pathétique’ and ‘Moonlight’ so hard to teach?’ And I answered, ‘Because so few students are ready to learn them!’

In the old days, a workman applying for a job showed the foreman his tool chest, and the foreman judged the quality of his work by the quality and condition of his tools and the chest itself.

The Critic’s Fallacy, also known as the Fallacy of the Web Discussion Group, is to think that because one does not participate in an activity, but only comments from afar, one therefore knows more than those who spend their guts on it.

Lying If you go backstage after a concert, you compliment the performer. If this requires lying, you lie. If you can’t compliment honestly, and can’t lie, don’t go backstage.

Pianists often speak of piano tone as a fixed quality of an instrument. “This piano has a harsh tone,” they say, as they might say “This piano’s a seven-foot grand.” But tone is affected by many factors: the “crown” of the soundboard, the quality and condition of the strings, the shape and texture of the […]