“I forgot my music!”

Here are a few contenders, provided by piano students, for the “Best Excuses” list.  I’m sure every teacher has some memorable additions! I’ve put my (short) list into categories, just for fun. And, by the way, whenever something like this happens, I teach the kid a lesson anyway! Standard I forgot my music. Who, me? [...]

8 Pros and a Chorus

This post is dedicated to the memory of Gil* and Mary Robbins, and in honor of their children,  Adele, Gabrielle, Tim, and David. While living in New York, I was the accompanist for the Occasional Singers, a chorus conducted by Gil Robbins that performed avante-garde music. Gil’s wife, Mary, sang second alto, and daughters Adele [...]

Student clears a hurdle!

One of my adult students made an extraordinary leap last week!  It’s right up there with getting religion and learning to walk. The hurdle Just as she finished playing one of the exercises in A Dozen A Day, I happened to glance at her hand.  She had developed a bridge! Why not sooner? I’ve asked myself that [...]

The ones that got away

With apologies to Mendelssohn, there are 2 “Songs Without Words” that I forgot to include in my previous post. Op. 53, No. 2  ”The Fleecy Clouds” This song needs to move.  Fleecy Clouds don’t need ploddy triplets!  When I play this, I imagine clouds on a windy day. There are big dynamic contrasts, sforzandi, and  melodic [...]

Emily’s Movie: Music for Piano

Immediately after recording chorus music last week for an upcoming DVD about Emily Dickinson, we began recording some piano pieces she might have heard or played. Again, my goal was to keep the listener in mind, achieving variety of tempi, dynamics, and styles. Since free downloads of this music are not available, I hope my descriptions [...]

Emily’s Movie: The Chorus

Image by mfigrs via Flickr We recorded a good deal of audio for an upcoming DVD about Emily Dickinson this week. The music will be pieces from Emily Dickinson’s lifetime ~ music she could have sung, heard, or played on the piano. We began with the chorus. Since various singers were interrupting their out-of-town summer plans, [...]

10 Most Masterful Movie Scores of All Time

The link to this wonderful post was provided by Anna Miller of Onlinedegree.net ~ take a look! 10 Most Masterful Movie Scores of All Time Thanks so much, Anna! Related articles Emily’s Movie (gretchenspianos.wordpress.com) Emily’s Movie: Take 2 (gretchenspianos.wordpress.com) More about Emily’s Movie (gretchenspianos.wordpress.com)

The nerve!

More tennis!  Ready?  Wimbledon! ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ During the men’s quarterfinal match between Rafael Nadal and Mardy Fish, I was glued to NBCSports.com. Watch the 5-minute highlight reel. Although I have been following tennis for about a year, I had known very little about the American Mardy Fish.  It was nice to have [...]