Question  I have been reading about the phases of learning: Preparation, Presentation, and Generalization. I believe I understand the concept, and am eager to try it in my teaching, but I'm not sure I understand how it works in a practical sense. Could you take one area of learning and outline a way in which I could use it in my teaching?...

The piano as we know it reached its full bloom in the late nineteenth century. Inventors have tinkered with the design in years since with varying degrees of success, but the acoustical grand piano we play today is largely the same piano on which the students of Liszt performed. Would it then be fair to say that piano technique, too, has not develo...

In today's diverse world, piano teachers - even those in the U.S. - increasingly require special insight and compassion to meet the challenges and opportunities presented by working with students fro m a variety of cultures. Government and private industry employees are routinely required to complete diversity training on an annual basis. As the U....

Imagine an elementary school classroom in which students are taught how to read a written language both out loud and to their selves. They have vocabulary drills, spelling tests, reading comprehension tests, etc. Yet these same children are never asked to converse or to write down an original thought. Would they be considered literate? If these stu...

Every year it's the same - a group of my students prepare to leave the hallowed halls of academia and search for the elusive "job." For these students, this is BIG - and not just a little scary. As the "professor," part of my job is to prepare these changelings for what will be one of the most exciting times in their lives. For me, mentoring my stu...

Professional musicians have always been aware that their chosen profession contributes to a long lifespan, especially if they are pianists. The beloved Arthur Rubinstein continued to perform into his 90s and retired only because of diminishing eyesight caused by shingles. Alfred Brendel performed his final public concert last December in Vienna jus...

There are many famous people who have stage fright. According to Patrick Enright of MS IEC.com1; Andrea Bocelli told Connie Chung that he's constantly afflicted by stage fright that lasts almost his entire performance. "The only way is to go on stage and to hope. " Glenn Gould quit playing in front of live audiences because of his discomfort w...

My six-year-old granddaughter plays soccer in a league where the coaches and parents refuse to keep score, because they want the children to "feel good about them- selves and their performance." One afternoon my husband made the mistake of cheering on Corinne's team as it made a goal. Within earshot of our granddaughter, the coach took him aside an...

An Interview with William Westney  I have recollections of a day, years ago, in graduate school. Like most days, I was frantically trying to get everything done, self-absorbed in my own personal cloud of pressures and deadlines. Practicing, papers, teaching - there was plenty to do. I may have had a vague notion that there was a guest presenti...

An Interview with James Lyke  When I attended Jim Lyke's piano pedagogy classes in 1990 at the University of Illinois his reputation as a leader in the field of group piano and pedagogy was well established, but I somehow didn't quite understand and appreciate the importance of this energetic, restless man. Always focused on the next...

Musicians throughout the centuries have been fascinated by modes, their unique structure and sound, and the opportunity for expressiveness they offer. From folk songs (Scarborough Fair) to pop music (Eleanor Rigby) to jazz (Maiden Uiyage), we have been intrigued by the mystery their distinctive elements create in our ear. Jazz musicians especially ...