Now that we have entered the third decade of the twenty- first century, I find myself looking back at the previous three decades and wondering: Did technology deliver on its implied promises? With advances in music technology, do piano students learn music faster, enjoy their practice more, and perform with greater confidence? These are import...

NCKP has eleven subcommittees, comprised of leaders in each of the following subcommittee areas: collaborative performance, collegiate pedagogy teaching, creative music making, inclusive teaching, independent music teachers, music in early childhood, research, students and young professionals, teaching adults, technology, and wellness. Over seventy...

What app(s) do you use for recording video on your smartphone or tablet?Stella: On my Android phone and tablet, I usually use the app that comes with the operating system. The various makers of Android devices (Samsung, Motorola, etc.) each provide a video recording app for their devices. Although the app that you get from each manufacturer is diff...

In 2012, we are so far removed from the so-called silent film era (ca. 1894-1929) that most of us have only a vague concept of what it was really like. Although the films of that period were silent, their presentation was not. In the small venues, films were accompanied by the local pianist (who was often the neighborhood piano teacher) or a small ...

You cannot play the late piano works of Beethoven on an early Cristofori pianoforte because there aren't enough notes. You also cannot play the music of Chopin on a mid-eighteenth-century piano because it is too impractical to manipulate the dampers with a knee lever. Nor can you expect to play the works of Liszt, Rachmaninoff, or Prokofiev on...

Do you remember the glorious days of cassette tapes? For a substantial period of time - from the late 1960s to the end of the century - it seemed like everyone had one or more cassette players. Best of all, a teacher or student could purchase an inexpensive cassette player that also had a recording feature.For music teachers, cassettes marked the b...

Working with advanced students is challenging for many reasons, not the least of which is the issue of time management. As the students become more advanced, they tend. outwork simultaneously on both longer pieces and a greater number of pieces. For this reason, lessons must take very efficient use of the available time. The last thing th...

I still remember my first two piano students. The time was the early 1970s. I was a junior at Vassar College, and my piano tcacher thought that it would be a good idea for me to do some teaching. Accordingly, I ended up with a couple of students from the community. One was 7 and the other was 70. At that time, I had no formal trainin...

from the series: Tomorrow Today: Technology George Litterst, EditorLast January, I spent several days in the middle of the month listening to the screening auditions of the 2nd Internal Piano-e-Competition. The auditions were held at Sundin Hall at Hamline University in St. Paul, MN. They were attended by a distinguished jury and mus...

from the series: Tomorrow Today: Technology George Litterst, Editor Current technologies offer students and professionals a clear connection between the notation of a composition and the resulting sound of the piece. I first became excited about composition in high school. My early attempts were very simple and naive, but the results were...