Learning to Listen

Ferruccio Busoni born in Italy in 1866 was a very famous pianist who once said." There is a detail which few students observe which is of such vast importance that one is tempted to say that the main part of successful musical progress depends upon it. This is the detail of learning to listen". Hours and hours can be wasted by students who treat the piano as some sort of gymnasium that is attached to a musical instrument. They may acquire strong fingers, but will have to learn to listen before they can hope to become good performers. Pianists, even at young ages should always be in quest of new beautiful sounds that result in wonderful details. Have your child or student play a small series of notes in several ways including striking the key from high above the keyboard, striking just using finger weight, depressing a key using arm weight and the fingers as transmitters, incorporating freedom of the elbow, depressing the key at different speeds etc.... You might even record these sounds so that they can be played back. Then decide with the student or your child where these individual sounds would be appropriate in music. Some sounds are very good for fortissimo, large sounds but would not work well if the piece of music was describing a delicate flower. Allow your imagination to run wild and be expressed through the sounds you create !!

Welcome !!

Welcome to my newly created blog, "The treble and bass of Music". This site is designed to give my piano students hints and ideas for practice, musical trivia, composer information, studio information etc... It will also be a place to showcase performances. Check back weekly to see my progress and to discover !!!