Category: Me & my piano

  • My first piano teacher was Ann D. Gainey. This is the story of how we met, how she introduced me to music, and how she became a part of our family. Nearly a half a century ago, in 1967, I was in second grade at Rock Springs Elementary School in Atlanta. My older brother went to…

  • It is becoming my summer tradition to learn something fun at the piano. Last summer, it was the Chopin Barcarolle; this summer, it was Debussy’s L’isle joyeuse.

  • Last month I decided that it was time to play something from that early 20th century modern period. I chose Bartók’s “Fourteen bagatelles”, but just couldn’t make great progress: different music requires different kinds of mental energy. So a week or two ago I put the Bartók down and picked up Schubert.

  • I’m playing Federico Mompou’s Musica callada (“Silent music”) these days. The music is beautiful and strange. I was attracted to this music by its title, which immediately put me in mind of Cage’s string quartet.

  • Time to post another playlist of what’s been reverberating around here (both externally and internally). Here’s what’s been going on in September/October.

  • For years I fantasized about playing the Chopin Barcarolle. Now I have and am ridiculously pleased with myself. (video)

  • Sviatoslav Richter’s Rachmaninoff has so much more of a sense of ease than mine. Where does that come from? How do I cultivate that?

  • I’ve been on a blogging hiatus, very busy with other things, but still practicing.

  • Looking at the somewhat sparse blog postings lately, it looks like I’m just plowing through For Bunita Marcus and not much else. Not true!

  • Over the weekend I played through Busoni’s transcription of Bach’s organ Prelude and Fugue in E-flat, BWV 552, known as “St. Anne”. It was addictively fun to play.

On the Music of John Cage

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