The 88-Key world

Since the mid-19th century, the central focus of piano pedagogy has been to turn piano students into performers, not creators. 

Unlike painters, writers, and other creative artists, most musicians are now trained to recreate other people’s art and stop there. 

While people today crop their own photos, make their own movies, design their own websites, and write their own blogs, piano students are rarely encouraged to make music of their own or …

Schubert's tonal networks are related to complex psychological meanings that point towards a no longer classical conception of the world: the world as chaos, not as kosmos. 

The first movement of the Sonata in C major D 840 is very powerful in its radical contrast between strength and sweetness. It’s tonal structure is beyond all norms: the second theme is not only in a minor key, which is already an exceptional …

In the spring of 1825, after spending the winter with his family, Schubert had found a room to rent, overlooking the city and the countryside, in the apartment of a wine shopkeeper located near the church of St. Charles in Vienna. 

In the life of Franz Schubert, who did not travel the world but who changed his domicile countless times in Vienna, the apartment represented a pleasant and happy harbor, where …

Piano performance etiquette is important and good “piano manners” are much appreciated. 

Taking a bow means to receive and acknowledge audience applause. Whenever there is applause, a pianist should bow. Even between movements, if there is scattered applause, acknowledging the audience with a quick nod should be done. When you finish your performance, the audience clap as their way of saying: “Thank you for playing to us”. The performer needs to take …

As we regress in the past, slower declamation times must be adopted. 

The decision to declaim Shakespeare today involves different times of declamation in relation to the language used. It might be declaimed in modern English, or in nineteenth century English or in eighteenth century English: the language is always English, but it is not the same English. 

This comparison allows us to understand why it is necessary to play slower today: …