Play It Again Swig

Not practicing very much in the pandemic; Bach as comfort food (and an example of how muscle memory is totally unreliable); a perk of playing music by live composers; three of the Four Pieces for Piano by Katerina Ruzickova Pinosova; Valse Boheme by Celeste Heckscher (and some thoughts on ledger lines); Cortege by Lili Boulanger. […]

Play-throughs (with some a little yelling) of last week’s porch concert: Katerina Ruzickova’s Four Pieces for Piano, Lili Boulanger’s Trois Morceaux, Dorothy Rudd Moore’s A Little Whimsy, and Florence Price’s Silk Hat and Walking Cane. Plus a first play-through of Rachmaninov’s Prelude in G major, Op. 32 No. 5.

A project I hope will help me find meaning in these strange times. Also bits of, and questions about, Katerina Ruzickova’s Four Pieces for Piano, and a not-quite-memorized performance of Bach’s C# major fugue from WTC book I.

Pauline Viardot’s Mazurke (and how I’m stepping up my work and thinking about it), and a fun project I got to work on this weekend. You can see me play Viardot’s mazurke live on Tuesday April 14 on All Together Now, with other guests and host Bobbie Steinbach, coming together to share music and stories […]

These times are good for practicing, as I texted a student today. In this episode: an insight about Chopin thanks to Pauline Viardot, with bits of mazurkas by both of them. Also a look at some small hand workarounds in Lili Boulanger with some moments of improvised practicing in Boulanger and Rachmaninov. And a report […]

I’ve been reading through lots of music, “shopping” for pieces for a solo recital. Bits and pieces of those, and thoughts about putting together a program, and a possible title (tell me what you think of it–I need to know if it’s terrible). Plus a play-through of Chopin’s Fantasie-Impromptu Op. 66, with way too many […]

Almost done reading through Beethoven sonatas, Volume 2; some thoughts on hearing auditions; ornamenting Chopin’s Fantasie Impromptu (and a glass-half-full report on a lackluster performance of it); the most obvious epiphany in the world, involving a moment with Led Zeppelin, with a shout-out to @yogawithadriene Thank you for being my practice buddy!      

Hey, Practice Buddies! It’s a new decade and the podcast is back. Today, some Beethoven sonatas, a little Chopin and, as always, some thoughts on imperfection…