What Time Is It?

Here’s how to become a happy and successful pianist: Ignore rules, but embrace principles Don’t say “sorry” when you make a mistake (smile instead) Practice because it’s fun, not merely to improve (you’ll improve anyway, I promise) Trust your talent Ride the groove Find a teacher who can take you where you want to go, … Read More

When Herbie Hancock was asked the difference between how he learned to improvise and the way the younger generations learn it, he said something that surprised me. He answered that the younger generations learn primarily from listening to note-perfect recordings, while he, in the late 1950s, learned primarily by hearing his musical idols play live … Read More

Hey Improvisers, When pianists tell me they have Practice Paralysis, they are usually referring to the feeling of being so overwhelmed by all the stuff they’re told they have to learn that they become emotionally frozen and end up doing nothing at all. This is a very common phenomenon and is understandable, due to the … Read More

Have you ever felt that everything about playing piano was difficult? That nothing comes easily to you? Or that you’ve been stuck at the same level for a long time? If so, you may want to try applying the Minimum Viable Piano concept to your musical development. Briefly, I got the idea for Minimum Viable … Read More

Hey Improvisers, It’s happened to all of us: we hear a new jazz tune that sounds great, we get excited about learning it, and then we sit down to play it for ourselves and… Yikes!!! We find it’s WAY too fast for us to play. When this happens, we usually just sigh, put the tune … Read More

When I was in college (UCONN during the mid-1980s: “Go Huskies!”), I read about a book about creativity. I don’t remember the title or author (maybe Rollo May?), but I do remember what surprised me the most about it: Flow. Yes.. Flow. The author had interviews dozens of creative people in all different fields, from … Read More

Hey Improvisers! Have you ever thought that you knew how something would go, only to discover that it turned out differently? This happens to me all the time. We go to the store to pick up a gallon of milk, and end up having a wonderful conversation with a neighbor on the sidewalk or in … Read More

An end of an era has occurred with the recent passing of Chick Corea. Chick was one of the wave of musicians in the late 1960s/early 1970s who began combining jazz, rock, Latin, and classical music in a way that truly reflected the energetic social and cultural changes of the time. Beyond that, he was/is … Read More

Hey Improvisers! One of the fun things about both playing and teaching piano for so long is that I’ve had a lot of time to really study the learning process, both in myself and with my students. Here are the 5 most important concepts that will help us become the musicians we want to be: … Read More

Today, New York City was blanketed by the gentlest, most beautiful snowfall we’ve had in recent memory. Snow Day!!! With all local activities cancelled, I enjoyed an entire afternoon of free time at home. The question arose: “What do I want to do?” I decided to dig a little deeper, and ask myself, “What do … Read More