Recently, a curious reader emailed us about getting a piano that fit in a carry on bag. Being a travelling musician myself, I thought this was genius. It’s so easy to get inspired in a new setting, almost as easy as it is to neglect practicing- even when you want to! So, I did a little research. a) How light is it? (Airlines restrict carry…read more
This is a guest post by Jonathon Antoon! I’m thinking of getting a digital piano soon, so I thought this would be of interest to some of you as well. Jonathon is a reader from the Artiden community. Squeezing your grandfather’s 800-pound piano into your tiny apartment is not how you should spend your Friday night or your Saturday evening. Say hello to the instrument…read more
I got caught up in what one very critical, important person in my life thinks of me. A lot of us have someone like this in our lives, and I’m getting used to the idea that people who are close to us might not always know the best for us. We say we don’t want to care what others think of us, but it’s a…read more
Pan thinks I should see someone for my worrying. I keep thinking that I don’t have a serious enough problem to need a professional to examine my head. Actually, I was offended the first time he suggested it because it’s one thing to joke about being crazy, but another thing for someone else suggest that you’re damaged enough to need professional help. I always assumed that…read more
For my next stage of life, I decided that I want to travel spontaneously. There will be a gym bag in my closet packed with clothes and a toothbrush for last-second trips. I will drive to remote islands to lay underneath the stars on my SUV’s roof and grab my surfboard when I feel like it. I will be away from my piano so often…read more
Pan and I spend hours waiting in the emergency room for a scan he has to do and while I’ve done more exciting and pressing things in my life, I’d also rather know that my best friend is okay. I am writing this on my phone in the emergency room and thinking back to all the times my piano students had trouble sight reading. Ironic,…read more
Sight reading is the skill that lets you learn a piece of music the first few times you play it. Some genres of music rely so much on playing by ear and improv that a lot of musicians don’t find the need for sight reading until later on and the catch is that by then, they expect themselves to be just as good at sight…read more
I started playing piano at an age where I had nothing more important to do, and I didn’t care that I couldn’t play much piano at all. One day, I found a sheet of music titled Good Morning to All placed in my folder by mistake. When I played it, as I tended to do with any sheet music, it turned out to be Happy Birthday. Ten…read more
I’m another year wiser! I haven’t lost my driver’s license even once this year. Thank you to everyone for your support and keeping me accountable. When I don’t write for a while, I get emails in my inbox asking where I am! I read every comment and email. Even if I can’t respond to everyone, the comments are important to me. I’ve been through some pretty…read more
When people invest a lot of time into a genre of music, that genre becomes a template for everything they listen to. I have played classical music for so long that I almost guess which chord comes next. So, it’s refreshing to listen to a new genre and instrument. After all, things that scare you also push you.