Category: Pianists
Is Your Tune Piano in Tune?
When it comes to tuning, every piano is different, even two pianos of the same style and make are different, and the humidity of the room makes a big difference, he said. High humidity causes the sound board to swell, stretching the strings and causing the pitch to go sharp, while low humidity has […]
What George Gershwin’s Steinway Teaches Us About Technology
The Gershwin family donated the Steinway to the University as part of the George and Ira Gershwin initiative that is focused on research and study of the brothers’ music. According to Marc Gershwin, George and Ira’s nephew, “I wanted the instrument to be accessible to the students and faculty who would be preserving the legacy […]
Today is the Anniversary of Van Cliburn’s Death!
Van Cliburn was just a pianist much the way Neil Armstrong was merely an astronaut. Simply put, the tall Texan’s musical talent and successes were out of this world. Cliburn, who died Wednesday February 27, 2013 at age 78 at his Fort Worth home due to complications from bone cancer, was 23 when he strode into […]
Happy Birthday, Carl Czerny!
1791 ~ Carl Czerny, Austrian pianist and composer whose vast musical production amounted to over a thousand works. His books of studies for the piano are still widely used in piano teaching. More information on Czerny At the age of fifteen, Czerny began a very successful teaching career. Basing his method on the […]
Technic Series: Scales and Arpeggios
PDF Article on Scales and Arpeggios In music, a scale is any set of musical notes ordered by fundamental frequency or pitch. An arpeggio (it. /arˈpeddʒo/) is a musical technique where notes in a chord are played or sung in sequence, one after the other, rather than being played together like a chord. This word […]
About Steinway Grand Pianos
Founded in Manhattan in 1853, Steinway & Sons is widely considered to be one of the greatest piano makers in the world. Its grand pianos grace the world’s grandest stages and are played by the best pianists. Source: These Photos Show How Steinway Makes Its Famous Grand Pianos
Musical Presidents
Presidents’ Day (celebrated on the third Monday in February), was originally established in 1885 in recognition of George Washington. The holiday became popularly known as Presidents’ Day after it was moved as part of the 1971 Uniform Monday Holiday Act, an attempt to create more three-day weekends for the nation’s workers. Presidents’ Day is […]
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Thomas Wright “Fats” Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an influential American jazz pianist, organist, composer, singer, and comedic entertainer, whose innovations to the Harlem stride style laid the groundwork for modern jazz piano. He wrote the Valentine Stomp above in 1929.
Happy Birthday, Mozart!
Wolfgang Amadeus Theophilus Mozart lived between 1756 and 1791. He is considered to be a classical composer. Mozart, born in Salzburg, Austria, began composing before most children go to kindergarten. By the time he was six he had played the piano and violin in public. A Wunderkind, a prodigy of the first rank […]