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Rhapsodydmb.com
A soft place to land to read poetry & stories about music & share our love of piano adventures!
rhapsodydmb
Mar 3, 20234 min read
PERFORMANCE IN THE FACE OF PUSH-BACK
Joe, my neighbor-piano mentor friend pictured here before he played my Duchess, loves to prepare for months for his student recital every...
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rhapsodydmb
Mar 2, 20234 min read
WHY IS DEFINING THE ELEMENTS OF PIANISM SO DIFFICULT?
Why is explaining how do make something happen on the piano, or what a term in the piano vocabulary means, so difficult for my piano...
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rhapsodydmb
Feb 28, 20235 min read
WHY DO SOME PRACTICE DAYS GO SO WELL?
Last night I played Schumann's "Traumerie," Mendelssohn's "Confidence (intermediate arrangement)," Schumann's "Foreign Lands," Aram...
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rhapsodydmb
Feb 13, 20239 min read
WHAT I WISH I HAD KNOWN AT THE START
At the end of March, 2023 I will accomplish 24 months of weekly piano lessons. So what do I wish I had known before I returned to study...
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rhapsodydmb
Feb 5, 20237 min read
FINDING A MUSIC TRIBE: The loneliness of a long-distance piano student
Being an amateur pianist who studies in individual zoom lessons at home, is a lonely affair. It occurred to me after about a year of such...
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rhapsodydmb
Jan 29, 20234 min read
QUALITIES OF AN EFFECTIVE TEACHER
I'm eternally curious about what makes for an effective piano teacher. Here's a helpful list of 19 common elements present in the methods...
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rhapsodydmb
Jan 20, 20234 min read
“MUSICALITY” - AN ELUSIVE CONCEPT
The more I delve into new words and concepts from the world of music, the more I find ambiguity and vagueness. So often the experts I...
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rhapsodydmb
Jan 13, 20237 min read
TEACHING PIANO TO OLDER STUDENTS
There is nothing different -- and everything different -- about teaching the piano to older students! Working in a cooperative...
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rhapsodydmb
Jan 8, 20236 min read
DESENSITIZATION: HOW TO ENCOURAGE FOCUS DURING PIANO LESSONS
People who experience more anxiety than others tend to focus attention on OPO (other people’s opinions), especially negative opinions....
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rhapsodydmb
Jan 6, 20238 min read
SITTING IN THE POCKET: HOW AN ADULT STUDENT CAN ENHANCE LESSONS
“Sitting in the pocket” is a summary saying that comes to my mind when I consider this blog topic. On December 14 in an earlier blog, I...
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rhapsodydmb
Dec 25, 20224 min read
DIVINE DISCONTENT
Motivation to persist is a gossamer, ethereal concept. The yearning for some goal or thing is not all, because in order to effectively...
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rhapsodydmb
Dec 23, 20223 min read
FINDING OUR VOICES IN THE NEW YEAR
Such a lovely holiday present just arrived in my Dec. 23 morning email and it's about bells! It's an article written by Maureen Buja, a...
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rhapsodydmb
Dec 19, 20222 min read
A HOLIDAY WISH: MUSIC AS AN ACT OF SERVICE
This is the month and this is the week of "giving." For me, it's a time to take stock of my year and remember all the things for which I...
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rhapsodydmb
Dec 18, 20225 min read
SILVER LININGS AND CELEBRATION IN MUSIC LESSONS
My mom used to tell me there was always a silver lining in every cloud. Not long ago during two years of holistic physical training, my...
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rhapsodydmb
Dec 14, 20223 min read
UNDERSTANDING THE BODY & FRAMING THE ISSUE
“You have a sound pedaling technique and appropriate expression of the feeling of the piece,” my online piano teacher had said on...
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rhapsodydmb
Dec 14, 20225 min read
A MINOR PARADIGM SHIFT
In February 2022 after one year of piano lessons, a certain experience got my attention in a big way. There was time to play two pieces...
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rhapsodydmb
Dec 14, 20227 min read
WHAT IMPROVES MY LEARNING EXPERIENCE?
A Teacher’s Role A teacher’s role is wider than just giving us effective methods. It’s more to help us hear the tune and understand the...
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