Viva la Vida!

Choir was never like this when I was a child. I always loved singing and developed an affection for a wide variety of repertoire, so choir was an enjoyable experience as long as the teacher wasn’t too boring or bad-tempered. Yet I also remember stony stares from the other children if I sang too heartily …

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 Why A New Blog?

Why a new blog? Well, this is actually a resurrection, a re-assignation of my blog previously found on my professional website www.free2create.com. I’ve moved for a very specific reason- I want to expand the areas I’m writing about. Yes, I’m a professional musician, teacher and coach. I’m also, like you, much more than what I …

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Flutes Across the World

Growing up as a musician, whenever I heard about men and women undertaking courageous humanitarian projects in developing countries, I always experienced a twinge of guilt. Surely that would be a much more worthwhile activity than simply playing music. What was I doing sitting in my ivory tower practicing the piano when people were starving?

Walking the Tightrope

I just got back from the cinema, following a showing of one of the most exciting and inspiring films I’ve seen in years. It’s a documentary entitled “Man on Wire,” which follows the story of Philippe Petit, the high wire walker, and the series of events leading up to his epic walk across a high …

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Relaxation for Peak Performance

There was a great article in the New York Times a couple of days ago about the tremendous benefits for athletes of learning to relax when performing. I believe a lot of the tips mentioned could help musicians also. Check it out here

Musical Escape

Here’s a wonderful article on the latest project of El Sistema, as a follow-up on my previous post. The project is now being taken into Venezuela’s prisons, where perpetrators of crime (often also its victims) get a chance to transcend their situation, and maybe get a chance thereby to change their lives, by playing in …

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Letter to Krystian Zimerman

Krystian Zimerman recently announced that he has decided not to perform in America any more after his current commitments are completed, as a response to recent American politics. When I informed my husband, he decided to write an open letter to Mr. Zimerman, which I find eloquent and convincing.

A Legend at Lunchtime

The other day, I was privileged to meet Katinka Scipiades Daniel, an eminent piano teacher and almost solely responsible for introducing the Kodály Method of music education to America back in the 1960’s. Katinka, now in her 90’s, joyful, sprightly and alert, welcomed members of the Kodály Association of Southern California for a potluck lunch, …

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