Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Book Review – Note by Note by Tricia Tunstall

Another book that I finished reading lately is Note by Note Tricia Tunstall. I appreciated her description of approaching various aspects of teaching piano.

Here are two quotes that particularly stood out to me:

"Piano lessons are not only about music but also about trust and confidence, chaos and order, spontaneity and discipline and patience, sometimes even about love . . . and once again, and always, about music: its beauty, its power, its capacity to convey profound emotions beyond the reach of words." (pg. 4)

"As a student moves beyond the beginning stages, the issue of technique begins to loom large: developing proper hand a finger position, acquiring strength and independence of fingers, cultivating muscle control. An instrumentalist is an athlete. There is no way around the need for intense physical training; without it, the ability to play a Beethoven sonata is about as unlikely as the ability to pole-vault. But while pole-vaulters and soccer players and gymnasts usually practice together, a piano student practices his technical exercises alone, and it can feel like drudgery." (page 90)


No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...