oasis for underrepresented music students
The book Silence and Beauty is part-memoir and part-exegesis of Endo's novel Silence and the intersections it leads to among Japanese culture, Western culture, Christianity, and art. Last week, I paused after reading this quote to ponder what moment would be Ground Zero for my current music-making. It was...
"When was the last time I visited a piano store? Over 12 years? Almost 15?" I thought as I parked.
Their careers are paradigms for my pursuits of contemporary and classical music in unexpected places and improvisation at the piano.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee was the only book I was assigned to read twice: once in middle school for Reading/Writing Workshop and once in high school for Honors English. She was the first Alabama-born heroine who was introduced to me at school. My first encounter with her was alongside Anne Frank and… Continue reading For Harper
...my inner voice chanted, "Let my people go. Let my people go. Let my people go. Let my people go."
Berklee College of Music in Boston treats with seriousness and depth music I am passionate about. I spent my undergraduate career immersed in the poetry of Nicolas Guillen and emerged with an original song cycle, an honors paper featuring Cuban composers, and two class presentations based on his work. When I graduated, I abandoned… Continue reading Thirty Years in Cuban Music
How does one play Johannes Brahms on the other side of Ben Folds? I asked myself this question as I considered a response to my piano student's first lesson on one of the Romantic composer's pieces.
