This is Part 2 of a response that began in the Nov/Dec 2017 issue of Clavier Companion.  Q. This is the time of year when high school students are considering college and preparing for auditions. As a music administrator, do you have any suggestions for me and/or my students that would help us make good decisions? Make music alone and with oth...

Through their teaching, John and Nancy Weems have instilled in their students a love for music and a commitment to artistic pianism. In addition to a long-standing record of top awards in local, district, and state Texas Music Teachers Association competitions, John has taught winners of the National MTNA Baldwin Junior Achievement Award, the Natio...

Q: This is the time of year when high school students are considering college and preparing for auditions. As a music administrator, do you have any suggestions for me and/or my students that would help us make good decisions? A (Part I): There are many ways to study music in college and many ways to prepare for a career in music. Learn about and c...

Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out. ---Vaclav Havel I am listening to seventeen-year-old Olivia play her college audition pieces: a Chopin Ballade and a Bach Prelude and Fugue. I am not her teacher; Olivia has an outstanding mentor at a renowned ...

As the conservatory audition season cycles in once again —as predictable as the ice and snow that always accompanies it in my neck of the woods—it has occurred to me that a simple checklist for teachers might be useful in preparing guileless students for what lies in store. Thus the following brief suggestions for "less pain, more gain": 1) A year ...

When it comes to movie sequels, I'm generally opposed. A great movie should be the final word on the subject. Who really needed Gone With the Wind: Scarlet and Rhett Together Again anyway?  But when it comes to sequels for KEYBOARD COMPANION departments, that's another story! We could endlessly revisit many of the topics explored in this magaz...

Once in a while a student comes along that is head and shoulders (wrists and fingers?) above the rest of your studio. Let's call her "Karen Keys." Now Karen is a junior in high school, taking the PSAT exam, and listening to her home room teacher talk about applying to colleges and selecting a major. One day, Karen asks you, "What would it be like, ...