from the series: The Heart of the Matter: Rhythm Sometimes quantity is quality. As a young teenaged pianist, I had great fun learning transcriptions of Dave Brubeck improvisations. His was the first jazz piano music that I sunk my teeth into. I loved the sound of the rich complex harmonies, the counterpoint, the unique textures and voicings (I...

from the series: ​The Heart of the Matter: RhythmBruce Berr, EditorMy colleague Craig Sale and I have swapped departments this issue by each contributing an article in the other's subject area. Both essays deal with avoiding common teaching pitfalls. It has been stimulating for us to focus on different areas, and we hope that you will fin...

​The music of Scarlatti appears to be frequently overlooked by many teachers. It is more common to hear intermediate-level pianists playing much more of the music of other Baroque composers such as J.S. Bach. Part of the challenge for us as teachers is simply that there is so much of Scarlatti's music available, it is an overwhelming wealth of...