Dear Friends and Colleagues around the world, Wishing YOU wonderful, warm, MUSICAL holidays! Nancy and Randall Faber and the Piano Adventures Team Audio credit: Jingle Bells from AdvanceTime Piano Christmas P.S. Teacher Atlas members get an early stocking stuffer this year! Check the top of your book dashboard for the…
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Inspiration
Piano Exams can be powerful “talent developers,” not just for advancing pianists, but for early-level students. Whether in performance or theory exams, the power lies in three phases: preparation, performance, and pay-off. Together, these stages often lead to breakthroughs that propel to the next level, and sometimes even significant leaps…
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The human brain is wonderfully adaptive. This ability to change according to conditions and usage is termed plasticity. Contrary to the textbooks of past decades, we now know that the brain can change through the course of a lifetime. That’s the bright side. Despite the optimism of plasticity, we are…
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To Our Colleagues and Friends Around the World, We wish each of you the brightest of holidays and a wonderful new year filled with joy, hope, and peace. From Nancy and Randall Faber and the Piano Adventures Team P.S. Stay tuned for an exciting year of celebrations ahead as we…
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Many of us have encountered a year of “firsts” in our piano teaching — the sudden switch to online teaching, our first virtual recital, and perhaps a few online festivals and adjudications. One of the last frontiers of “firsts” for some teachers may be starting a young beginner online. In…
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Whether you’re a pro, aspiring artist, or novice, making music is an Adventure. Let creativity of the human spirit and learnings from neuroscience work in your favor. If you believe in music and your power to express, watch this delightful session with Randall Faber, PhD, Steinway Artist, 2019 recipient of…
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And “piano?” Is this seemingly misfit word pertinent? Indulge me to share a few personal stories of pandemic, politics, and piano—and then consider this trio of dynamics philosophically. Just a short year ago in Ann Arbor, I was dining out with pianist Emanuel Ax and a key Director of…
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Dear Friends and Colleagues, Nancy and I wish everyone a safe and peaceful Thanksgiving this unusual year. Our own Thanksgiving will be small; just the two of us and my 93-year-old mother. We look forward to “zooming” on the day with family around the country. We appreciate the sentiment of…
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Loss of hearing. Loss of a known world. Frustration. Isolation. Searching. Creativity. Dear musical friends, the words above describe something of the isolation that Beethoven endured. At least we haven’t lost our hearing! Our isolation is richly adorned with technology and media—nothing compared to the trials of Beethoven. With this…
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Our current “sheltering at home” evokes the image of Odysseus at sea, battening down the hatches and waiting out the storm. Homer’s Odysseus faced his fear. As an adventurer, he chose to confront the unknown. He was prepared to face novel challenge, take the scars, and gain strength from learnings.…
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