An Orphan and His Brother

Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach. He was the youngest child of Johann Ambrosius Bach, the director of the Stadtpfeifer or town musicians. His father taught him to play violin and harpsichord. His uncles were all professional musicians. One uncle, Johann Christoph Bach, was especially famous and introduced him to the art of organ playing. Read the rest of this entry »

The Influence of Women

Frédéric Chopin was born in Żelazowa Wola, Poland. He was baptized in Brochów. He was the second Child and the only son of Mikolaj Chopin. In October 1810, when the infant was seven months old, the family moved to Warsaw, where his father took a position as French-language teacher.
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Difficult Family, Harsh Father

Beethoven was born in Bonn in 1770. Beethoven’s parents were Johann van Beethoven (1740 in Bonn–1792) and Maria Magdalena Keverich. Of the seven children born to Johann Beethoven, only second-born Ludwig and two younger brothers survived infancy. Beethoven was baptized on 17 December 1770.

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My Childhood: Mozart

Mozart was born in Salzburg into a musical family and showed indications of prodigious abilities at a very young age.  Wolfgang was baptized the day after his birth at St. Rupert’s Cathedral.  His father, Leopold Mozart, was deputy Kapellmeister to the court orchestra of the Archbishop of Salzburg and a minor composer. He was also an experienced teacher; in the year of Mozart’s birth he published a successful violin textbook.  His only sibling who survived past birth was his sister Maria Anna.
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By Sherry Frewerd

Having operated a successful Family Child Care in my home for over 10 years, I have had many opportunities to introduce various aspects of the Arts to young children. Being naturally musical myself, providing a musical curriculum to my kids was a simple and obvious way to enhance the daily activities of my child care and my own children as well.

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By Edward Weiss

So you want to be more creative when playing piano. Many students wish they could just sit down and improvise their own music but don’t know how to begin.

They think if they can’t play a fugue like Bach, they are untalented. Or, they think the music that comes out of them must be sophisticated or it’s not worth anything. Fortunately, there is a style of piano playing that bypasses this academic snobbism and allows the beginning (and advanced) student to be more creative.
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by Duane Shinn

We’ve all heard of them. Child prodigies who begin composing music at some ridiculously young age. For instance, history reports that Mozart was writing minuets by the time he was five years old. Amazing. At five years of age, I’m not sure that I knew the difference between my finger and my thumb and I certainly wasn’t composing music.
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By Carlos Semilla

Here are some pointers to help you on your journey in learning to play the piano:
1. Take some lessons with a good classical teacher.

2. Use the Hanon exercises (especially the scales and arpeggios) to gain finger dexterity and to know the correct piano fingering of the scales and arpeggios. Always use a metronome when you’re doing these exercises to develop your sense of timing. If you don’t have a metronome try putting an accent on the “one” count of every sixteenth note (e.g. ONE,two,three,four; ONE,two,three,four… etc… ).

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The standard answer to this question is an unqualified yes, most children should learn to play a musical instrument. Children learn discipline from the rehearsal process, self-expression from performance and social interaction from group studies. A child can definitely benefit from learning a musical instrument at an early age, since many professional musicians credit their early experiences with developing a life-long passion for music. Even if a child discovers other interests later in life, the discipline required to maintain and play a musical instrument could prove useful in other situations.

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