The Collaborative Piano Blog

Carol Isaac in Conversation

2016-10-19T06:43:00.002-04:00

Metropolitan Opera coach and prompter Carol Isaac talks about her path towards becoming one of North America's top collaborative artists and the traits that coaches need to be successful. Of particular interest is her take on the unique skill set of the prompter.

Part 1:

Part 2:

(Thanks, Sarah!)

Indispensable

2016-10-13T07:58:00.000-04:00

Pei-Shan Lee writing in The Huffington Post:

Pianists have increasingly come to understand that collaborative piano is not an escape for a failed solo pianist but is an exciting, rewarding field open to wonderful musicians who love making music and exchanging ideas with others. It’s also the career path with perhaps the largest number of opportunities for pianists. After all, we are the most indispensable of musicians—whether vocalist or instrumentalist, no one can do without us! (I sometimes joke that we could rename the “collaborative pianist” the “indispensable pianist”.)

There's also some interesting info on Samuel Sanders and the origin of the term "collaborative piano". I agree with Pei-Shan on career opportunities - take a look here to get an idea of the career options that open up with a collaborative piano degree.

Visiting Artist (Vocal Coach) Position at the University of Northern Iowa

2016-10-13T07:04:00.002-04:00

A spring semester position at the University of Northern Iowa:

UNI's School of Music invites applications for a full-time one-semester temporary position beginning January 9, 2017. Duties include providing individual vocal coaching to undergraduate and graduate students in voice performance and coaching/accompanying opera singers in rehearsals and productions.

Salary looks to be $22,000+, and might be an interesting position for either those in the area or a recent graduate looking to get some experience in the field.

Visiting Artist (Vocal Coach) - University of Northern Iowa

BTW Cedar Falls is 5 hours west of Chicago - I've done the drive and the route through northwest Illinois is highly recommended for its scenery and small towns.

Assistant Professor of Collaborative Piano Position, Louisiana State University

2016-10-13T06:45:00.002-04:00

Information about a major opening in the collaborative piano field:

The School of Music at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in Collaborative Piano to begin Fall 2017.

This appointment will be full-time (nine month), and will contribute to the College of Music and Dramatic Arts' mission to offer a comprehensive music program. This position will teach at both undergraduate and graduate level, administrate the collaborative piano program, and contribute to the Keyboard Area as needed. Duties will include teaching and coaching undergraduate and graduate students, collaborating with faculty and guest artists as part of their research and creative activity, and recruiting high quality students into the collaborative piano program.

The posting date was yesterday, and the position will remain open until filled.

Assistant Professor of Piano (Tenure-Track) - Louisiana State University

Days of Wonder

2016-10-11T07:27:00.000-04:00

Embed from Getty Images

Abraham Joshua Heschel:

Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement, [to] get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.

Once again I'm honored to be the pianist for Temple Sinai's Year 5777 Yom Kippur services, where I'll be working with Cantor Katie Oringel and Rabbi Daniel Mikelberg, and joined by numerous fine musicians including Theresa Tova, Joseph Peleg, Igor Gefter, and Sue Pitch. This year features several new Charles Osborne piano trio arrangements for the newly reworked Sh'ma Koleinu Kol Nidrei service.

(Quote via Cultural Offering)

Less is More

2016-10-11T07:01:00.001-04:00

Embed from Getty Images

Frances Wilson on Marginal Gain Learning:

Learning music is hard: from the junior student faced with just three or four lines of music to the advanced pianist embarking on a full-length piano sonata or multi-movement work, the learning and upkeep of all those notes is a daunting prospect and requires many hours of consistent, thoughtful practise. For me, MGL is a way of “being kind” to yourself as a musician while also enabling one to practise and process music in a meticulous and mindful way. The trouble is, we tend to define achievement through one significant moment – learning a whole page or movement of a piece of music, for example – and underestimate the value of making small improvements on a daily basis which accumulate to create a significant whole.

MGL is a training strategy that emphasizes making tiny incremental gains over a long period of time in order to maximize performance. I particularly like how Frances explains her process in utilizing these strategies for both music learning and teaching.

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Musicians have much to learn from the world of training and productivity processes. Over the next while I'll be looking at how I use several of these to drive pedagogical and organizational aspects of the work I do at present.

Richard Tauber Sings Schubert, Accompanied by.....Richard Tauber

2016-10-10T09:43:00.000-04:00

Who would have known? Richard Tauber was a fine pianist, as well as great singer.

Kissin/Bell/Maisky Play Mendelssohn's First Piano Trio at Verbier

2016-10-10T09:28:00.003-04:00

Some first-rate ensemble work from the Verbier Festival in 2009: Evgeny Kissin, Joshua Bell, and Misha Maisky in Mendelssohn's First Piano Trio Op. 49:

Several of my students follow and admire Kissin's playing, and there is a lot to learn from this pianist who has grown from wunderkind to mature artist.

Mamma Mia for Piano Six Hands Now Available for Download

2016-10-10T08:19:00.003-04:00

Remember Nhat-Viet Phi's 6-hand arrangement of ABBA's Mamma Mia from a while back? In case you haven't seen the video:

Great news for those of you who are interested in learning this arrangement - Toto is now offering the score for this unique arrangement on Sheet Music Plus' ArrangeMe library, and you can find it here.

2 Things Classical Pianists Need to Know About Learning Pop and Jazz Chords

2016-04-08T08:59:00.000-04:00

Classical pianists often have a lot of difficulty playing the chordal style of jazz and pop music. Perhaps it's because classical piano emphasizes technical passages that value scales, arpeggios, and counterpoint above straight chords. Or perhaps classical piano's emphasis on reading skills de-emphasizes the deep listening and kinaesthetic experience of playing chords (often from chord symbols) that jazz/pop pianists are so familiar with.

At any rate, most intermediate classical pianists have some catching up to do, and their affinity for playing some sort of popular music is tempered by the difficulty of working through a lot more chords than they are used to reading in a piece.

Here are two steps for getting the chords right:

Read the correct notes for each chord from bottom to top. Don't just get a general sense of the chord or guess at it. Read every single note from bottom to top to ensure full accuracy. Yes, that includes accidentals too.
Remember the sound and feeling of where your fingers go. This is the area where non-classical pianists really shine. If you're developing these skills as a classical pianist, focus on the particular sound quality of the chord, as well as the distances between fingers and relationship of white to black notes.

Transferring to kinaesthetic and auditory memory as soon as possible is very important for classical pianists learning jazz and pop music. If this doesn't happen, you might find yourself in the unenviable position of having to re-learn the notes every single time you play.

Once you're comfortable with the style, next steps include learning how to play from chord symbols alone and discovering the improvisational art of jazz.

Photo of the Day

2016-01-07T09:56:00.002-05:00

I took this picture yesterday at the Royal Conservatory in Toronto using an iPhone 6 with tilt-shift and filter added using TiltShiftGen2. If you're on Instagram, you can follow me here.

Opera + Hardcore Punk

2016-01-05T10:13:00.002-05:00

Congrats to Toronto's Tapestry Opera on making the CBC Arts list of 10 artists reshaping Canada's artistic landscape for their recent collaboration with the hardcore punk band F--cked Up. Watch the video here.

Art Song + Dressage Riding

2016-01-05T09:41:00.000-05:00

Dressage rider Audrey Zehnder is the backdrop for Lori Laitman's Old Tunes, as performed by soprano Natalie Mann and pianist Jeffrey Panko. You can find more songs by Lori Laitman and Richard Pearson Thomas on Natalie's recently released Experience.

Study for Orchestra by Julia Perry

2016-01-01T22:29:00.000-05:00

William Steinberg leading the New York Philharmonic in a poignant and energetic 1965 performance of Julia Perry's Study for Orchestra:

You can find more information about Julia Perry here, here, and here.

Happy New Year 2016!

2016-01-01T12:52:00.001-05:00

One of the great things about the new year is that no matter how challenging or disappointing the previous 12 months have been, the promise of a new one can be a strong impetus for the change that is needed in order to bring about true success.

Whether it be learning new repertoire, improving your playing, working towards a university program, learning a new skill, or re-evaluating your career priorities, the next few days are the time to set your goals so that you can meet with success in the coming year.

More than just setting a vague resolution, finding the system that helps you to make core changes is the best way to hit those targets. Here are some links that you might find useful in your path:

May you make significant progress on the road towards achieving your potential and best wishes from the Collaborative Piano Blog for a healthy and profitable 2016!

Ask the Readers: How to Divide a Staff Accompanist Position Between Vocal and Instrumental Duties?

2015-12-30T10:20:00.000-05:00

piano by antony griffiths on Flickr

A reader recently sent in a question for the readership of the blog, which is copied below with identity and location redacted:

Hi there! I am wondering if there is a way to ask a question to you and the collaborative piano community (as it relates to this blog) as a whole. I am a full time "staff accompanist" at a University in ___________, and lately have come under a bit of fire because some of my colleagues have questions about the fact that the vocal students in my department seem to get so much more of my time than the instrumental students. I'm basically trying to gather information from other pianists that do what I do - and see if they do, in fact, give the lion's share of their time to vocalists. Of course, when I worked as a freelancer, this was the way my clients preferred it, but I'm having trouble convincing my instrumental faculty colleagues of the vocal students inherent need for more time with their pianists in their regular weekly preparation for their lessons etc. So to propose a clear question for the blog, how do other university staff pianists divide up their time between vocal and instrumentalists and how is that time coordinated: by the pianists themselves, by the students, or by the students' teachers.

I hope this wasn't too convoluted! I do look forward to hearing from you and any help you, or any one from the site, could offer would be so appreciated. I have reached out to a few colleagues of mine who do the same type of work at other universities, but a wider pool of opinions is always better.

Clearly this pianist should not have to come under fire personally for a lack of foresight by a music department. How should this person address the situation? Should they take charge and negotiate a clearer division of hours between departments? Or should they ask the department for the leadership they should have provided in the first place and clearly assign the allotment/division of hours for their staff accompanist position?

Your comments are welcome, as always. You're welcome to comment anonymously on the blog if you would rather not divulge your identity when offering your opinion!

Yevgeny Kutik on Practicing

2015-12-28T21:47:00.001-05:00

‘Practice’ has become a very misleading word. What is practice? It took me a very long time to figure this out. As an advanced student, practice is often little more than playing the violin for long hours, repeating motions to build muscle memory, and attempting to correct mistakes (which often go unnoticed) over and over again. It’s mindless and painfully boring – but frankly, easy. Dissecting and rebuilding technical issues step-by-step, making instantaneous corrections and decisions, structuring your time effectively, learning how to convey an idea — this is incredibly hard work. It also happens to be the better definition of ‘practice.’ Good practice is incredibly hard work.

Violinist Yevgeny Kutik's words on listening as a path towards developing objectivity in the practice room will be useful to many of us who fill practice sessions with repetition rather than awareness.

Effective practice is an art form that must be cultivated and perfected - The Strad

András Schiff's Beethoven Lecture-Recital Podcasts

2015-12-22T16:10:00.001-05:00

Chances are you'll have some free time over the holidays, so have a listen to András Schiff's lecture recitals for all 32 Beethoven Piano Sonatas, recorded during his 2004-6 Beethoven Sonata cycle at Wigmore and available in podcast format.

(Thanks Suzy!)

On Leading Pianists

2015-12-22T09:16:00.002-05:00

I remember Diane Lewarne once saying to singers that until you get hired by a company for an engagement, your entire musical life is essentially about auditions. If you're a singer, knowing how to work with pianists well enough so that you can get your vocal and dramatic skills across to the panel is one of the core skills that will allow you to rock the audition situation and eventually get you hired. Jenna Douglas' article on how to lead your pianist lays out the groundwork for how a singer can lead pianists with confidence in a situation where you're lucky if you even get time to talk about tempi in the audition room:

This is really a conversation about being brave. If your aria starts with a piano introduction, and it's too fast or too slow, you can either a) breathe and hope you make it, or b) change the tempo. I vote for option B. The only way you can change a tempo set by your pianist is, well, by singing at a different tempo. Sure, you might have a bar or two (hopefully less) of not-so-great ensemble, but it's absolutely preferable to singing your aria at someone else's pacing (especially since you put all that work into it).

Another bonus is that the auditioners will notice that you're taking charge of your music. They can tell the difference between ensemble problems, and a singer leading a pianist. Even if the pianist doesn't follow you at all, the auditioners will see that you know your stuff cold.

Pianists, take note of another great article from Jenna Douglas on Schmopera: How to Play for Singers.

The Collaborative Piano Blog is 10 Years Old!

2015-11-24T13:48:00.003-05:00

CPB circa 2006

10 years ago, I embarked on a journey of exploration, discovery, and long nights figuring out how to format sidebars in HTML. Since then, the blogging journey has introduced me to the wide variety of career options in collaborative piano, what it is and is not, its tough decisions, wide educational opportunities, and professional challenges.

And since starting the blog, I've found my own professional direction changing, from a mostly performance-oriented one to a busy schedule that attempts to combine a happy medium of performance, teaching, writing, and administration.

Hugh Sung of A Musical Life had a chance to interview me for his podcast a few weeks ago, and the depth of research that he did prior to the show's taping helped him to ask me some wise and pointed questions about my development over the last 20 years, including what my Vancouver experience meant to me and why I left it, why I started the Collaborative Piano Blog, the joys and disappointments of freelancing, why I moved into the piano pedagogy field, and how 2005 was a genuinely pivotal year for me. If you have a free hour and you're interested in an interesting take on my musical views, you can find the episode here.

Daniel Gundlach Plays and Sings Janis Ian's Stars

2015-10-29T10:48:00.002-04:00

Daniel Gundlach's recital with Lloyd Arriola last week at the Church of the Epiphany in NYC looks to be a fine indication of the route that the art song recital needs to take if it is to survive outside the conservatory setting: a program that freely uses rep from a wide variety of styles and genres for piano and voice, crafted with a clear trajectory. Here is Daniel playing and singing Janis Ian's Stars, which opened the program:

The full setlist:

STARS
Stars (Janis Ian)
Lied eines Schiffers an die Dioskuren (Franz Schubert, Johann Mayrhofer)
Vincent (Starry, Starry Night) (Don McLean)
Mein schöner Stern (Robert Schumann, Friedrich Rückert)
Lost in the Stars (Kurt Weill, Maxwell Anderson)

ROSES
La vie en rose (Louiguy, Edith Piaf)
Estrene de la rose (Georges Enescu, Clément Marot)
Roses (Janis Ian)
La rosa y el sauce (Carlos Guastavino, Francisco Silva y Valdés)
The Rose (Amanda McBroom)

RAIN(BOWS)
Die junge Nonne (Franz Schubert, Jacob Nicolaus Craigher de Jachuletta)
Gocce di pioggia su di me (Burt Bacharach, Hal David, Umberto Scipione)
Es regnet (Kurt Weill)
Desperado (Glenn Frey, Don Henley)
Over the Rainbow (Harold Arlen, Yip Harburg)

DREAMS
Rêve d’amour (Gabriel Fauré, Victor Hugo)
My Ship (Kurt Weill, Ira Gershwin)
Nacht und Träume (Franz Schubert, Matthäus von Collin)
Dream with Me (Leonard Bernstein)
J'avais rêvé d’une autre vie (Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alain Boulblil)

Dudley Moore Plays and Sings Fauré and Schubert

2015-10-25T21:35:00.001-04:00

I did not know that Dudley Moore had such a voice for the art song repertoire. On the program:

- Fauré's setting of Verlaine's "La nuit, c'est la nuit"
- Schubert's setting of Heine's "Die Flabbergast"

(YouTube link)

(Thanks Suzanne!)

Terrence Dawson on the Collaborative Arts and the Developing Musician

2015-10-23T10:58:00.001-04:00

Vancouver-based pianist (and former colleague from my time on faculty at the University of British Columbia) Terence Dawson makes a brilliant case for the study of the collaborative arts in the education of every pianist in his essay Collaborative Arts and the Developing Musician in Sparks & Wiry Cries:

Let’s face it: Pianists are often told that the mere act of producing sound on a piano is “too easy”! It is certainly true that pianists do not have to be concerned with breathing or intonation. However, much effort is directed towards becoming physically involved with sound production. Pianists often include these aspects when discussing music. Technique study for pianists involves intense listening to enable a singing line that includes breaths in appropriate places. It includes hearing harmonies, voicing, and discriminatory listening for tone and timbre. We speak of linking notes with the fingers for the development of a seamless, supported legato. In short, we strive to hear our repertoire in a symphonic sense, borrowing generously from the language used by our fellow instrumentalists and singers.

Help Support Oshawa Opera's Kickstarter Campaign To Fund Its Upcoming Fidelio Production

2015-10-22T21:09:00.000-04:00

I really feel for singers entering the profession these days. The announcement that Ottawa's Opera Lyra is closing operations follows on the heels of Opera Hamilton's demise last year. There must be regional opera companies in Canada that can offer solid opportunities for emerging singers, pianists, orchestral musicians, and theatre professionals if the profession is to ~~thrive~~ survive.

So it is with much interest that I've been following the genesis and growth of Oshawa Opera, a startup company located in one of Toronto's eastern suburbs. Under the direction of Artistic Director Kristine Dandavino, Oshawa Opera is starting small, focusing at present on concert productions but with an eye on much larger things.

In order that Opera Oshawa can meet its costs, contribute to Oshawa's cultural life and grow enough to hopefully qualify for government funding soon, Kristine has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund its November production of Fidelio. The goal of the campaign is $999 (already 30% funded at time of writing!), which will go a long way towards making the Fidelio production financially viable.

I had a chance to catch up with Kristine earlier today on Facebook, and she had the following to say about the project:

Producing opera can be expensive. But it does not have to be. At Oshawa Opera, we keep the concerts under 2 hours and we aim to create a welcoming environment for all audience members to experience the vocal arts. We continue to offer free admission to children under the age of 18, in order to support tomorrow's adults. I love seeing young children putting coins in the donation box and asking questions about the production. We need money to pay our musicians.

In Canada, opera companies are dying. There are very few opportunities for singers to learn their craft outside of Universities or Pay-To-Sing programs. Our goal at Oshawa Opera will always be to pay the singers. If it means we never have an orchestra, so be it. The singers will always come first. Sets can wait. Paying for expensive advertising can wait. First and foremost, we want to be able to pay the singers for their dedication.

If you are able, please contribute to Oshawa Opera's Kickstarter so they can become a cornerstone of the regional opera scene that Ontario desperately needs!

Franz Liszt Was Born on This Day in 1811

2015-10-22T13:50:00.001-04:00

204 years ago today, Franz Liszt, one of the 19th century's greatest pianists, composers, and teachers was born in the village of Doborján in Hungary. Liszt studied with Beethoven's student Carl Czerny, went to Paris to seek his fortune and moulded his pianistic style and public image after that of the violinist Paganini, becoming not only one of the great pianists of the century, but remaking the public figure of the musician into that of the rock star.

Here is Georgina Sutton playing Liszt's Sonetto 104 del Petrarca:

What's on Deck for the Rest of 2015

2015-10-18T20:50:00.000-04:00

Haven't seen these Urtexts before? You're in for a treat...

As is often the case with working in the arts, it's either feast or famine. This year, I'm finding myself with the busiest year on record, with well over 50 students (mostly in Oakville, with a small number at the RCM), a busy examining and adjudicating schedule, continuing duties as Adjudicator Certification Program Specialist at The Royal Conservatory, and new duties as Vice President of the ORMTA Hamilton Halton Branch.

These are changing times in the arts and in music education, and no one has been able to nail down my thoughts on the way things are going more than Colin Thomson of the Modern Musician podcast when he interviewed me for Episode 39 in late August.

If you're in the Oakville area in the next week, you can see me in Meet the Pianist, a short lecture recital for the Oakville Symphony on Saturday, October 24 at 10 and 11am. Admission is free but by reservation, so be sure to call 905-844-6920 or email osochildrenconcert [at] gmail.com to reserve your seat in the Studio Theatre of the Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts.

See those lovely Mozart Urtexts in the picture above? They're part of a set of new scores that Ron Sacks of Dover Publications recently sent to me for review. Yes, you can expect to see more product reviews in the near future, although with my busy schedule there might not be as many articles coming out as I would wish.

My free ebook 31 Days to Better Practicing has reached thousands of readers in the last few years, and will soon be both revised and have a new home! I'll announce more details in the next while, but fear not - it will always be offered as a free download.

Finally, the Collaborative Piano Blog's 10th birthday is coming up in November. I haven't got anything planned in the coming weeks, but if you have any ideas, I would love to hear them!

Artist/Teacher Bios: A Look At Who's Doing It Right And Why

2015-07-27T13:30:00.001-04:00

I've had a lot of subsequent input from my article on rethinking artist bios. As a followup, I wanted to look at a few artists who are doing it right, why they are effective, and how artists can better frame their life in order to create a magnificent bio.

First, the bio that is moving, compelling, and the best that I've seen. Here are the first few paragraphs from James Rhodes:

James Rhodes had no formal academic musical education or dedicated mentoring until the age of 14 when he began to study with Colin Stone. In 1993, mental health issues stopped him taking up a scholarship to the Guildhall and he stopped playing the piano entirely.

A chance meeting, 10 years later, with Franco Panozzo, agent to Russian concert pianist virtuoso, Grigori Sokolov led to James having a brief tutorage by the renowned piano teacher Edoardo Strabbioli in Verona Italy.

Suffering further setbacks due to health issues it was not until 2008, when Rhodes met his present manager, Denis Blais, that he was encouraged to record his first CD. This enabled him to bare his soul and put many of the ghosts of the past to rest.

Wow. Genuinely moving. James takes what is generally considered to be a weakness (mental illness) and spins it in such a way that it creates an immediate engagement in his journey as an artist. Read James' bio and you will be compelled by his personal story, and desire to know what his work is all about.

From Zoë Keating's bio:

Zoë Keating is a one-woman orchestra. She uses a cello and a foot-controlled laptop to record layer upon layer of cello, creating intricate, haunting and compelling music. Zoë is known for both her use of technology - which she uses to sample her cello onstage - and for her DIY approach, releasing her music online without the help of a record label.

I want to explore Zöe's work after those first two sentences. You can't ask for more in a bio page, and Zöe's site thankfully directs you to the next steps.

Ted Dykstra of 2 Pianos 4 Hands makes you chortle from the outset:

TED DYKSTRA (co-writer) started playing piano at age six, and peaked at age 12, when he had a particularly memorable string of firsts competing in the Edmonton Kiwanis Music Festival. His acting career began at a young age in St. Albert, Alberta, playing the 2nd Bird in Once Upon A Clothesline, but his breakout role was Bilbo Baggins in his school’s Grade 8 production of The Hobbit.

Sarah Butler of the Millwinders could easily say that she is one of the greatest rockabilly voices of her generation (she is), but prefers to take a humbler approach:

Sarah started with piano lessons at age five and music has been a constant influence in her life. She soon discovered that belting out ABBA songs into a candle stick microphone was an effective way to both entertain her parents and enrage her older sister at the same time. Growing up with Patsy, Roy and Elvis blaring from the stereo on weekend mornings, Sarah had the classic voices imprinted on her DNA from the get-go.

As a teenager, she got herself a 12-string and began writing songs. Longing to play the upright bass in her high school jazz band, Sarah was instead forced to settle for the baritone sax. It wasn't until many years later that she approached her old high school music teacher with an offer to trade her sax for the beat up jazz band upright. Listening to the greats, she taught herself to play, and continues to use her voice and the bass as a way to express her deep love for music. Sarah's dream ride would be a '32 Ford Highboy Roadster.

Liz Parker's teaching bio grabs you from the first sentence:

In the Parker household, talk of quitting piano wasn’t casual dinner-time conversation. It meant a SUMMIT MEETING in the LIVING ROOM. Liz graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Music at 15 with a Gold Medal for the top mark in Canada and she holds her Licentiate from England’s Trinity College of London and her Bachelor of Music from the University of British Columbia.

Teaching since 1985, Liz loves working with kids to achieve great marks in the RCM exams. She combines a sense of fun and instilling discipline for maximum results. No slouching or flat fingers! To compensate, treats are handed out after student recitals. She teaches in the Queen/Bathurst area, meaning coffee/shopping options nearby for parents to while away the lesson time.

Liz's bio might seem a little unstructured, but it's written with a very specific order in mind:

groovy but strict
credentials
focus of instruction
specific location

All the critical boxes are checked, with an extra helping of fabulous. Liz (pictured above!) also operates the LIZPR agency in Toronto, and here's what she had to say earlier today on Facebook about what a publicist can do:

This is part of my image make-overs I do for clients. I will read the standard bio, chat with the client, get to know his or her personality, and inject that into the bio. I think the more entertaining the bio, the better. You're too close to your own materials; get someone with experience and perspective to do it.

Because at the end of the day, as an artist you have to answer the question about why we should actually care. There are thousands of first-rate "sought-after" classical musicians who are "compelling performers", "thrilling audiences", and "emerging as significant artists". We all occupy the same space in an art form that is perhaps dying. What makes you different?

I particularly like the way Julie L. Rogers puts it:

As an artist or band, you’re going to be repeatedly forced to explain yourself. And if you are incapable of communicating – in words – who you are, what you sound like and why someone should care, you’re not going to go very far. In short, you’re going to need to write a bio.

The most important thing to remember is that your artist bio is not a rambling autobiography or the introduction to your future memoirs: Your bio is a professional sales tool. But many new or emerging DIY artists cannot necessarily afford to pay a high-quality professional bio writer and are tasked with writing their own. When you sit down to write your bio, you need to know that it is just a small part of a much bigger picture: your marketing strategy. Your marketing strategy must communicate what you have to offer to your fans. And you need to show your value in terms your fans can understand.

If you want to be taken seriously as an artist, you have to have promotional material. And your bio is one of the most critical components – if not the most critical component of your press kit. (Sorry, but no one cares about your music if you can’t introduce yourself properly.) Your bio represents your first opportunity to spark interest in someone who will be a champion for your music. Besides communicating essential information about you, a well-written bio portrays you as a professional that has some understanding of the business you’re in – music. And when you take some time to thoughtfully craft it, you convey to your fans, to press, media and labels that you are serious about making music your career.

What are some other particularly effective artist bios that you've noticed? Leave a message in the comments.

Rethinking the Artist Bio

2015-07-26T19:19:00.001-04:00

The best way to write a convincing online bio is to craft it in a concise manner, with a view towards who is reading about you.

Nikki Loney writing in The Full Voice lays down the hard truth:

A poorly written teaching bio can actually deter people from wanting to study with you.

She continues:

Shorter bios using “I”, “me” and “my” rather than stuffy third-person seem to be the trend now. This works better for online bios that tend to be more conversational and have a limited number of characters. Try including a “fun fact” about you to grab the reader’s attention. Remember, most people will never read your full bio if it is too long. There is a fine line here between divulging too much information and establishing trust by providing enough information for people to feel they know you.

In other words, you're going to be better off formulating a shorter statement that parents, students, presenters, or listeners can identify with, and which will resonate with them.

Nikki in her workshops mentions David Story's About Me page as one of the most successful teaching bios ever written. Here's his first paragraph:

At 14, I began my piano studies, an enthusiastic, motivated, but somewhat unfocused teenager. Luckily, my determination at the piano overcame my inefficient practice habits.

David, in his confessional approach, spins his unfocused teenage years into something that parents and students can universally identify with, thus turning a weakness into a marketable strength.

The reader is everything. It might be useful to have a separate bio that lays out a fuller picture of your performance career (see picture above) geared to recital audiences, as well as a separate online bio or About Me page that lays out what you're about, but in a more concise manner, and with relevant links so readers can take next steps, either to check out your content, contact you, or sign up for your services.

Disagree? Take a look at About Me pages from successful online personalities such as Penelope Trunk, Merlin Mann, Myke Hurley, David Seah, and Ryder Carroll. The upfront honesty and engagement is what hooks people online. As musicians we are no different.

Free Technical Requirements Charts Available for the 2015 RCM Piano Syllabus

2015-07-07T21:37:00.006-04:00

Joy Morin over at Color In My Piano has assembled a fantastic free resource for teachers who will be using The Royal Conservatory's 2015 Piano Syllabus over the next few years: a PDF download with complete technical requirements charts for the new syllabus.

This is by no means a unique resource, since each technical requirements book already contains a technical requirement chart. However, Joy's PDF will be an excellent on-the-go resource for students and teachers who need a quick reference while playing or teaching.

The Gryphon Trio's Elements Eternal is Available for Streaming on CBC Music Through July 13

2015-07-07T21:14:00.001-04:00

The award-winning Gryphon Trio's latest album Elements Eternal features works of Brian Current, Michael Oesterle, and James Wright, whose Letters to the Immortal Beloved uses texts taken from Beethoven's still controversial Immortal Beloved letters found after his death. Here is an excerpt with the Gryphon Trio and mezzo soprano Julie Nesrallah:

The entire Elements Eternal album is available to stream on the CBC Music site until July 13, and if you dig the Gryphons' latest work, please consider buying the CD or MP3.

The Gryphon Trio are:

Annalee Patipatanakoon, violin
Roman Borys, cello
James Parker, piano