Okay, every teacher gets one session of the year to complain about the one student that makes them grit their teeth. My time to do that would be here.

I have this lovely young 5 year old boy that I've been teaching. He learns quickly, he's boosted his confidence by eons from working with me and when I see him he says that he is excited to play.

So, what's the problem?

Even though it seems like progress is being made, this five year old really doesn't know what it takes to play. When I show up, he has a comment or two to say about me being late, or not giving him the right tools. (Very manipulative for a 5 year old). The first thing he does when we sit down is he tells me how he refuses to practice. Afterwards, he always admits that he actually practiced, but didn't want to tell me.

At that point, his mom usually comes in and tells me that she told him to do something other than what I gave him to do. “Thanks mom!” The rest of the lesson is straight down hill. From trying to stop him from banging on the piano to falling off of the bench to refusing to do the work when I ask, it's a no win situation.

Of course, I'm not working with this child anymore. What really threw me off was when the mom started pushing to enter him in competitions and recitals, which I refused to do because he couldn't straighten up.

The lesson is this. If you or your child are going to play, don't be like the lovely 5 year old boy that I get to use as an example. Playing means showing respect, discipline and putting in the work because you want to. If not, don't waste the time.  This doesn't mean that the playing isn't fun or doesn't have rewards.  But, it's always a balance between the two. 

If you have it together, shoot me an e-mail. I would love to talk. It's info@apollomusicstudios.com.  Or, visit my website at www.apollomusicstudios.com.  If you are a professional musician, you can also visit www.coachingmusician.com.  

I've heard that when you play the piano, it's just a lot of notes and technique. Sure, maybe you can hit all the notes, but can you hear the colors?

One of the best players I have ever heard during my studies didn't look at notes as notes – he saw them as colors that were pasted together in order to say something.

There is nothing more magical than a piano that sounds like colors.

These are sounds that I never thought I would hear in a piano. All of a sudden, the dynamics, the notes and the harmonies that went with them said something a little bit better, stronger and more effectively. The technique that he used wasn't just to learn the notes, or to get the technique like everyone else did. It was to build an entire story around what was being heard.

If you are playing the piano, don't just let it be the notes that you are hitting. Knowing a song doesn't mean knowing the notes and the rhythms. It means sharing a story, sharing a vision and communicating exactly what the composer had in mind.

So, the next time you sit down at the piano, think about what your piano is trying to make you see or hear. Learn beyond the basics and allow yourself to explore the different sounds and resonance that the piano can make. That's when you turn music away from being learning another song and into an experience that can communicate what you want.

Want to know more about the piano or music? Let your notes be sent to me at info@apollomusicstudios.com.  You can also check out what I'm about at www.apollomusicstudios.com or www.coachingmusician.com.  

Any good piano player will also have other players or songs that they completely love. So, in my love for the piano, I have to introduce you to what I think is the coolest song ever. The name is “Islamey: An Oriental Fantasy” and the composer is the Russian Mily Balakirev. You can hear it on You Tube with this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5raMK4Z9co.

So, other than this song being completely linked to a virtuoso mind set, it also has a great story behind it. This piece was written in 1869 after Balakirev had made a visit to Caucasus, a town located by the Black Sea and Turkey. While here, he met a prince, who introduced him to some of the folk tunes of the region on the violin. One of the pieces heard was Islamey, a dance tune that was popular as one of the folk tunes.

The only other part to this piece is in the middle – the slower part. This was actually given to Balakirev in Moscow who was visiting from Crimea. With these different themes given to him, Balakirev was able to write the piece in one month – his record time for any of the pieces he had ever written.

So, what's so great about the tune? If you have seen the video, you already know. It's fast and it's hard. Actually, some of the top virtuosos of all time have admitted that there are a lot of passages that are almost impossible to play. In fact, Rubinstein and Listz, both considered the top pianists of the Romantic / modern eras of music, found this piece as one of the most difficult.

So, this particular piece goes in my first library as one of the greats of all time. All of the elements that are built off of a simple folk tune make it one of the most virtuoso pieces of all times. Elements meaning rhythms, dynamics, form and the way that everything places it together will make you wipe sweat off of your brow.

If you want something to enjoy in piano music, this piece should not be overlooked!