To reawaken love and beauty when life feels overwhelmingly painful, we can turn to our music. This gorgeous theme from the 2nd movement...

I have had many requests for easy sheet music to Debussy’s Clair de lune, and so have transposed it to C and simplified it for the...

Play music together! I recently heard author (of Eat, Pray, Love) Elizabeth Gilbert speak about creative work: Everything that is...

blog.upperhandspiano.com I hope you are enjoying luxuriously lengthening days as we launch into summer. My garden is crying out for me to...

blog.UpperHandsPiano.com My dear student Joan requested the beautiful and melodic Pavane by the French composer Gabriel Fauré so I wrote...

Kylemore Abbey It’s March, and I’m enjoying practicing Irish tunes for a few upcoming St. Patrick’s Day gigs. Though I already have two...

Resolve! blog.UpperHandsPiano.com If you’re like me, you love making new year’s resolutions. The year ahead is a clean slate, filled with...

You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks ― Winston S. Churchill Today while I was...

Dear Piano Peeps: Today I hope you will join me in pledging to play the piano at least 10 minutes every day for the next 30 days (January...

I am fascinated by the concept of practice, because it has been such a charged word for me in the past. As a young child it was a...

blog.UpperHandsPiano.com Venezuelan virtuoso pianist/composer Teresa Carreño (1853-1917) believed that pedaling is like mixing paints on...

I am often asked for tips on how to practice most effectively. In my recent post entitled The Best Ways To Practice using the latest...

summer hydrangeas Now that July 4th has passed, you might be thinking about things you would like to accomplish this summer. Many...

Dear Friends:  We are SO pleased to announce… Songs of the Seasons: SPRING Upper Hands Piano: Songs of the Seasons, SPRING is now...

blog.UpperHandsPiano.com Dear Piano Peeps: One of the keyboard skills we need to develop is dynamic balance; and that is the ability to...

blog.UpperHandsPiano.com My students gather together 3 times per year at my Piano and Poetry parties to share pieces and poems. I used to...

Hello Piano Lovers: blog.UpperHandsPiano.com Today I’d like to delve further into the question, why should we improvise? Firstly, if you...

blog.UpperHandsPiano.com Dear Piano Friends: Today I would like to begin exploring the possibility of you improvising. Don’t panic. A...

Recent studies showing how the brain acquires and stores new information can revolutionize our practice habits. Using these new findings,...

blog.upperhandspiano.com I have a brilliant former student named Brendan Cohn-Sheehy with whom I consult on my music and the brain...