Category Archives: Uncategorized

One picks up a lot of experience during forty years in a collegiate classroom. I have seen abundant good and bad from the students who pass through my classroom during their four undergraduate, or two graduate, years at the major … Continue reading →

The first time I ever saw Brentwood, California was on a Saturday morning in late June 2015. I was informed by a sign on Highway 4 that, should I wish to visit downtown Brentwood, I should take the next exit. … Continue reading →

We get older and our tastes change. These days I’m acquiring a penchant for whiskey, something that never really floated my boat when I was younger. Maybe it’s a simple matter of control and restraint. At my age, I am … Continue reading →

Of late I’ve been teaching a course called “The Orchestra” at San Francisco’s Fromm Institute. The premise of the thing is coverage of the major orchestras and their most notable conductors, complete with lots of music, stories, and even a … Continue reading →

I came across an article written by a 30-something chap who bought a condo at age 24 and wrecked himself financially. Even if the tone is occasionally whiny, for the most part he avoids pointing blame at anybody but himself, … Continue reading →

Some musicians teach in order to support their performance or composition habits. That’s not me. I teach because, well, I’m a teacher. Awareness of that simple fact came early. I was the class tutor for my 8th grade French class. … Continue reading →

I celebrate an important anniversary on August 10, in honor of the lifestyle change I made in August of 2015 as I left San Francisco and moved to a sizable contemporary Mediterranean in the outlying suburban city of Brentwood, out … Continue reading →

Even if I don’t play in public (or private) much any more, I’m still a pianist. It’s sort of like being a Texan. It doesn’t matter how long since you’ve left the place; born there, you’re it, period and forever … Continue reading →

Jean Sibelius and Gustav Mahler, contemporaries and polar opposites on the surface, likely had more in common than not. They took divergent stances on symphonic composition, however. Sibelius recalled an exchange: “I said that I admired [the symphony’s] severity of … Continue reading →

Platitude of the day: everything changes. Petunias bud, wax, and wane. Ice melts and water evaporates. Even the most seemingly solid and immoveable objects—think mountains, think diamonds—change in time. Even me. I just might change my hobbies. Consider my most … Continue reading →