Music, Coffee and Environment

Music. It has been a long two weeks for my students and myself. Some students are finishing the school year. Others are heading off to in-person school for five days. Still more students are trying to figure out how to do a balance of online, in-person study and taking a break when they need one from all of the ongoing learning. The video games music learning continues in my studio. I had another student say to me recently that they prefer reading music over learning to play songs on YouTube. I wanted to shout, Hallelujah, but I held back. I’m almost happy to say that I am glad that I can witness my “piano children” coming back home to the idea of learning to play piano the old-fashioned way. The feedback I am getting is that they like the freedom to learn to play pieces in bite sizes, measures at a time and pages at a time or whatever they choose. I must say that I was surprised to hear that they no longer wanted the fast-paced access to learning a song. It was too much pressure, said one student. I get it. I’ve felt that pressure myself a time or two. I’ll tell you about that later. Coffee. Coffee culture is still my favorite place to discuss music and music making. I love being able to giggle over a vanilla flavored latte. I like planning to share some stories with friends while enjoying caramel macchiatos after a concert. It’s almost time to open up New York City full-force again, post-pandemic. I can hardly wait. Environment. I recently had coffee and conversation while discussing climate change. My biggest takeaway is looking at that photo of the pygmy octopus in the Miami parking lot and wondering…is that real? It also sparked some giggles in conversation over coffee and food. I am excited about the future now. And, it has little to do with locating oxygen on Mars or flying to the Moon. And, I think to myself…what a wonderful world. I’ve found something else to chat about along with music making and coffee culture. I’ll see you next time. Be well. Keep on keeping on.