...and as promised, here is a video.

I Will Survive

...and, as promised, an article.

This article is by Alex Ross in The New Yorker on February 16, 2004, and it is truly extraordinary. Please take the time to read it; you'll be glad you did.

Listen To This

Welcome, one and all.

Welcome to my blog! I'm a pianist. Primarily, I play "classical" music (also known as "Western Art Music", "music by dead white males", etc.). I do not particularly love Fur Elise, Clair de Lune, the first movement of the "Moonlight" sonata, nor much else that can be found on a CD labeled Music For Lovers, Music For Weddings, Music For Your At-Home Spa Experience, or Music For Visits To Your Psychiatrist To Get More Prescription Meds. I dislike most Tchaikovsky. I will grant that my tastes are not always highbrow, strictly speaking - I just haven't been able to dig Elliot Carter or Charles Wuorinen yet - but I'm trying not to sell out.

(Actually, I'd love to sell out a hall, but I don't want to "sell out" in the process.)

I am often pigeonholed as an accompanist. I'm ok with this. I'd prefer that people refer to me as a pianist, or even a collaborative pianist, but accompanist will do. What I dislike, however, is that this connotes a status of second-place citizen; it apparently indicates that, because I do not choose to make the majority of my performance work solo recitals, I'm unworthy of the same status as other pianists. Whether or not this is true for me, personally, should be based on what you think of my playing, but should not at all be based on the preconception that pianists that play with others are somehow a lesser sort of musician. In fact, collaborative pianists generally have far more on their plates.

I resent being categorized as "just a teacher". So, I'm good enough to teach (or accompany) your kid, but not good enough to play in public? Shouldn't the reverse be true?

I can and do play alone in public. Sometimes, I even enjoy it. But most of all, I enjoy playing with other people. There's nothing that can replace it for me, even on the occasions I don't enjoy it.

That said, I will most likely post more pictures of cats, push my left-wing agenda, and ramble more than necessary (and perhaps even gripe and complain). I doubt every post will have the necessary profundity to claim an active intellectual readership. Often, I'm simply going to post links to videos, articles, pictures, and more that may not have the slightest to do with music. I'm positive there will be long stretches without meaningful posts, dotted only by the small landmarks of a good YouTube video.

Perhaps this will be of value to someone (even me). Perhaps not. But it seems like the time for me to enter this internet revolution I hear so much about and blog into that system of tubes for anyone, or no one, to hear.