Everyone who watches my lesson videos and Video Exchange Responses knows that I use an iPad to read my sheet music. What you may not know is that I was actually one of the very first professional musicians to pioneer digital sheet music in performance, way back since 2001.

If you currently have a digital keyboard, and are curious about trying an acoustic piano, but feeling apprehensive about the cost, you may be surprised at how many options there are for getting a piano for nearly - or completely -  free! Please note, these options are primarily for folks in the USA, Canada, and the U.K.

This is an overview lesson on a brand new easy piano arrangement of "Ghost Towns" by Radical Face. Well, "easy" might be a bit misleading - the musical navigation can be a bit tricky, so I try to explain how that system works, as well as some tips for learning this song. You can get the sheet music from the forum, or by using this link:  http://artistworks.com/sites/all/files/Radical_Face_-_Ghost_Towns_Easy_Version_3.pdf

You can hear the original song on YouTube at https://youtu.be/9MUA9hoDa40

If you want to start Video Exchange lessons on this song, post a video exchange submission of whatever you can play or need help with. Have fun learning this piece!

Looping is one of the most powerful tools available to ArtistWorks students. When you set up loops in your teacher's Video Exchange response, you can watch his/her example over and over without having to manually fiddle with the video player controls, allowing you to focus on following your teacher until you "get it right". This video tutorial shows you how you can set up start and end points for loops in Video Exchange videos. Happy Looping!

When you think of it, traditional lessons where a student goes to a teacher's studio or the teacher comes to the student's home, are terribly inefficient ways to develop a skill that is more akin to learning a foreign language.

Last week I had the opportunity to attend a PTG-MARC conference. PTG stands for Piano Technicians Guild, and MARC stands for Mid-Atlantic Regional Convention. PTG supports the training and continuing education for folks who tune, repair, rebuild, and work on other technical aspects of acoustic pianos. It was a great opportunity to meet some legendary people in the piano technician world!

In this episode, Mrs. Sokoloff talks about the miracle of how she started teaching at Curtis in 1936 (while still a student herself) and her first students who would go on to become classical music legends like Shmuel Ashkenasi, Aaron Rosand, members of the Guarneri Quartet, Jaime Laredo, Benita Valente, and many members of the Philadelphia Orchestra; her first private students who went on to pass the rigorous auditions at Curtis and perform with the Philadelphia Orchestra; her secrets on how she remains healthy, active and productive at age 100; and shares her thoughts on how women’s careers in music have changed over her lifetime (she is passionate about women’s rights in all aspects of life).

My beloved piano teacher, Eleanor Sokoloff is 100 years young and still teaching actively at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Mrs. Sokoloff has trained some of the top pianists in the classical world during her 79 years of teaching.