Learning and Teaching Tools
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Abby Whiteside Influential Piano Teacher
Abby Whiteside’s primary prescription for learning was: “Put a rhythm in your body and keep it going.” She encouraged her students to feel the pulsating rhythm underneath the notes that drives the music forward, and to vigorously explore their emotional connection to the music — what she called playing with a basic emotional rhythm. Whiteside found that many students felt the music very deeply, but manifested their emotional reaction to […]
August Sheet Music
Try your hands at some of these pieces from our featured composer, Claude Debussy! Arabesque No.1 Claire de Lune L’Enfant Prodigue L’Isle Joyeuse Reverie
Composer's Corner: Claude Debussy
Claude Debussy Biography Composer (1862–1918) Embracing nontraditional scales and tonal structures, Claude Debussy is one of the most highly regarded composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is seen as the founder of musical impressionism. Synopsis Claude Debussy was born into a poor family in France in 1862, but his obvious gift at the piano sent him to the Paris Conservatory at age 11. At age […]
July Piano Sale!
27 Pianos under $1,988! It’s heating up for our sizzling summer monthly specials! We hand-selected 25 studios, uprights and consoles for our July piano special….we even added 2 grand pianos to the list! Click on the links below to view the special prices, detailed piano information and photographs. Hurry in today for the best selection! Special prices end July 31st. All pianos subject to prior sale. *************************************************************************************** Studio Color Series […]
July Sheet Music
Celebrate the 4th of July with some classic songs about our great country! Star Spangled Banner America, the Beautiful My Country Tis of Thee God Bless America Stars and Stripes Forever Yankee Doodle
Composer's Corner: Star Spangled Banner
The Star-Spangled Banner, national anthem of the United States. Francis Scott Key, a lawyer, wrote the lyrics after watching the British attack Fort McHenry, Maryland, in 1814, during the War of 1812. The melody was taken from “To Anacreon in Heaven,” a drinking song f the Anacreontic Society (of London) that was written by the British composer John Stafford Smith. Key’s words were first published in a broadside in 1814 under the title “Defence […]
Piano Trivia Contest
How much do you know about pianos? Mid-America Piano is having a piano trivia contest to test your knowledge! Click here for your copy of our trivia sheet. Once you are finished, just save the PDF and e-mail it to piano4u@piano4u.com or mail it to Mid-America Piano, 241 Johnson Drive, Manhattan, KS 66502. The winner wins a gift card and a certificate naming them the piano trivia queen or king! Be sure to turn […]
White House Museum of Pianos
White House Piano The custom Steinway piano at Christmas, 2002 Maestro-in-Chief Pianos have been popular musical instruments almost since their invention over two centuries ago, and quickly found their way into the White House. And several presidents have been adept piano players. President Truman and his daughter Margaret played regularly and preferred traditional black Baldwin grand pianos. Margaret’s piano leg poking through the floor of her second-floor sitting room […]
History of the Piano
The story of the piano begins in Padua, Italy in 1709, in the shop of a harpsichord maker named Bartolomeo di Francesco Cristofori (1655-1731). Many other stringed and keyboard instruments preceded the piano and led to the development of the instrument as we know it today. Mankind’s knowledge that a taut, vibrating string can produce sound goes back to prehistoric times. In the ancient world, strings were attached and […]