Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Using Music to Encourage More Exercise?

Playing the piano is fun, take it from me! But the people in Sweden, came up with a way to make it even more fun and also to help people get more exercise!

Saturday, October 03, 2009

Lee Luvisi, my piano professor, plays tonight!



Tonight I get to hear one of the greatest pianists in the world! Now it's possible that I could be just a little bit prejudiced because he happened to be my own piano professor for my undergraduate and graduate degrees in piano performance, but we each get to choose our favorite musicians, right?

Lee Luvisi taught at the Brevard Music Center in the summers of 1965 to 1970 and it was there that we met. He was in his late 20's and I was in my late teens; a very good combination of ages for teacher and student! Mr. Luvisi was quite the perfectionist and under other circumstances I might have balked, but he inspired me to do things that I never would have thought I could even do! I'll never forget the week he assigned me a Brahms "Intermezzo" and told me to learn and memorize it totally away from the piano, so that the first time I ever played it was at my lesson the following week...totally from memory!

Everyone needs a teacher who inspires them and brings out the best in them and I believe he did this for me. Not that there weren't a few tears every now and then, but I always knew he believed in me and had my best interest at heart.

Tonight he will play the Mozart concerto for piano in orchestra in C major with the Louisville Orchestra. I played the same concerto with the Louisville Ballet Orchestra in 1969, I believe so it will be fun to hear him to it tonight and relive my same experience 40 years ago. Wish you could be there!