pianobarwithval.com

It’s been a minute (actually two years) since I posted something new on the front page of my website! I thought that sharing some recent reflections as well as a few music events would be fun.

First: This cello and piano event on Tuesday, July 8th, 2025 at 7:30pm is FREE and looks fun! I’m planning to go, and just “bought” a free ticket by clicking the link they provided. Below is a video from 2023 in Switzerland, of the same two musicians who will perform cello and piano. I’m planning on going July 8th because as my students know, I love comparing piano’s bass melodies to cello and hearing real cello always makes my heart soar a little. 🙂 Be decisive and reserve a ticket now, or be spontaneous if you end up free that evening, and join me. 🙂

ALSO excited for Beethoven: Join me to check out not one, but apparently TWO versions of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony performed by the Boston Festival Orchestra. It’s on Sunday, July 13th at 3:00pm at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall. The cost per ticket is $30, which is a far cry better price than attending any BSO concerts. It’s not actually two versions of Beethoven’s 5th. It’s really the 1808 original version preceded by a composition entitled “Skizzen” (translated Sketches), composed by Dorothy Chang in 2020. As Chang writes, her goals with “Skizzen” were to “reference [Beethoven’s] ideas in raw form, when they were merely flashes of inspiration and not yet developed into one of the most significant compositions Beethoven was to create. As they appear in his sketchbooks, these fragments are incomplete, disconnected, and often in only rough outline form.” Exciting stuff, people…

For now, I’ll leave it at two events for July but might add more to this page later.

The transition from our own regular year: As for our own community having just moved into summer mode, I’m left reflecting on our wonderful spring recitals a few short weeks ago in the Back Bay. I was once again so proud of our student body rising to the occasion! Our pianists of all levels took risks to share our music in front of others, and performed very well. Playing for others is its own skill, and one that results in such a happy community moment as we enjoyed the music together. Unlike other recitals where we’ve gathered around a certain theme, such as showcasing all women composers in 2024, I went into this most recent event feeling sure that the sheer progress students have made this past year would shine. And what happened as students played, was a celebrations of the simple fact that you all are making great music, and growing. Hip hip hooray! Huzzah! Woo woo! Yay. I’m one proud teacher, and I remain very grateful for our work together. Thanks once again for all the partnership at home to support our pianists’ regular practice.

Hi Families!*

Happy Summer. 🙂

As you enjoy the beginning of this season, thank you for preparing to submit scheduling requests for fall sign-ups on Wednesday, July 12, 2023 at 12:00 PM.

Please be prepared:

• with at least three ranked choices of time blocks (ex/ “4-6pm” or “8am OR anytime finishing before 5pm”)
• with as many days M-F as possible (ex/ “any day except Tuesday or Thursday”)
• with your request at NOON on Wed 7/12 in order to facilitate a smooth process for your student receiving an attractive lesson slot. (the last few years have filled quickly)

Please remember:

• we are a community that has thrived by mutual consideration when it comes to scheduling
• last year due to everyone’s robust effort to communicate in a timely manner, I was able to schedule everyone with their first or second choice – woo!
• if you offer too narrow options for me to work with, I will return to you for more options

*A note to those on my waitlist: please contact me by email at pianobarwithval@gmail.com to share your ongoing interest. Following sign-ups from my returning students, I will follow up with my waitlist to communicate an update. Thank you so much!

Following our winter recitals in Cambridge this past February, I had no doubt in my mind that the days of all-student performances in my home were numbered. That’s not to say that the homey vibe, so well-rehearsed and beloved in our neighborhood of Jamaica Plain, will not be missed. One of my favorite things about raising kids in JP was sweaty preschool graduations cradling little ones in laps (hoping the kid on that lap, whether or not your own, was content to sit there). Similarly for piano events, we threw open windows in my dining room behind six mismatched rows crammed in perpendicular to four other rows, all with at least a 3/4 view of the keys. Grandparents graciously joined the fray, and parents beamed and subtly pressed the edge our seats. Recitals could be scary. Performances could be cold. So the home recitals presented an aspirational blend of informal formality – excellence within acceptance.

What Covid silver linings came our way, to create in my mind an appreciation for a large hall with beautiful windows, comfortable chairs, and a Steinway Grand for our performances? It was the actual air, for one plain thing. Filters in the church hall and space to distance our chairs made everyone feel, for the moment, a bit reassured our gathering would not become a sickness spreader. The piano itself was one of the stars of the day, with acoustic clouds atop the ceiling showing off even the notes whispered in pianissimo on this fine instrument.

And best of all, it was that we could fully see each other, could sit in supportive attention before and after, could loudly applaud without ringing in another’s ears, and could all line up once done to see our community take a bow together. Several parents gushed about the new gathering, even longtime families who’d come to the homey events with much enthusiasm. Pianists were generally passionate about the space and the special feelings of performance, “voting” we definitely meet there again next time.

It’s true, some of us played our best and some did not that day, which is just the way performance goes and rarely a concern for me. It was an impressive accomplishment just to play publicly for 50 others, after two years of playing for our laptops. My goal of having a teaching practice aimed for both excellence and acceptance remains strong. Our initial foray into an occasional weekend workshop went extremely well, and so we’ll beat that drum to meet informally and communally. With this balance, I hope many will soar and have seen the effort and love for piano already climb since spring began.

Come June 5th at our spring recitals, the event will not have that unique electricity of early emergence from pandemic. But I am thrilled to welcome us back together to celebrate our learning and love for our shared instrument, which sustains us through joys and sorrows. Like sudden key changes or trills, the shifts in life may come unexpectedly, but with practice, navigated to produce a rich and layered beauty.

Congratulations to all who invest in our piano endeavors!

Hi Everyone! So, it seems that the swirl of daily news updates is leaning towards all of us wearing masks again during lessons, regardless of vaccination status. It’s been so wonderful having maskless lessons with my teen and adult students. However, I’m committed to practice public health best as we can discern it, so let’s all don our masks again! Except for really hot days when I turn on my air conditioner and close the windows, I keep windows open throughout the first floor and often a fan blowing. In addition, my Hepa air filter runs 24/7 next to the piano as it has since summer 2020. Against the Delta variant these measures may have very limited efficacy, but nevertheless we use them.

Should severe illness strike vaccinated folks in increasing numbers, I will once again consult with healthcare professionals including some among our piano community and my sister who is a pediatric infectious disease specialist. So, hold on to your seats for pandemic fall #2 updates, and we’ll all hang in there together.

Thank you so much for your recommendations of my teaching to friends, neighbors, and other networks! I am truly grateful to welcome new students by way of word-of-mouth. With nearly all students returning for September, and conversations with prospective students, my roster will again be completely full. I am now offering to add folks who inquire about lessons, to my waitlist.

My hybrid lesson schedule will be ready soon for sign-ups for the September 2020 – June 2021 year! First round of sign-ups will be for returning students, and then towards the third week of August I will open up the schedule for new students. Thank you in advance for understanding that this year, I share a “mostly for sure” schedule, but that some flexibility may be required should my kids’ school schedule or my family’s particular needs necessitate a piano schedule change.

Thank you to several parents who were able to provide opinions and suggestions for how I can consider reopening some spots in my home. Your input included good tips for sanitizing and maintaining social distance before, during, and after lesson time.

I am very grateful that all students continued with lessons from March – June to finish the regular academic year, in the midst of the worldwide Covid outbreak. To all the families who invested in new keyboards and better wifi, and allowed your daily schedules a good deal of interruptions to support music learning, YOU ROCK. To my students who keep steady practice each week, and who navigate Zoom and FaceTime lessons with grace and determination, HATS OFF TO YOU! I am lucky to be your teacher.

We will begin a new school year with some weirdness of uncharted pandemic life territory, yet not without the great, deep pleasures of piano music which express joy, passion, longing, and peace. May our students’ work fill our homes and lives with more of this powerful beauty!

 

 

SUMMER 2019:

July and August lessons (individual lesson sign-ups) for current students: since this post is public, please search your email for my “Bravo and notes” message from June 3. The link to the google document is there.

New families: email me at pianobarwithval@gmail.com to begin lessons this summer! I’ll be very happy to talk with you about your interest.

FALL 2019:

Fall sign-ups are open for returning students! See the schedule and tuition page for details of the Sept 2019- June 2020 year. Email me to reserve your spot.

For new students: I will open up my calendar for remaining open fall spots in late July. Please email me to get an alert: pianobarwithval@gmail.com

 

 

Happy Summer everyone!

Fall 2018 lesson sign-ups are now open. See my schedule posted on the schedule page, and email me at pianobarwithval@gmail.com to sign-up for a particular 30-, 45-, or 60- minute lesson slot.

My July and August individual lessons are still open for sign-ups here:

[closed now]

And resources for note reading are here for buying a workbook:

Notebusters workbook

and here for working online:

Music theory website

 

Happy summer!

During the months of July and August, new students are welcome to sign up for individual lessons at the rate of $30 for 30 minutes of private instruction. Please email me at pianobarwithval@gmail.com to ask for the sign-up link.

Fall sign-ups for new students will begin mid-July. My 2017-2018 schedule is posted on the “Schedule and Tuition Rates” page of this website.

For my regular students, sign-ups are still open. Please use the link I have sent.

 

Hello, hello…and welcome to spring (through the snow)!

It’s good I’m not a poetry teacher, but I needed to let you know I’m happily anticipating new students who can join for morning piano lessons.

For homeschoolers and adults with flexible daytime schedules, mornings are an ideal time for piano lessons. You don’t have to battle traffic (even getting down JP’s Centre Street in late afternoon can be soul killing)! Also, fingers and folks are fresh with the early time of day.

Currently I have several homeschooling and adult students whom I love teaching, and would be excited to welcome more pianists who are new or returning to the keys.