Monday, August 12, 2024 by Mary O'Connor | pianists

Stephen Powers first thought of his grand piano as an impressive piece of furniture.

But he enjoyed listening to music so much when friends played at parties at his home in North Wilmington that he began taking lessons.

“I enjoy having a couple of songs under my belt,” says Powers, a 52-year-old banker. “I play Happy Birthday. I play Getting to Know You for my mom.”

Powers is part of a boomlet of adults who are studying piano. Many took lessons briefly as children and regret giving it up. Some simply enjoy music. Others gravitated toward the keyboard because studies suggest piano improves mental acuity while reducing the odds of dementia.

A Swedish study published in 2014 in the International Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease found that when a twin played a musical instrument later in life, he or she was 64 percent less likely to develop dementia than the twin who did not play.

A study published in Frontiers in Psychology in 2013 evaluated the impact of piano lessons on cognitive function, mood and quality of life in adults age 60 to 84.

The group that studied piano showed significant improvement in tests that measure executive function, controlling inhibitions and divided attention, as well as enhanced visual scanning and motor ability. Piano students also reported a better quality of life.

Some grownups simply relish a challenge.

In the United Kingdom, Alan Rusbridger, editor of the Guardian, took to the keyboard at age 56. He chronicled the year he spent learning Chopin’s demanding No. Ballade 1 in G Minor in the book Play It Again: An Amateur Against the Impossible.

Richard Swarmer, 57, of Lewes, played the trumpet from grade school through college. He has sung in several choirs. This year, he began piano lessons.

Learning the piano isn’t easy even for someone with a musical background. Still, Swarmer appreciates that the creative thought process is different from the focus required by his job for a medical benefits company.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed taking piano lessons as an adult,” he says. “It provides a welcome respite from the demands of my job.”

Ethel Thirtel of North Wilmington is 71 and a student at the Music School of Delaware. She is also taking French lessons to help keep her intellect sharp.

“Both pursuits involve active studying and practice to master new skills,” she says.

To meet rising demand, the Music School of Delaware offers adults-only evening group classes to accommodate working people, says Matthew Smith, student and alumni relations officer. The school also provides instruction for adults 50 and older through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at University of Delaware.

“In addition to professionals, we are getting a lot more inquiries from older adults who are retired and have time on their hands,” he says.

Geri Smith, a Julliard-trained singer, musician and composer, has taught piano to children in public schools as well as private arts centers. Her adult students include a 59-year-old writer who took up piano after the death of her husband, a gifted musician.

“Teaching children is a different experience than teaching adults,” says Smith, of Unionville. “Kids pretty much do what you ask them to do but adults ask lots of questions. They want to know why things have to be done a certain way.”

An important part of learning piano is creating new pathways in the brain. A Harvard Medical School study examined the impact of practicing the piano on synapses, the connections between neurons that encode memories and learning.

Volunteers practiced two hours a day for five days, playing a five-finger exercise to the beat of a metronome. To learn how that impacted the neurons scientists used transcranial-magnetic-stimulation (TMS), in which a wire coil sends magnetic impulses to the brain.

They discovered that after a week of practice, the stretch of motor cortex devoted to the finger exercises had expanded like crabgrass.

“Playing the piano creates new synapses,” Smith says. “Think of it as creating a conduit so your right hand can talk to your left hand.”

Meldene Gruber of Rehoboth Beach, who has taught piano for more than 40 years, has seen a surge in adult students in the past two years. Now, half her students are adults.

“A number of my adults say they think playing the piano will help with mental acuity,” she says. “Playing the piano forces you to use both sides of the brain, which is great for neuron firing.”

Most adults have specific goals in mind, such as learning to play Christmas carols or a few favorite pieces.

“You don’t get adults who are focused on becoming concert pianists,” Gruber says. “They come for the joy of playing, not because their mothers made them.”

via Chopstick therapy: how piano lessons could help us age better — NewsWorks.

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Friday, January 26, 2024 by Mary O'Connor | pianists

Time Magazine Milestones: Jan. 26, 1968

Died. Howard Lebow, 32, U.S. concert pianist; of injuries suffered in an automobile accident; in Amherst, Mass. One of the youngest and most promising of U.S. pianists, Lebow toured 15 countries after his 1963 Manhattan solo debut, played the works of such modern composers as Edward Levy and Erich Kahn with an adventurousness that sometimes startled the critics but more often won their applause .

Howard Lebow The University of Massachusetts Department of Music has established a trust fund for scholarships to assist both graduate and undergraduate music students in memory of the late Howard M. Lebow, professor of piano and concert artist whose untimely death in an automobile accident in January cut short a brilliant musical career. The scholarships will be awarded to students, selected by a special music committee, who demonstrate musical potential according to the ideals and standards of excellence that Lebow set for himself and for his students.

Lebow was graduated from the Juilliard School of Music in 1957, received his master's degree in 1959, and was the winner of the school ' s highest pianistic honor, the Morris Loeb Memorial Prize. He studied at the State Academy of Music in Hamburg, Germany; the International Institute for New Music in Darmstadt, Germany; and the Mozarteum Summer Academy in Salzburg, Austria.

He studied under Edward Steuermann, a pupil of composer Ferruccio Busoni, and became well-known for his performances of Busoni ' s works. Lebow came to the University of Massachusetts in 1965 to assume his position as Assistant Professor of Piano. Internationally acclaimed as a remarkable pianist by music critics, Lebow was widely recognized as having a faultless technique, a richly varied touch, and a distinctive feeling for style. " It is only Lebow, " said the Darmstaedter Echo, " who puts every fiber of his body and soul into the keys and truly performs with the utmost clarity, transparentness and plasticity. " Dr. Philip Bezanson, head of the department said, " The music department feels this memorial fund is a most fitting way to perpetuate the memory of Howard Lebow. He was actively interested in trying to develop scholarships for the music department. Because of his genuine interest in talented students it is most fitting that talented students should continue to receive help in his name. "

~~~~~~~~

Howard Miles Lebow was an accomplished concert pianist and composer who was first celebrated during his tenure as a student at Julliard School of Music where he earned both his BA and MFA. While at Julliard, Lebow studied under Edward Steuermann, a pupil of composer Ferruccio Busoni, and was acclaimed for his performances of Busoni’s works. Lebow exceled as a pianist, performing in fifteen countries across Europe and the Americas. Appointed to the post of Assistant Professor of Piano at the University of Massachusetts in September 1965, Lebow lectured and performed until his untimely death in 1968 at age 32. Although known for his interpretations of contemporary music, Lebow was equally at home in the entire piano literature; one of his last and most memorable recitals was devoted to the music of Franz Liszt, another artist whom he had studied and whom he greatly admired. After his death, the Howard M. Lebow Scholarship Fund was established (1968).

http://www.nyyouthsymphony.org/concerts/1964-1965/orchestra/spring-concert

Howard Lebow

The University of Massachusetts Department of
Music has established a trust fund for
scholarships to assist both graduate and
undergraduate music students in memory of
the late Howard M. Lebow, professor of piano
and concert artist whose untimely death in an
automobile accident in January cut short a
brilliant musical career. The scholarships
will be awarded to students, selected by a
special music committee, who demonstrate
musical potential according to the ideals
and standards of excellence that Lebow set
for himself and for his students.

Lebow was graduated from the Juilliard School
of Music in 1957, received his master's
degree in 1959, and was the winner of the
school's highest pianistic honor, the
Morris Loeb Memorial Prize. He studied at
the State Academy of Music in Hamburg,
Germany; the International Institute for New
Music in Darmstadt, Germany; and the
Mozarteum Summer Academy in Salzburg, Austria.
He studied under Edward Steuermann, a pupil
of composer Ferruccio Busoni, and became
well-known for his performances of Busoni's
works.

Lebow came to the University of Massachusetts
in 1965 to assume his position as Assistant
Professor of Piano.

Internationally acclaimed as a remarkable
pianist by music critics, Lebow was widely
recognized as having a faultless technique,
a richly varied touch, and a distinctive
feeling for style. "It is only Lebow," said
the Darmstaedter Echo, "who puts every fiber
of his body and soul into the keys and truly
performs with the utmost clarity,
transparentness and plasticity."

Dr. Philip Bezanson, head of the department said, "The music department feels this memorial fund is a most fitting way to perpetuate the memory of Howard Lebow. He was actively interested in trying to develop scholarships for the music department. Because of his genuine interest in talented students it is most fitting that talented students should continue to receive help in his name."

https://archive.org/stream/index1968univ/index1968univ_djvu.txt

http://scua.library.umass.edu/umarmot/lebow-howard/

Howard Lebow was my piano teacher my freshman year at UMass.  I was devastated over Christmas break to learn that he had died in a car crash.  He had been walking on campus and was hit by a driver. :( 

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Wednesday, January 5, 2022 by Mary O'Connor | pianists

Alfred Brendel was born in 1931 in Wiesenberg, Czech Republic.

After World War II, Brendel composed music, as well as continuing to play the piano, to write and to paint. However, he never had more formal piano lessons and, although he attended master classes with Edwin Fischer and Eduard Steuermann, he was largely self-taught after the age of six.

He made his debut in Graz (1948), and has since performed widely throughout Austria, where he lives.

He is known for his interpretations of Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Liszt, and Schoenberg. He tours internationally and has written many essays on music.

A short insight from Alfred Brendel on his recording career:

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