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Welcome to the tonebase Piano Community!

Hey everyone - this is Dominic from tonebase 🙂!

 

As the lead of tonebase PIANO it's such a pleasure to welcome you to the tonebase community. We would love to get to know you! Please introduce yourself in a post below with the following format: 

  • Where are you from and what's your favorite food from there? ;) 
  • What are you currently working on? 
  • What are you hoping to get out of this community? 

I'll go first: 

  • I was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri and you better believe that I love my barbecue! It is hard to pick my favorite food between ribs, brisket, or a beautiful grilled steak, but if I have to decide...nothing beats a juicy, fall-off-the-bone rack of baby back ribs!
  • Currently working on some old favorites of mine by Carl Vine (Piano Sonata No.1), Beethoven (Piano Concerto No.4) and Scriabin (Fantasy op.28) but also adding some great repertoire by H. Leslie Adams (Etude in A-flat minor Book 2), Laura Kaminsky (Alluvion), and Clara Schumann (Romanze in A minor Op.21 no.1)!
  • I am hoping to getting to know and helping all of you achieve your musical and artistic goals. Let's have some fun and get to work!

Now over to you (after some participation from our tonebase team members!) 

957 replies

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    • Noel_Nguyen
    • 5 days ago
    • Reported - view
     said:
    What is you story with regards to teachers? 

     Why thanks for asking 😊. I started with your typical run of the mill neighborhood "teacher" then at 11 switched to a delightful little french lady, a true teacher and grand student of Cortot, and that is when I fell in love with baroque music, even though she didn't have much interest in it herself! But she fostered that love and was very supportive (this makes all the difference!). Then in my mid-teens I watched Sultanov win the Cliburn and wanted a Russian teacher, whom I finally had when I enrolled to the McGill piano performance program! I consider that last teacher to be my main teacher in terms of building my technique and playing style. She was an exceptionally great teacher, being a grand student of Gilels. And yet I have to say, I feel the most thankful towards my French teacher who sadly passed away a few years ago. In the end I'd say the quality of the rapport was the most important factor in my training.

      • Winterreise
      • Thierrynk
      • 5 days ago
      • Reported - view

       

      Hi

      What was the name of your professor who was a Cortot’s student? During 10 years I also had a Cortot’s student as a professor while having different other professors at Conservatory. Her name is Jeanine Collet, she was so dedicated to all her students from 7 am to 11 pm. She is the one who taught me octaves spending so much time with me on Chopin Scherzo 3 for a local competition. Even if I have now another style of wonderful professor with different approach for technical questions, Mrs Collet is always in my mind and my heart as soon as I sit in front of a piano. 

    • Noel_Nguyen
    • 5 days ago
    • Reported - view
     said:
    Was it hard to get into the piano performance program?

    No. But it was hard to get out of it elegantly. (I dropped out.)

      • Larry_K
      • 5 days ago
      • Reported - view

       But still, somehow, you developed amazing piano chops. That’s impressive.

      • Noel_Nguyen
      • 5 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Thanks! I'd say the investment (years of suffering, literally) was much larger than the return. But was it worth it? Totally! Music ain't money, at least not for me🤣.

      • hot4euterpe
      • 5 days ago
      • Reported - view

        

      I think Noel is being modest! McGill's school of music is one of the top Canadian music programs. University music schools have minimum requirements for audition and applicants are competing for limited placement. Piano programs in particular have demanding audition requirements as it is a highly competitive instrument. Meeting the audition requirements does not ensure you are accepted and you often have to play a program that is more demanding to remain competitive for a seat.

      Unfortunately, many Canadian university music programs have experienced significant cuts to their programs in the last 10-15 years but McGill remains a leader.

      • Larry_K
      • 5 days ago
      • Reported - view

        I don’t doubt the difficulty of gaining admittance but Noel might have gotten in when the audition requirement was two gallons of maple syrup. :)

      This is my rather poor attempt at a Canadian joke.

      • Noel_Nguyen
      • 5 days ago
      • Reported - view

       Don't forget the caribou steak and the Crown Royal😄.

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