What does classically trained pianist mean

I would take my seat at the piano and my teacher, a middle-aged man with a strong build and his white dress shirt tucked tightly into his jeans, belt fastened around his waist, would begin to pace along the front pew. I was on stage. And almost as soon as my fingers would press down on the keys and the first chord rang throughout the hall, he would shout, "Slower, slower. On the days my pieces were not polished and prepared, he would grab a pencil from his leather briefcase and write little reminders on my sheet music: Legato here.

A, G, E flat. On the days my pieces were a mess, he would take that same pencil and really dig into the music. Every note was bolded, underlined, and circled aggressively. And on the days my pieces had clearly remained untouched, my fingers not yet acquainted with the keys, he would reach for that same leather briefcase, pull out a red colored pencil, and retrace all of his notes again in blood.

I studied classical piano up until I was 18 years old. By the time I graduated from high school, I had a repertoire of music that I could audition with to become a music major, or even land a music scholarship. For a short stint, I continued on to study piano performance for a semester in college, as well as another tangential career paths like music production, but none of them fully resonated.

I loved music, but I had always had an affair with words. In many ways, I think of my years playing the piano as foundational not just for my writing, but everything I have done since. Practicing a musical instrument is an extremely intimate act. You hear musicians talk about their violins, for example, as if they are their child. I can say with confidence that whenever I go back to my parents' house and my fingers touch the naked keys of our grand piano, I feel as though I am stripping myself bare.

Once you've learned how to play, and play well, a single note is as revealing and vulnerable as your deepest, darkest secret. Just like everyone else, I struggled in the beginning. When I was young, my fingers would hurt from trying to reach for chords too big for my hands. I despised my scales, and would avoid them by any means necessary. I hated learning new pieces, relying more on my ear than my eyes and the notes on the page in front of me. Chopin was hard. Bach was hard.

Later applications of aural skills involve singing complex melodies by sight, even ones without a tonal center atonal music or performing complex polyrhythms. I think of music theory as the rules that govern how music is structured, and aural skills are the application of those rules in performance. While there is no formal definition of classical training that requires a collegiate degree, I consider it quite rare to find a classically-trained musician who has not attained a music degree.

For example, many high school seniors take A. But this is really just the cusp of the music training that one would experience in a conservatory or university. However, there are certainly exceptions.

A violinist or pianist who has been studying with world-class musicians since toddlerhood could certainly be considered classically-trained. One of my best high school students was certainly in this position. She won state and national competitions in flute and piano, studied music her entire life, and ultimately went on to serve in the medical field. Did she have a music degree?

No, but she certainly had the same qualifications regardless of an academic degree. Forgive me for going into detail of what it means to be classically-trained and then saving this juicy conclusion for the end.

So are all of your colleagues. No one cares, because that is a very base threshold. So are all of your peers. But who the heck cares? Too many mistakes. Thanks a lot for the note… Apologies for that, we will be paying more attention to the grammatical quality of articles on Dotted! It appears that Ms. I teach acoustic acoustic and electric guitar in a formal setting, and my students learn some very specific skills, but the music is Folk, Blues, and Jazz, not Classical.

There are formal schools of classical Japanese music, Chinese music, Indian music, etc. She also seems to equate sight reading with the study of music theory. They are not the same thing. European Classical music is one such perspective, but there are others of equal value. It is only natural that technique specifically designed to support the requirements of Pop music styles have begun to evolve and the differences between Classical and Contemporary are finally being realized and understood.

I hope you find my answers to be encouraging and supportive. Have a positive month and sing one for me! How can I join the classic music house? Search for:. Image Credit: Doug at Flickr. Image Credit: Gord Bell at Flickr. Comments thomsmit.