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With cancelled gigs and the disappearance of live performances due of Covid-19, why are we still having performance anxiety dreams? Franny and Jeannette discuss the underlying anxieties for these recital nightmares. Note: We actually recorded this awhile ago, when the … Continued

The first of our listening series, in which we report with recordings we’ve been recently enjoying in hopes that you’ll share in the fun Max Richter: Vivaldi Recomposed: Daniel HopeKonzerthaus Kammerorchester BerlinAndré de RidderInt. Release 28 Apr. 2014 https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/us/cat/4792777 Liszt-Horowitz: Hungarian Rhapsody No.2

In this edition of our holiday episode, Jeannette quizzes Francis on weird Holiday facts, like the real meaning of We Wish You a Merry Christmas, how much it would cost to put on the 12 Days of Christmas, who invented … Continued

Fresh from his time at Juilliard, Francis and Jeannette take the opportunity to talk about both their experiences of having studied there.

So so sorry for the ridiculously long break! But we’re back, and we’ve got various news items to report as we catchup over the last year.

Jeannette sits down with pianist and pedagogue Stijn De Cock for a conversation on teaching, work/life balance, and much more. Stijn teaches at Florida State University, and is the founding director of the Brancaleoni International Music Festival. He will be performing the complete Brahms Sonatas for violin and piano at Garth Newel Music Center on April 13 with violinist Shannon Thomas.

Jeannette interviews Francis on Rhetoric in Music for a look into the origins and philosophies of it in historical performance, and how musicians today can apply it to their own performances.

Happy Holidays everyone! We hope you all had a relatively stress-free gigging season and your travels went without snafu. For this special holiday episode, we find out about a whole bunch of weird facts about Christmas Carols, Bach, and Christmas foods.

Who likes to talk about money? No one. Especially musicians. Ew. Gross. So low. Don’t sully yourself with this dirty money talk. Leave that to Franny and Jeannette in this episode. Except, they just think that everyone should be more open about this topic. Listen on for the reasons why, how to navigate the freelance world, how to overcome the psychological hurdles preventing you from charging what you’re really worth, worst gigs, and much more.    

We continue our conversation on teaching piano, getting into topics of favoritism, drawing boundaries, and their latest obsessions. For the cardboard creations that are mentioned, go to Jeannette’s facebook or instagram

Whats makes a good piano teacher? Franny talks with Jeannette about growing up as the daughter of NJ’s piano nazi, their teaching philosophies, influential teachers of their lives, and bushels more.

In which we talk about our summers at various music festivals, being at Garth Newel, and give belated thanks and replies to our listeners. Special thanks to Shi-An Costello, who left us our very first review! Thanks for listening!

We continue our conversation with the fascinating Aisslinn Nosky with part 2 of our interview, romping through tuningland, conductor-less orchestras, how to talk to your keyboardist, and of course, stupid questions!

Franny and I interview the brilliant Aisslinn Nosky, the baroque violinist extraordinaire whose electrifying performances get everyone buzzing. She has coming to Garth Newel Music Center for the past three summers to lead our Emerging Artist Fellows in a baroque ensemble performance, and quickly has made the event one of our most popular concerts. She has also become an instant friend, with her lovely down to earth personality and her quick-witted commentary. You’ll definitely enjoy these interviews!

Francis sits down to talk with harpsichordist/conductor Richard Egarr! They talk about the harpsichord sound, creating dynamics on the instrument, and thoughts on continuo playing. And he only says f*ck once…(maybe it’s twice) To find out more about Richard Egarr, visit his artist page on Intermusica 

Ok, so we’ve been REALLY wanting to do an episode about BEING ASIAN in music. But every time we recorded something about this topic, we hated how tiresome and preachy we got. This is actually an episode we did awhile ago, but while there were some cringe-y moments in revisiting it, we thought it was important to have the conversation and approach ways to dispel the stereotypes we often face as asian Americans studying classical music. Have comments or want to join in? Leave us your thoughts here, or on Facebook   

Our piano tech series continues with Harry Doss, piano technician at Virginia Tech, and also the guy who also makes the 2 hour trek to Garth Newel Music Center before every concert weekend to make our pianos sound concert worthy. Our conversation contains such tidbits as “how to talk to your piano technician” and “how to avoid destroying your piano”. It was great to get the chance to talk with Harry, whom I usually only have brief business chats with when he comes. Through doing this, I’ve realized that we pianists could all benefit from talking more to our piano technicians. They have a lot to say that could be quite useful!    

Jeannette sits down with composer, teacher, and music observer Garrett Schumann. Garrett is someone who’s constantly thinking about music and its place in society and culture, and conversation with him is always interesting and thought provoking as a result. They talk about things like composition as therapy, creations that take on a life of their own, new methods of marketing, Taylor Swift, Meshuggah, and much much more. Check out Garrett’s work at http://www.garrettschumann.com, follow him on twitter at: @garrt, and have a look at his new music ensemble: http://aepexcontemporary.org (this picture has nothing to do with composition, music, or keyboards, but I liked it for Garrett, and as his friend, I kindly did not ask for his permission and just went through his pictures on Facebook like a creep until I saw one that made me LOLLLLLLLLL. hopefully he won’t yell at me).

Here’s the second part of the interview Francis did with musician, writer, actor, and activist Shi An! They talk about the intricacies of the composer/performer relationship. Remember to check out Shi An’s album, Rounded Binary!

Francis interviews fabulous pianist, composer, writer, and activist Shi An! We talk about the importance of names, how we feel about the canon, and performance. You’ll find out much more about Shi An in the second part of our interview (coming soon!) but in the meantime check out his new album, Rounded Binary, available to purchase soon