Photo by Juliet Sunara
Does he plays piano with his feet? —”to be consistent with our logo I play a very short part of a Mozart Sonata with my feet–a note, or two.”
photo by Jeff FasanoA true rule breaker–my piano teacher Lucy Greene:
Lucy Greene cured me of tendinitis. I had developed tendinitis from playing incorrectly, that much I knew instinctively. I saw the physiotherapist doctor at Juilliard where I was an accompanist for the school. Ironically, a conductor from Juilliard suggested looking outside the school to the well known piano teacher, Lucy Greene. She taught from her home on West 84th and West End Ave, which was, coincidentally, the same building where Rachmaninoff had lived. She reminded me of the character who taught King George VI in the movie “The King’s Speech.” She said, “We are equals here—call me Lucy.”
She bailed me out of tendinitus.
I took scrupulous notes from Lucy and asked every question I could think of. She painstakingly brought me through the mechanics of playing. Which I understand perfectly well now.
I recall her saying that a well-known music school in the mid-west brought her out there because half of the piano students and some of the faculty had an arm in a sling from tendonitis.
I feel very fortunate to have had her tutelage. Without Lucy Greene, I would have never been able to continue playing.