12 JUN 2022 · In this livestream we will meet Dr. Fabio Menchetti and we will explore the different paths we can follow to become a professional pianist. A native of Lucca, Italy, Dr. Fabio Menchetti maintains an active international performance career. He concertizes in many Italian cities – Florence (Uffizi Library), Bologna (San Giacomo Festival), Lucca (Teatro del Giglio), La Spezia (Società dei Concerti), Parma (Casa della Musica), Torino (Unione Musicale) – as well as in Poland, France (Wurth Museum in Erstein) and also in Germany, where he gave a solo recital for the 2010 Liszt bicentenary celebrations in Bayreuth. He regularly performs in the US, giving recitals in several states such as Ohio (Cincinnati, Wooster) New York (National Opera Center, Houghton College, East Aurora, Eastman School of Music), New Hampshire (Dartmouth College), Florida and Kentucky (Thomas More University). He appeared as a soloist with Lucca String Orchestra, Boccherini Music School Orchestra, Puccini Conservatory Orchestra, Colmar National Music School Symphonic Orchestra, Houghton College Philharmonia, and CCM Wind Symphony.

8 JUN 2022 · In this live interview, we will have as a guest Dr. Robert Strauss and we will talk about what it takes to become a singer and start a career in the music world. Dr. Robert Strauss (DMA) has been praised for his sensitive, intelligent interpretation, his attention to musical and textual nuance, and his versatile tenor voice. Since returning to Western New York in 2004, Strauss has become increasingly in demand as a singer, teacher, conductor, and stage director. An avid recitalist, he has presented the programs Chamber Music of Benjamin Britten, Seasons in Song and The Recital That Dare Not Speak Its Name with Eastman School of Music faculty member Benton Hess. The recital, Inner Voices, featuring music for tenor and mezzo-soprano voices, premiered in North Carolina. He also regularly performs with his colleagues at the Fredonia School of Music. On the stage, he has sung Pedrillo in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Peter Quint (The Turn of the Screw), Jack Point (The Yeoman of the Guard), Archibald Craven (The Secret Garden), Dr. Caius (Falstaff) and minor roles in The Tender Land (Mr. Splinters), La traviata (Gastone), and Tosca (Spoletta), as well as Federico in L’amico Fritz, with the Centro Studi Italiani Opera Festival in Urbania, Italy. In February 2016, he sang Bastianello the Younger in the premiere of the orchestrated version of John Musto's Bastianello. His concert performances have included the tenor solos in Messiah, The Creation, St. Nicolas (Britten), Christmas Oratorio (Saint-Saens), The Christmas Story (Schütz), and the Requiems of Pinkham and Mozart. Strauss has also appeared as one of the tenor soloists in Rossini’s Messa di Gloria in the composer’s hometown of Pesaro. He has toured Italy performing opera scenes and arias from the standard Italian operatic literature with the Centro Studi Italiani Opera Festival. Having served on the voice faculty of the Fredonia School of Music since 2007, Strauss is also a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), serving on the Executive Board for the Central New York-Finger Lakes Chapter first as Auditions Chair starting in 2010, and currently as Vice-President. He holds degrees from SUNY Fredonia, UNC-Greensboro, and earned his Doctor of Musical Arts in Performance and Literature from West Virginia University. As a Senior Lecturer at the Fredonia School of Music, he teaches applied voice, is a Producer for the annual Hillman Opera, and runs the Honors Solo Vocal Camp for high school singers.

25 MAY 2022 · Today we will have as a guest Sam Reti, CEO and founder of Muzie.live. It all started from a college project where Sam and his dad began creating their first software together "I Want to Practice", essentially a practice app for musicians. Sam was awarded the Achievement Scholarship for his innovation and dedication to the father and son’s duo’s first project together. After graduating from Berklee, Sam spent his time teaching guitar and continued building innovative tools in music technology with his father. In 2019, they started working on Muzie.Live, an all in one virtual music studio for online music lessons and hybrid learning. Today, Muzie.Live continuously leads the industry in innovation to improve virtual learning and enhance music education. With just over two years since the official launch, Muzie.Live has grown to over 40 countries globally and hosts thousands of lessons per week. Here the link to muzie.live: https://www.muzie.live/

8 MAY 2022 · In this Live Show on Webpiano Academy we will have as a guest speaker Brocha Kaham. Having Had Over 8 Years Of Experience As A Piano Teacher, Brocha Is Passionate About Making Piano Playing Fun. With Her Clear Teaching Style, Warm Personality And Innovative Approach You're Bound To Have A Good Time! Brocha is also specialized in coaching music teachers and creatives on the social media platforms. For more information about Brocha and her work as a social media coach for music teachers and creatives, check out her website at: www.https://pianoaccelerator.com/optin1605795629493

8 MAY 2022 · Kristine Musgrove is currently a Music Education Ph.D. Candidate at Western University where her research focuses on pedagogy employed in secondary instrumental ensembles. She holds a Master’s Degree in Music Education from Florida International University in Miami, Florida and a Bachelor of Music from Stetson University in Deland, Florida. Kristine has experience teaching Percussion (i.e., marching band, concert band, orchestra, percussion ensemble, percussion methods, private lessons) to all ages in a variety of contexts. Before attending Western University, Kristine was employed as a Middle School Choir teacher in Berkeley County, West Virginia who also taught Intermediate School Beginner Band for fourth and fifth graders. Prior to that, Kristine taught Concert Band, Orchestra, Guitar, Music Theory, and Percussion at the secondary level in South Florida. Kristina's Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/AppleGroveMusic Original Live Stream available on https://youtube.com/c/webpianoacademy

8 MAY 2022 · In this Livestream, we will have a conversation with Dr. Tiffany Nicely about African Drummings. Tiffany Nicely holds a bachelors in Percussion Perfomance and Theory/Composition from the University of New Mexico, a masters in Composition and Music Theory from SUNY Buffalo, and recently earned her PhD in Music Theory from SUNY Buffalo. In addition, Nicely has studied traditional percussion in Brazil, Mexico, Guinea, and Ghana. As well as teaching music theory, world music, and studio percussion, Nicely directs the World Mallets Ensemble and African Drumming Ensemble at SUNY Fredonia. She is also a frequent performer of traditional percussion across Western New York. --

8 MAY 2022 · In this Livestream episode, we will talk to Dr. Sean Davis (Ph.D.) about the different ways we can teach/learn music theory. With his YouTube channel, @drseansays, he has tried to reach a wider audience for the fascinating world of music analysis. How do you read music? What does it mean when someone says "major" or "minor"? How do we know what music means? Dr. Sean Davis has Ph.D. in Music Theory from the Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University! He also teaches Music Theory and other music classes at West Chester University and Temple University. Such great mysteries, forever clouded to us, right? No! Not with a little help from Dr. Sean! Check out Dr. Sean Davis' channel at: https://www.youtube.com/c/DrSeansays/

8 MAY 2022 · In this open conversation live with Michael Serio we will talk about how to apply the Alexander Technique to improve our piano performance. Pianist Michael Serio, a Buffalo native, performs regularly as a soloist and as a collaborative pianist throughout Western New York. As an adjunct faculty member at UB, he enjoys supporting the budding careers of music performance students through accompanying voice lessons, recitals, juries and through performance coaching. Michael is a certified Alexander Technique teacher who offers workshops to performing artists. He is the Music Director at Unity Church of Buffalo. He is an active yoga enthusiast and volunteer for the Isha Foundation founded by Sadhguru. He is Ethics Committee co-chair of Alexander Technique International (ATI) and on the board of the Chromatic Club of Buffalo. Here are some links: Here is an article about the Alexander Technique: https://www.amazon.com/Alexander-Technique-Musicians-Kingfisher-Readers/dp/1408174588 This is a video that describes the exercise that I encourage people to do as a way of learning how to let go of unnecessary tension: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcaHJNfHNUQ&t=2s Lying down awareness exercise https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcaHJNfHNUQ&t=2s Here are a set of videos designed for musicians https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOlHK5rhnP88GbyLyOTuIoxt55pLvPXMR This is a recent Ted talk that has some good information about posture https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LD0_2gKZZY This yoga and meditation practice, very helpful in raising the ability to focus and perform at a higher level: https://www.innerengineering.com/online Here is a book about the Alexander Technique published by the Royal Academy of music in London: https://www.amazon.com/Alexander-Technique-Musicians-Kingfisher-Readers/dp/1408174588 About Michael Serio: https://arts-sciences.buffalo.edu/music/faculty/faculty-directory.host.html/content/shared/arts-sciences/music/new-faculty-profiles/serio-michael.html

8 MAY 2022 · In this Live Show on Webpiano Academy we will have as a guest speaker Dr. Martin Weir. Dr. Martin Weir has enjoyed teaching and performing percussion for over 35 years. He currently resides in the Buffalo area with his wife and two children. Dr. Weir has performed locally including commissioned pieces, his own solo concert, and with the Buffalo Philharmonic. As a teacher he has his own private studio and teaches private and group classes at the Buffalo Community Music School. He has taught music from kindergarten through the collegiate level, including Asbury College, Transylvania University, and Eastern Kentucky University, and as a clinician nationally. He studied at Northern Kentucky University, Berklee College of Music, Miami University, and the University of Kentucky. For more information about Dr. Weir, check out his website at: http://www.drumweir.com/

8 MAY 2022 · In this episode, we will have a conversation with Dimitar Pentchev, composer | pianist | writer | producer | multimedia artist. Dimitar Pentchev is a Canadian-based musician and producer. He has been a professional composer for theatre and film since 1996. He has worked as a composer and music director with theatre companies in his native Bulgaria, in the USA, and as a theatre composer in the UK at the Bristol Shakespeare Festival. He wrote original music and played Snug in the Bristol Touring Shakespeare’s production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, which was performed in front of almost 4,000 people for a fortnight in July 2005. Dimitar’s interests in music though are not confined only to the theatre. He gave his first piano recital at the age of 12 and since then has performed over 30 different recital programs in Bulgaria, Ukraine, Greece, Czech Republic, USA, and the UK. He is still active as a pianist, collaborator, and chamber musician. In 2006 Dimitar was commissioned to write a full score for the 1929 legendary film “Pandora’s Box”, starring Louise Brooks, dir. G.W. Pabst, which was performed then live at the “Silent Sisters” festival in Dallas, Texas. There have been many attempts to score this film classical film but after hearing Mr. Pentchev’s score, Barry Paris, biographer of Louise Brooks called it “the definitive score” for the movie. Since then Dimitar has scored another feature silent film – “Lucky Star” (1929), starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell, for a private collection in the USA and the most recent film project has been the documentary “Olive Thomas: Everybody’s Sweetheart” (2003), which was realized by Timeline Films, USA and financed by Hugh Hefner. Between 1999 and 2002 Dimitar studied and worked in the USA. During that period he has been invited to write original music for three consecutive editions of “Shakespeare Festival of Dallas”, the second oldest festival in the US. These projects involved working as a part of a professional team with high-school students from different areas of Dallas, some of the kids really coming from deprived areas of the city. That in no way though compromised the exceptionally high standard of the performances that the company (“Junior Players”) has been reaching year after year. Mr. Pentchev, together with director Matt Tomlanovich, through hard work and patience, were managing to put on excellent shows, equally high valued by audiences and critics. During the same period, Dimitar was working as a music teacher in a private school nearby Dallas, and in this capacity, he soon started to “specialize” in teaching children with behavioral problems, children with special needs, etc. Currently, Mr. Pentchev is working on a number of projects, ranging from original music for a parody horror movie, through an ethnomusicological project aimed at preserving Bulgarian folk music, to preparing music for a Christmas family show, together with Forest Forge Theatre Company in England. He is also actively composing classical and Electroacoustic music. Throughout his career as a composer, Dimitar Pentchev has won some prestigious awards – twice nominated for the most prestigious Theatre award in Bulgaria – A’Askeer – he won the award on his second nomination in 1999. In the same year Radio “Tempo”, Bulgaria gave him a Special Prize – for best original music for a Bulgarian play (“Epic Times”). In September 2001 in vigorous competition with fellow composers, he won First Prize at the 4th Russell Horn Young Composers Competition. The critics praised the successful fusion between American Jazz and Bulgarian folk elements in his winning piece “Conversations for Violin and Piano”. http://soundconvincer.com/ https://www.impressions-of-light.net/about-me/ For lessons: https://quassica.com/faculty/