P. W. -- the initials of Paula Wray McDonald, my wife, partner (and high-school girlfriend). But the two letters PW really stand for "Pianist's Wife." I am the pianist's wife, Hurrah Hurrah for the pianist's wife! Ah yes, it is a gruesome [glorious] life To be the pianist's wife. Wanda, Nela, Naomi -- that's a lineage. Helpmates, sounding boards, ghost writers, taskmasters, goads. Paula had lessons from Tracy Taub... Maxims and … [Read more...]
PW
One Hand
From the school's library I checked out again the copy of Messiaen's Le merle noir (The Blackbird) that I used last fall when I played the piece with Paula Robison. Since then, many markings were made in the piano part. I don't mark anything in the scores I use, but when I opened the music again there were all the things pianists write: dark circles drawn around printed dynamic markings, fingering, penciled-in lines showing correspondences … [Read more...]