The piano is one of the most versatile and best loved musical instruments. The piano can create the most intimate experience as well as the most flaming and flamboyant. It is at home in the privacy of our living rooms and in the grandest of our concert halls. Leopold Godowsky said, “The piano as a medium for expression is a whole world by itself.” and jazz musician, Thelonious Monk noted, “The piano ain’t got no wrong notes.” Almost every major Western composer from Mozart onward has played it, and the piano repertory is at the heart of Western classical professional performance. This course will explore the progression from classical to romantic to modern piano composition and discuss the ways in which the piano repertory has woven itself into the fabric of our lives.

Harriet Wetstone has a BA in Music Education from NYU and a PhD in Developmental Psychology from Yale. She is an avid amateur chamber musician and gardener. She is fascinated with the way music can impact us and interact with and enhance our functioning on many different levels.