When I published my time-traveling debut novel The Practice Room, I did a little time traveling of my own! I dedicated the book to all the piano teachers I’d ever studied with during the years I moved across the country for various journalism gigs.
And then I had great fun tracking these teachers down to tell them about my book. I reconnected with the fabulous Berklee Teacher Harvey Diamond in Boston, to Pittsburgh Jazz pianist Frank Cunimondo, to New York’s Rebecca Kane and Margie Balter, the irrepressible “piano teacher to the stars” in Los Angeles.
I’m gearing up to take more lessons and hone my craft in 2014, but in the meantime I’ve had the great fortune of running into Margie around here in Tinsel Town.
And I wanted to give Margie, who is also a gifted composer and a great performer, a shout out today because her original song, “Bluesie”, Track 3 from her solo piano CD, “MUSIC FROM MY HEART” will be featured on ABC’s hit show “Scandal” tonight at 10 pm!!! For more information about Margie and her music, check out her Web site at http://www.margiebalter.com
I was thrilled to catch up with Margie not too long ago at the Gibson Baldwin Showroom in Beverly Hills, where the first thing guests saw when they entered the room were a dazzling assortment of grand pianos, including one with a zebra print, one decked out in red white and blue and a third bejeweled in mirrors.<
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Many of Margie’s students as well as the great teacher herself performed on the magnificent pianos.
Margie Balter earned her nickname Piano Teacher to the Stars after teaching Oscar-winning actress Holly Hunter for her piano playing performance in the film, “The Piano.”
She’s also taught Tom Cruise, Sandra Bullock, Susan Sarandon, Kevin Spacey and the list goes on and on.
Margie’s also been very involved in Playing For Change, a foundation that shows and tells the universal power of and relation to music. For more information on that please check out..http://www.playingforchange.org/
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