Musician, pianist, and educator Guy Duckworth and three of his young students at Northwestern--Darrah Cloud, David Greenberg, and Scott MacMillan--discuss teaching and learning piano. Part 1 of 2.

Dr. Guy Duckworth and his students sing and play, "America." Duckworth talks about the importance of knowing how to learn to play the piano. The 11-year-old students first play a plain or harmonic version of "America', followed by other versions with more chords that add variety to "America."

Author and pianist Russell Sherman discusses his book “Piano Pieces” and the philosophical concepts associated with listening to and playing music. Sherman plays a selection of compositions in the studio.

Foldi is also the director of the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists, the professional artist development program of the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Frederick Ritter, professor, preforms musical numbers from Austria. He also discusses the history of baroque theater and Volk's Theatre, along with Viennese culture. He is joined by Sabine Roupp, Joseph Gardner and David Miller on piano during the performances. Ritter also compares Bertolt Brecht with earlier writers, Johann Nestroy and Ferdinand Raimund. Selected pieces includes works by Mozart and Ferdinand Raymond and Johann Nestroy.