We recently connected with Kathy Parsons and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Kathy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

I am the owner of MainlyPiano.com, a review and interview website that revolves “mainly” around the piano and people who play and compose music for it. I also proof-read a lot of sheet music for piano. How I got here is kind of unusual, but it involved a lot of different influences and experiences. My “mission” is to give some of the lesser-known artists more exposure and to get more people to love piano music. I also hope to expose more people to artists whose music doesn’t fit neatly into one category, as they are some of the most creative people around and are often lost in the shuffle of more commercial music. I love what I do and find it extremely rewarding.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Growing up in Oakland, CA, the main inspirations and driving forces in my life were music, art (drawing and painting, mostly) and writing, I took piano lessons for a lot of years, but decided to focus on my artwork once I got into high school and graduated from The California College of Arts and Crafts with a BFA degree. I majored in art mostly because I hated performing and didn’t feel drawn to compose music. I found that I really missed the piano, though, and bought one as soon as I was able to. I played every free moment I had and made the decision to start teaching piano lessons at the age of 29.

After a few years, I decided it would be fun to start a monthly newsletter for my students that would include a lot of music trivia and would feature a Composer of the Month story. At about that same time (the later-80s), the so-called “new age” piano music started to be published in sheet music form, and I made it part of my teaching repertoire as a bridge between pop and classical music. Students loved the music, and I started corresponding with some of the artists, sending them the newsletter and eventually doing workshops where students played a composer’s music and then the composer critiqued the performance and did a mini-concert. I also interviewed a lot of them for the Composer Of the Month spots in my newsletter (“Pianotes”). Doing the newsletter has been one of the best decisions I’ve made. It is currently on MainlyPiano.com, is free, and I’ll be doing issue #500 in November 2024!

As time went on, I was corresponding with a lot of composers and became friends with many. In the later 1990s, I was approached to become a writer for a new print magazine called “Wind and Wire.” I did that for a few years, and then it ceased publication. At the same time, I was approached by SoloPianoPublications.com to write reviews and interviews for that site. That lasted about eight years.

In 2007, I moved to the Oregon Coast. In addition to teaching, I found that quite a number of pianist/composers were interested in performing house concerts, so I started hosting them. Most of those were piano, but we also had quite a few guitarists, and even a Tango group from Eugene! I was hosting the concerts at least once a month, so it was a busy time.

When my time at SoloPianoPublications.com ended, I decided to go it on my own and set up MainlyPiano.com in 2008. We currently have almost 4000 reviews of albums, songbooks and “other stuff,” almost 300 interviews with artists, and a roster of over 1200 artists. It’s been quite a ride and a real joy. It is also a very active website, and it keeps me really busy!

I taught piano for 40 years, but retired when Covid broke out since I couldn’t figure out how to do it safely in person and none of my students at the time wanted to do lessons online. It’s given me a lot more time for reviewing and interviews, so I’ll keep the momentum going for as long as I can.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

With teaching piano, it was all word-of-mouth. I usually had a waiting list and taught as many as 45 students a week. With building relationships with artists, the newsletter and interviewing various artists made very strong connections that led to many of the house concerts and strong relationships. With reviewing, I always try to find the positives in someone’s work. I think that’s a distinction between being a reviewer and being a critic. I don’t have to be crazy about something to find something positive to say about it. I also deliver when I say I will.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Referrals from other artists and reviewers as well as promoters.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mainlypiano.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kathypiano

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