Thoughts, doings, and guilty pleasures of a classical pianist.
Welcome to At the Other Keyboard, by Sharon Su (classical pianist and habitual procrastinator). I’m prone to fits of honest writing about the arts and telling Extremely Online versions of music history. Sometimes I get mildly famous for being moderately funny, which may not be a marker of my comic genius so much as it is a reflection of the low, low expectations that people have in terms of classical musicians having any sense of humor.
You may have seen me on Twitter or Instagram (@doodlyroses on both—I picked this dumb username as a teenager and I guess I’m stuck with it now). I’ve been profiled/interviewed/mentioned in the LA Times, SF Chronicle, VAN Magazine, and multiple podcasts and radio shows. I’ve also written popular articles here, on my blog, and for VAN Magazine. It’s also possible you have seen my social media posts in Time, BBC, the Washington Post, the Huffington Post, etc. because I’ve gone viral for the weirdest things and I don’t know how to make it stop.
This newsletter has multiple free and paid tiers; here’s a brief breakdown of how it works:
Free for all subscribers: any unscheduled writing.
Free for all subscribers: “Sharon’s Monthly Roundup,” a once-a-month newsletter, featuring:
a brief roundup of personal/professional updates
a selection of content from the weekly newsletter
If you’re already a free subscriber to this Substack, you’ll automatically be subscribed to the Monthly Roundup.
For Tier 1 paid subscribers at $5/month: a weekly newsletter, “Sharon’s Weekly Head Dump” featuring:
weekly updates on what I’m up to and news about upcoming projects long before they’re publicly announced
recommendations for books, interesting articles, music, movies, and TV shows
To subscribe: sign up for a monthly ($5/month) or yearly ($50/year) subscription
For Tier 2 paid subscribers at $10/month: a semi-weekly practice video, “Dispatches From the Imperfection Lab” featuring:
all of the above
a semi-weekly video of me playing music I’m working on
To subscribe: sign up for a Founding Member plan and subscribe at $120/year or higher
(The plan automatically says “360/year” but you can edit it to whatever number you want! Substack won’t let me add a monthly option for this tier, so if you have $10/month but not $120 all at once, email me and I’ll set up a monthly invoice thing with you.)
For Tier 3 paid subscribers at $20/month:
all of the above
a handwritten, personally addressed postcard, card, or letter once a month in your actual mailbox anywhere in the world
To subscribe: sign up for a Founding Member plan and subscribe at $240/year or higher (The plan automatically says “360/year” but you can edit it to whatever number you want! Substack won’t let me add a monthly option for this tier either, so if you have $20/month but not $240 all at once, email me and I’ll set up a monthly invoice thing with you.)
If you are a music student or classical music enthusiast on a budget, email me at substack [at] sharonsu [dot] com to get a free subscription.
Sign up now so you don’t miss anything.
In the meantime, tell your friends!
(The “At the Other Keyboard” refers to the fact that both pianos and computers have keyboards. Get it??? I’m so clever.)