April 2024
This month we are practicing our feedback skills before our performance workshop. If you are Level One or higher please challenge yourselves to write specific comments on your feedback sheet. Find things you like about Paige’s performance and things she can work on. We do this ALL THE TIME in lessons. You’re getting quite good at it! Some examples of comments you might write are:
- Sometimes your beat was steady
- Practicing with the metronome might help
- Look at the audience and smile before and after bowing
- Great contrasts in dynamics
- Remember to do a cat back at the end
Smiley faces are fine for students in MFPA or Primer levels. đ
March 2024
American pianist and composer, George Gershwin (1898-1937) loved to learn. His parents bought a piano for his older brother, Ira. George ended up using it more! His parents enrolled him in piano lessons with Charles Hambitzer. Later in life he moved to Paris because he wanted to study composition with prestigious teacher, Nadia Boulanger. She wouldn’t take him as a student because she didn’t want to ruin his unique jazz style with a lot of classical influence. He tried to take composition lessons with famous composer, Maurice Ravel, but he said, “Why become a second-rate Ravel when you’re already a first-rate Gershwin?” In fact, Ravel admired George’s jazz rhythms and incorporated them into some of his piano pieces! George Gershwin was a life-long learner and wanted to study composition with many different musicians.
The first job he had was composing tunes for piano rolls used in player pianos. You could put a piano roll into the instrument and it would play tunes for you, kind of like pre-recorded songs on a digital keyboard. He didn’t earn very much. He started accompanying singers and Broadway shows.
Later he teamed up with his brother, Ira, to write songs. First George would sit down at the piano and improvise til he composed a tune. He had a habit of writing down melodies and “song sketches” in a notebook. (That’s what we do: improvise and collect ideas we can use for our compositions in our piano binders!) Later his brother would come up with lyrics or words that fit the music. Many of the songs they composed were used in Broadway productions. George and Ira, along with DuBose Heyward composed a jazz opera called “Porgy & Bess”. It wasn’t a big money maker for them but today the work is considered a classic!
“Rhapsody in Blue” might be George Gershwin’s most-beloved composition. It blends lush classical sounds with playful and innovative jazz harmonies and rhythms. George wrote:
Jazz, they said, had to be in strict time. It had to cling to dance rhythms. I resolved, if possible, to kill that misconception with one sturdy blow… No set plan was in my mind, no structure to which my music would conform. The Rhapsody, you see, began as a purpose, not a plan.
When you listen to pianist, Lang Lang and the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden perform “Rhapsody in Blue,” you will see how George Gershwin achieved his goal, playing with the tempo!
*Britannica.com & Wikipedia.com
February 2024
Oscar Peterson (1925-2007) was a Canadian jazz pianist. His father started to teach him to play piano and trumpet when he was five years old. When he was seven Oscar got tuberculosis which really weakened his lungs. He decided to focus on piano instead. His sister, Daisy, taught him to play classical music and helped shape his technique (skill). He practiced scales, etudes, and even some of J.S. Bachâs compositions. Sometimes he would practice four to six hours a day! He really admired jazz pianist, Art Tatum. He was so impressed by his playing that he actually quit piano for a few weeks because he thought he just could never compare with Tatum. Thankfully he loved music too much to stop playing.
As an adult Oscar Peterson would record lots of albums with jazz trumpeters. He formed his own jazz trio (piano, bass, guitar or drums). He gave concerts and toured around the world playing jazz music. He won eight Grammy Awards. Another famous jazz pianist, Duke Ellington called Oscar, âthe Maharaja of the keyboardâ which was quite a compliment!
Sadly, in 1993 Oscar Peterson suffered a stroke which made walking and playing with his left hand quite difficult. With effort and persistence, he was able to regain some control of his left hand and continued to share his music with others. His fans loved him so much. Bob Rae, an important Canadian politician and pianist, said, âA one-handed Oscar was better than just about anyone with two hands.â
âHymn to Freedomâ is one of Oscar Petersonâs own original compositions. Youâll notice the influence his sister had on his technique. Check out those firm fingertips and rounded hand shape! He can play very skillfully because he practiced so much. At minute mark 4:52 he starts to play the melody and chords differently, rolling them as a tremolo. After a while the drummer decides to imitate Oscar and does a drum roll!đ
Extra Credit: Want to listen in on a short âpiano lessonâ with Oscar Peterson? Click this link.
*Britannica.com & Wikipedia.com
January 2024
Piano Sonata in D Major Hob. XVI 24 – Allegro
Don’t panic when you see the video is nearly an hour long. Our listening log assignment is only the first 5 minutes and 11 seconds. You can certainly listen to his entire recital if you have time.
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), Austrian composer, left his home at age 6 to study various musical instruments with his cousin and sing in his church choir. He rarely saw his parents. When he was eight he joined a prestigious church choir and school in the capital and sang with them until his voice changed. At that point they kicked him out. As a young adult Haydn started studying music theory and composing string quartets and symphonies. Ferdinand Maximilian von Morzin and the Esterhazy family hired him to composed music, direct musical ensembles, operas and more. Later in life, he composed several symphonies for Johann Peter Salomon in England. Haydn traveled to London twice and gave concerts of his compositions, conducting the orchestra. Franz Joseph Haydn spent some time with Mozart and Beethoven and had an influence on both of them.
Franz Joseph Haydn loved surprises. His music is full of them. You will recall his Surprise Symphony where he lulls everyone to sleep only to wake them all up with a random loud chord! Pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet brings this piece to life with his creativity, skill and remarkable artistry.
December 2023
Silent Night is one of the most beloved Christmas carols. In Salzburg, Austria in 1818, a priest was preparing for the Christmas Eve service when he discovered that the organ had been damaged by mice. That was a big problem because they wanted to use the organ to accompany singing at the service. The priest, Joseph Mohr, asked a local guitarist, Franz Gruber, to write a melody to go with his Christmas poem and to play that night. “Silent Night” was composed thanks to some destructive rodents.
This arrangement was made by Seo and is performed by pianist, Sun Pil Kim and clarinetist, Jieun Lee. While I might prefer a little more dynamic contrast and drama, their interpretation is really nice. It feels relaxed and is calming, just what you’d expect from “Silent Night”.
Turn the lights off and listen to it again.
November 2023
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
This month we are practicing our feedback skills before our performance workshop. If you are Level One or higher please challenge yourselves to write specific comments on your feedback sheet. Find things you like about Mary’s performance and things she can work on. We do this ALL THE TIME in lessons. You’re getting quite good at it! Some examples of comments you might write are:
- Sometimes your beat was steady
- Look at the audience and smile before and after bowing
- Great contrasts in dynamics
- Remember to do a cat back at the end
Smiley faces are fine for students in MFPA or Primer levels. đ
October 2023
Dr. Jason Sifford is an American pianist and composer. He was born in 1972 in Missouri. From an early age he enjoyed putting his own spin on his assigned piano pieces. He played mallet percussion in his high school band and created jazz pieces with his friends for fun. He became a professor of music at Texa Tech University and later moved to Iowa City where he plays piano music for the Hawkeyes Dance Department at the University of Iowa.
Dr. Sifford has been writing music for nearly thirty years. His pedagogical piano works are extremely popular.
In the second phrase (musical sentence) of his composition, “Darkness Falls” Sifford uses a musical echo, where a motive is played loudly and is repeated softly. The piece is in ABA form and includes a brief coda (ending). As you listen ask yourself, “When does the B section begin?” “When does the A section return?”
Pianist and independent music teacher, Alison Morris, does a beautiful job shaping the phrases. I hope you enjoy her performance!
September 2023
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827, Germany) is well known for his epic symphonies, concertos, string quartets and piano music. We’ll be listening to one of his most popular piano works this month, “FĂźr Elise”.
You probably already know that Beethoven gradually became deaf as an adult. This was very embarrassing for him as he was an incredible musician and composer. He did the best he could to communicate with others, asking them to write messages in his notebook so he could understand them. As you can imagine he preferred to be alone in his later years to save himself the humiliation. Yet, he still managed to compose by hearing and imagining music in his mind. That’s called audiation. He didn’t let personal obstacles stop him from sharing his gift with the world.
Several of you are learning to play the A section of “FĂźr Elise”. Normally I only post one video for these assignments, but his time I want you to listen to three different recordings of this piece. I promise I won’t make a habit of this! đ
FĂźr Elise – as performed by Dr. Alan Huckleberry
FĂźr Elise – as performed by Lang Lang
FĂźr Elise – as performed by Claudio Arrau
As you listen ask yourself:
- What do I like about each interpretation?
- What would I do differently?
- How do the recordings compare and contrast from each other? (How are they different and in what ways are they similar?)