Happy Holidays!

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holidays, upcoming posts

Source: Pixabay. Public domain.

Wishing everyone peace and joy throughout this holiday season and beyond.

Coming soon:  guest posts from two readers about improvisation and motivating students!

Thank you so much for reading my blog.

And now… back to packing!

Too good!

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Class

Bravo in Barcelona.
Shutterstock image. Source: Pixabay.

A new blog post!  Surprising, I know.  Having a few days’ vacation time gives me an opportunity to catch up a little.

A most amazing thing happened in musical theater class a couple of weeks ago.  I’m so excited to have a chance to tell you all about it!

A student took her turn a few minutes into the class, singing “Almost There” by Randy Newman.

She had nailed “All That Jazz” by John Kander just the week before, so I was anticipating that this would also be wonderful.

As it happened, she was anxious about something. When she began to sing, I could barely hear her. I wanted to get into it and play, but my sound would have covered her voice.

Why was she nervous?

It could have been anything.

• Was she coming down with something?
• Was she unprepared?
• Was she working on one aspect of vocal production rather than performing the song?

What was going on?

She was worried about the high note at the end of the first phrase, so she held back out of fear that her voice might crack. This is a freshman class. The students are shy about making a fool of themselves in front of other people, even in class. (I’ve been there myself so many times! As a freshman, I was so nervous in my first voice jury that I forgot every word after the title of a slow song in English! I changed my major immediately.)

The professor, who is also her voice teacher, identified the problem and found a way to deal with it.  Among other things, she vocalized the student to a top note a third above the one she was concerned about.

And THEN…

On the fourth or fifth try, she knocked everyone out of their chair!  She was SO GOOD!!!  It was perfect.

Next:

The professor talked about how well the student had just performed, giving her kudos for her substantial progress this semester.  She talked about how gratifying it was to witness this as a teacher, saying, “If I had my shoes, I’d throw them!” ++

Huh?

She elaborated.  In the African-American tradition, when something is “too good,” audience members throw their shoes! *

And then the professor burst into tears.  It was so moving.

The student was in tears soon after.

And the class was speechless.

And that, for me, is what it’s all about.

++  Class is held in a studio with a dance floor.  Everyone takes off their shoes so the floor remains grit-free. If a dancer were to trip on grit, s/he could sprain, dislocate or break something, putting him or her out of the game for a long time.  So that’s why the professor didn’t have her shoes!

*  Both professor and student happen to be African-American.  After class, I shared with the professor that I worked in an African-American church in Brooklyn for quite a while, also performing in other venues with the music director, who is a wonderful singer. However, when things were “too good,” no one threw their shoes.  So where did that come from?  She said it’s a Southern thing.  People even throw their shoes in church!

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Quotations to inspire us all!

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Albert Einstein, All the Things You Are, Artur Schnabel, B.B. King, Beverly Sills, Jerome Kern, Let the Good Times Roll, Lucille, Martha Graham, photos, quotations, Winston Churchill

Inspiration is on the way!

Sometimes at the end of the semester, it’s difficult to find the energy to practice.  Who wants to learn notes, words, and fingerings after being sleep-deprived for so long?  Besides, didn’t we all just learn a ton of music?

Does this sound familiar?  I have felt this way many times.

Being consistent about practicing has its good points, though.  For one thing, it’s so hard to start over from nothing.

Hence the following.

*****

Quotations:

~ Winston Churchill

British Government – This is photograph HU 90973 from the collections of the Imperial War Museums.

When Winston Churchill was asked to cut arts funding in favour of the war effort, he simply replied “then what are we fighting for?”

*****

~ Martha Graham

Martha Graham mit Bertram Ross in Visionary recital, aufgenommen von Carl van Vechten am 27. Juni 1961. Source: Wikimedia. Public domain.

“We learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same. One becomes in some area an athlete of God.”

“Practice means to perform, over and over again in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired.”

*****

~ Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein, half-length portrait, seated, facing right Inscribed on mat: Mrs. Eugenie Meyer zum Andenken an ihren Besuch in Caput [i.e. Caputh] am 15.VIII.31. Albert Einstein. Source: Wikimedia. Public domain.

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”

“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”

*****

~ Beverly Sills

Beverly Sills sings “All The Things You Are” by Jerome Kern

“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.”

“You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don’t try.”

*****

~ B.B. King

“There are so many sounds I still want to make, so many things I haven’t yet done.”

*****

Or we could all try this!

~ Artur Schnabel

Artur Schnabel (* 17. April 1882 in Kunzendorf (Lipnik) bei Biala; † 15. August 1951 in Axenstein, Schweiz). Scan from Spemanns goldenes Buch der Musik. Stuttgart: W. Spemann , 1906. Source: Wikimedia.

“When a piece gets difficult, make faces.”

(My personal favorite!)

*****

And there you have it.  

What do you do for inspiration?

 

★ ☆.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.• ヅ★

 

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Goal-oriented Practice.  Now available at 50% off, only $10!

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Click on the link to see reviews, book intro, and table of contents!

Thank you!

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Why listen?

Honestly, I don’t get it.

I’ll preface this post with the caveat that I incurred a serious back injury several weeks ago, so I’ve had plenty of time to listen to the radio.

Earlier this week, I discovered how to stream WQXR on my phone.  What a find!

While living in New York, WQXR was my station for 18 years.  I loved it.

After moving away from the city, there was no access to WQXR other than via computer.  So I switched to the local station.

The difference in brain activity as indicated by a scan would no doubt be astounding.

Why do folks even bother to turn on their radios in order to be lulled into a coma?  Wouldn’t white noise do just as well?

These are some of my experiences with the local station:

• Constant campaigns for money, including announcements of upcoming campaign dates before their arrival, a week in advance;
• Airing less-than-the-best recordings, while the definitive recording of certain works sits on the shelf at the station;
• Negative responses to any requests, criticizing the effort;
• Mispronunciation of composers’, conductors’ and soloists’ names and compositional titles;
• A lack of curiosity about what’s out there, repeatedly playing The New World Symphony and Beethoven’s Fifth instead, as if Dvorak and Beethoven wrote no other music;
• A self-satisfied, self-congratulatory attitude on the part of the hosts and the station (i.e. We’re the best)… have you looked around lately?

So I’ve had it!  Last night, thinking I’d like to listen to jazz, I tuned in to the local station.  A fund-raiser was in full swing, again.  Where was the music?  I changed to WQXR and was delighted to hear two wonderful, eclectic programs.

Last night, two prog;ram hosts on WQXR talked about how they love looking for music they’ve never heard.  I’d like to say that they don’t stop there.  When they find a composition that is new to them, they don’t simply play the first recording they come across.  They find the best there is.  It’s refreshing!

No more comas for me!

Why listen?

Mi Addy: the back story

These are my new plates!

Since I haven’t driven for such a long time (since graduate school!), and since I now have a beautiful Fiat, I wanted to honor the experience with something special.

So I began daydreaming about names.

My VW bug was named Hansel, but just in my head.  No fancy plates.

This time around, a fond memory surfaced.  Several years ago, I lived in an apartment on Cabrini Blvd. in New York (near the Cloisters) with a single mother and her baby boy, Joseph.  We decided before I moved in that we would trade piano noise for baby noise.  I got a whole lot of nothing done during my 11 months there, because I played with him so much.  He was extremely cute, intelligent, and curious.  I witnessed him learning to walk!

He used to scratch things and listen to the sound.  The cushions, arms, and back of the couch; the end table, coffee table, lampshade and its base; and, most interesting to me, a tiny steel manufacturer’s tag on the corner of a filing cabinet!  The tag had raised dots and letters, so the surface was varied.

Joseph talked all the time, using his voice to experiment with sound.  When I would look him in the eye and repeat a string of sounds he had just made up, he would have an astonished look on his face, as if to say, “Oh!  Someone finally gets it!”

One day, he woke up ast 5:00 a.m. saying only one word, “Addy, addy, addy,” over and over.  He repeated it until he went to daycare at 8:30.  When he came home at 5:30, he was still saying it.  And that was the word of the day until he went to sleep around 10.

I rather liked it!

CT vanity plates can have up to seven characters, including one period.  “ADDY” seemed too plain.  “MY ADDY,” with 2 “Y’s,” looked too symmetrical.  So I went with “MI,” since I have an Italian car.

The CT DMV website has a page where you can try out your choice to see if it’s available.  So I tried it out, adding a variety of  backgrounds at the same time.  The plain background didn’t work for me.  I like lighthouses, so there you go.

In honor of Joseph and the Italians, here it is.

Now the old plates have to be mailed back to the CT DMV.  And the MA title?  I’m still waiting for the MA RMV (that’s the Registry, not the Department) to cash my check and send me the duplicate.  The deadline for sending it to the CT DMV was October 15th.  Fortunately, they use the date as a motivator.  There is no late fee.

 

 

David’s First Organ Lesson!

Tags

First lesson, Music, organ, pipe organ

David plays chimes with his feet!

David, age 6-1/2, came to church the Sunday before Easter with Joyce, his grandmother, who sings in the choir.  He was curious about everything.  During the sermon, he was sitting on his knees on the floor, near the choir.

Just before the final hymn, he appeared to my left, eyes on the pedals!  Although he didn’t make a sound, he was watching every move.

After the postlude, he was hanging around, so I asked him if he liked the organ.  He started talking, so I asked him if he would like to play it.  His eyes lit up.  He came over and stood next to the console.

I encouraged him to play different keys while I changed stops, so he could hear a lot of different sounds (high, low, loud, soft, flute, bigger-sounding oboe, etc.)  Then he tried the pedals.  I put on the oboe stop and sent it to the pedal, where he played a bass note.  His immediate reaction was, “Wow!  That sounds like a fog horn!”  Right on, David!

After that, he moved over to the high end of the keyboard.  I showed him how the chimes work.  The snapshot Joyce took with her phone shows his priceless facial expression when he played the “bells” with his feet.He’s very smart, and knows a lot about the organ already.  He knew what to call the instrument, that the sound comes from the pipes in back and not from the keyboards, that wind blows through the pipes to make the sound, and what pipes look like.

 

Come back soon, David!

English: Drawings of four types of pipe organ pipes: a, An open diapason; b, a stopped diapason; c, an oboe; and d, a trumpet — c and d being forms of reed-pipes. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Our little choir’s 1st success of the new season

Tags

choral singing, Church, church choir, Church service

Copyright 1978 Maranatha! Music, admin. by The Copyright Co.

Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord
Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord
And He shall lift you up, higher and higher,
And He shall lift you up.

Sources:
Celebration Hymnal  #622
Renew!  #188
Sing the Faith  #2131
Sing with Me  #201
Singing the New Testament  #230
The Faith We Sing  #2131
(as listed at Hymnary.org)

Background

Today was Kickoff Sunday at our church.  Some churches call it Homecoming Sunday, and there are many variations on the theme.  The designation denotes the first Sunday after Labor Day weekend, the beginning of school, the opening of church school, and the return of the choir.

Our “traditional” service began 1/2 hour earlier for the first time, which also moved choir rehearsal to 8:30 from 9:00.

Good morning!

When I arrived at 7:30 to practice, the chairs (a new experiment in lieu of pews) were in place for the parishioners.  The location of the choir was left for us to take care of.

The six people who sang today all arrived at 8:30!  Because of the earlier time, that could have presented a problem.

We welcomed Joyce, a new member who is trying out a new experience.

Logistics

We discussed where everyone would feel comfortable, moved a few chairs, moved the piano so we could all see each other, and had a terrific rehearsal!

The choir wanted to face the congregation throughout the service in order to lead the singing.  I couldn’t agree more!  Finding seats among the parishioners and then walking to the front for the anthem would have disrupted the flow of the service. 

Pam, a choir member, had suggested earlier in the week that we could spend less time rehearsing the hymns and more time looking ahead to the following week’s anthem.  She made a good point.  So today we warmed up on the sung response to a congregational reading.  That only took a minute or two, a good use of our time, as the congregation needed our leadership with the unfamiliar music.

The anthem

Our anthem was perfect for the offertory.  Written like a round, the choir sang the melody.  Sue, a soprano in the choir, handled the descant (essentially the 2nd entrance in the round) beautifully.

I came across this engaging piece while browsing through “The Faith We Sing,” an alternative to the standard hymnal.  Although I didn’t know it, I fell in love with it right away.  I was so happy when the choir had the same experience!

The congregation had a wonderful reaction to the choir’s singing today.

This piece, which can be done in many different ways, turned out to be a great way to begin the new season.  Any number of singers would be appropriate, the placement of the singers for the two parts of the round could be flexible, the number of repeats could be changed during the singing with no problem, and the keyboard part could either be played or omitted.

Compliments to the choir!

I am so proud of my little choir for their enthusiasm, wonderful suggestions, cooperation, and willingness to show up early!  The spirit of collaboration is wonderful, allowing everyone to feel a sense of ownership.

What’s next?

I can’t wait for next week!  We will be singing “Lead Me, Guide Me,” by Doris Akers, followed by “Over My Head,” an African-American spiritual arr. by John Bell, the next week.  “Over My Head” was suggested by a choir member last Spring. Thanks, Carolyn!

Bethel A.M.E. Church in Kirksville, Missouri, where Doris Akers first learned to sing and play Gospel music. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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A poem for collaborative pianists everywhere!

Tags

accompanist, poem

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The following poem was sent to me this morning by Elaine Broad Ginsberg (Lainee), conductor of the Hampshire College Chorus.

THE ACCOMPANIST

I've always worried about you-the man or woman

at the piano bench,

night after night receiving only such applause

as the singer allows: a warm hand please,

for my accompanist. At concerts,

as I watch your fingers on the keys,

and how swiftly, how excellently

you turn sheet music pages,

track the singer's notes, cover the singer's flaws,

I worry about whole lifetimes,

most lifetimes

lived in the shadows of reflected fame;

but then the singer's voice dies

and there are just your last piano notes,

not resentful at all,

carrying us to the end, into those heartfelt cheers

that spring up in little patches from a thrilled audience

like sudden wildflowers bobbing in a rain

of steady clapping. And I'm on my feet, also,

clapping and cheering for the singer, yes,

but, I think, partially likewise for you

half-turned toward us, balanced on your black bench,

modest, utterly well-rehearsed,

still playing the part you've made yours.

Dick Allen

Originally published in North Dakota Quarterly, 
Vol. 74, No. 3, 2007

Thank you, Mr. Allen! Thanks, Lainee!

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Happy Birthday, 4-year-old!

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4th birthday, blog

(Image source: Wikipedia)

My blog is 4 years old today!

Sounds like time to party.  Pass the cake!

I would like to offer my sincere thanks to all my readers, without whom this blog could not exist.  You are my inspiration!

Your comments are always welcome.  Please share your suggestions or topics you would like to see addressed here.

★ ☆.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.• ヅ★

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Does your practice time get results? If you are spinning your wheels, this book is for you.

“Goal-oriented Practice” is also available in print!

Goal-oriented Practice

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Review by pianist Robert W. Oliver

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Palm Sunday service: some thoughts

Tags

church choir, church music, church musician, Church service, Congregation, hymn playing

Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.  Fresco in the Parish Church at Zirl, Austria.  Photo credit:  Wikipedia.

Today is Palm Sunday.  Our church service went very well!

The congregational singing was inspiring, and the choir sounded enthusiastic when singing “Hosanna!”

I want to emphasize my belief that the most important elements of good hymn playing are:

• to find a good tempo for congregational singing, and then
• to maintain that steady tempo. 
  • the tempo may vary according to the text, but only rarely.
  • never insert a ritard just before a congregational or choir entrance.  Insert a breath instead.  Using a ritard will only slow down the tempo.

The congregation will respond with confident singing.

Additional important considerations are:

• to sing the hymn yourself:
  • in advance of the service, and
  • during the service.

In this way, you will:

• be breathing with the music and the text, and
• be breathing with the congregation as one group.

We are more inspiring when:

• we vary our playing
  • by changing stops from verse to verse
  • by responding to the text
  • by playing a descant on occasion
  • by playing some, but not all of the parts all the time
  • even by dropping out for one verse.

And the choir and congregation respond very well to all of this!

It is crucial for us to practice the hymns in advance so our musical decisions can come to fruition.  The sloppiness that comes from lack of preparation does not inspire good singing.

Ours is not a large congregation.  Nevertheless, the singing was accomplished as a group today.  The group sounded committed, confident, and expressive.  Mission accomplished!  No wimpy singing allowed.

Related post:

Creative hymn playing

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