I was looking for some record that Chopin supported the idea of never playing the same piece twice. Perhaps there is a source other than Vladimir Horowitz's obituary. Fascinating!
...
Mr. Horowitz was not overly worried by accusations of textual infidelity. "When I sit at
the keyboard," he said, "I never know how I will play something [missing text]. The head,
the intellect, is only the controlling factor of music making. It is not a guide. The guide
is your feelings. Chopin never played his own pieces the same way twice."
At another time Mr. Horowitz said: "I am a 19th-century Romantic. I am the last. I take
terrible risks. Because my playing is very clear, when I make a mistake, you hear it. But
the score is not a bible, and I am never afraid to dare. The music is behind those dots.
You search for it, and that is what I mean by the grand manner. I play, so to speak, from
the other side of the score, looking back."
Recently a parent contacted me about teaching her daughter to play by chords in order to accompany herself while singing. I was excited to get back to this parent to say, yes, I would be delighted to teach that. Playing by chords really enhances a vocalist's performing ability and versatility, not to mention pure enjoyment. For one thing, the ability to transpose an accompaniment to your vocal range in a matter of minutes. Also, how it accelerates learning any music- useful for anyone!
Many musicians will tell you accompanying a singer is a labor of sheer love - a lot of love. Honestly I believe being an accompanist for a singer is one of the most harrowing jobs of an instrumentalist. Not so when a vocalist accompanies himself. And not so much when a vocalist is also a proficient instrumentalist. The latter person is the best equipped to be a vocalist's accompanist.
As I talk to prospective students and their parents, I think more about
explaining why I teach playing by chords and ear, not just by note reading
like most teachers, and how remarkably effective this teaching method
is - after all, it's old as Bach. More on this next time....
Like Chopin, never play it the same way twice. This article from Bulletproof Musician is fabulous. The popular posts on the right side bar look great as well.
A trio of researchers (including conductor Timothy Russell) ran a study
to see if a more mindful approach to performance would be a) more
engaging and enjoyable to the musicians, and b) preferable (and
noticeable) to listeners as well.
To test their hypothesis, they recruited 60 members of a college
orchestra to perform the finale from Brahms’s Symphony No. 1 two times.
The first time, the conductor gave the orchestra the following
instructions: “Think about the finest performance of this piece that you
can remember, and play it that way.”
This was the control condition – where musicians were given an
aspirational and presumably motivational goal, but a comparatively
passive goal, geared more towards recreating a performance than creating it anew in the moment.
Before the second performance (the experimental condition), the
musicians were instructed to “Play this piece in the finest manner you
can, offering subtle new nuances to your performance.” The idea with
these instructions was to get the musicians to be more present and
mindful, to think more creatively and spontaneously in the moment,
and be more improvisational in their performance.
To gauge the impact of these two sets of instructions on the
performers’ level of engagement, the musicians were asked to rate their
enjoyment of the performance after each run-through.
Not surprisingly, musicians rated the more mindful, improvisational
performance as being more enjoyable. The results suggest that being more
actively involved in creating something new is more engaging than
striving to recreate something from the past.
As
I talk to prospective students and their parents, I think more about
explaining why I teach playing by chordsand ear, not just by note
reading like most teachers, and how remarkably effective this teaching method is. I'm passionate on this and want to spread this method!
Learning chords is a very old and somewhat forgotten essential keyboard
skill. Really, essential. Like scales. But it's been lost for the
most part. Why? Especially since learning to play by ear and aural
training is still common in Eastern Europe, Russia (Eur-russia is where a
LOT of the greatest pianists and composers come from) and Asia (think
Suzuki method for toddlers).
Familiar with Bach? In
Bach's day, it was taken for granted that a keyboard player could be
given the basso continuo (their equivalent to chord symbols) and realize
the appropriate harmony in order to accompany other musicians or simply a
melody. Bach would be proud: I teach that. Why don't others?
There are many reasons many pianist don't know, much less teach, chord playing today. Since I'm a history buff and music history was my major's concentration, this development was fascinating to me.
One reason for chord playing's neglect is that this skill was not the
rage of the mid to late 1800's, when learning piano became a favorite
American hobby especially for the young. The rage was to be able to
play like Chopin - or at least play Chopin. And every other virtuoso
that was the rockstar of Victorian audiences. Seriously, Franz Liszt was the Beetles/BG's/Ricky Martin/One Direction/Backstreet Boys of his day. (I had to think hard for the names of these girl-gaggle-gathering boy stars.)
Though the piano rage started to wane as Elvis and the Beatles
came on the scene, it seemed like by the 50's, hardly a house lacked a
piano, and everybody's aunt taught lessons. For the purpose of playing classical and sacred music by note.
And still today piano teachers are trying to get every student to be Rachmaninoff. And yes, I totally completely 100% want every pianist to play classical music!!! But, Bach would say they need to play chord symbols too. And Rachmaninoff would scoff (I had to) if he heard musicians didn't have aural training. So, let's all get together, take over modern America, and LEARN TO PLAY THE THREE WAYS! **cue in 1812 Overture Canons**
The Fairfax Loudoun Music Fellowship
Spring Recital will be held on Saturday, May 17 in the afternoon, and,
as I am a member of the fellowship, all my students are welcome to
participate. This is a great opportunity for them to perform music
which they have learned so far as well as hear what other students of
all levels have accomplished.
I heartily encourage attendance even
for those students who choose not to participate. The recital will
be recorded.
The available times are at 1:30 p.m. & 3:00 p.m. If you have a time conflict, let me know.
Public admission is free; however,
there is a fee of $20.00 per performer, $10 for additional siblings,
required by April 15th. Grandparents, uncles, aunts, friends –
all very welcome!
This pianist and arranger (perhaps composer too?) is one of my new favorites. His performances are stellar, though every time I see him sitting so cramped up and close to the keys I just want to give him a pull back so he's not so uncomfortable! He offers many arrangements for free, so go get some free sheet music!!
This past Sunday, I played one of my favorite pieces, Arrival of the Queen of Sheba,
by Handel, transcription for piano solo, as postlude for Sunday worship. I wanted to do it on organ, a much neglected instrument these days, as fewer and fewer learn to play it. It has well been named the Queen of the instruments, only topped by the voice. This piece lends itself well to organ, though the score was not written for it. I am not trained in organ, but, as G. K. Chesterton said, "if something is worth doing, it's worth doing badly" (rather than not at all!) It went off alright, and there were some very happy listeners who thanked me afterward. Here is the score. It is truly one of the most pristine pieces ever written.
A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that 1,100 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.
Three minutes went by, and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace, and stopped for a few seconds, and then hurried up to meet his schedule.
A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping, and continued to walk.
A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.
The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried, but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally, the mother pushed hard, and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.
In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money, but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.
No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the most talented musicians in the world. He had just played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, on a violin worth $3.5 million dollars.
Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.
This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste, and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?
One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:
If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?
I played this at a December concert for the patients at Hope Lodge, the recovery housing for cancer patients from Moffit Cancer Ctr at USF. Dr. Brian Moorhead played the clarinet in our duet, and we have a recording I should put up! Many thanks Dr. Moorhead of the USF School of Music faculty and the Florida Orchestra for inviting me to perform in this wonderful event, and to Lloyd Goldstein, who is currently Artist In Residence: Certified Music Practitioner with The Arts In Medicine Program at The Moffitt Cancer Center.
Here they are again, The Piano Guys - my favorite cellist, Steven Sharp Nelson, with his fantastic pianist. My dear Mom took me to nursing homes to bring brightness and variety to shut in people from a young age. This continues to be a ministry that is near and dear to my heart - being a friend to the lonely. Playing an instrument can be a great entry into a lonely soul's life.
Playing at nursing homes is a great way for a pianist to step out of their comfort zone and playing in public. Most of the time it tends to be like you are playing background music. Another venue is for ministry fundraisers. I have played in numerous banquets and teas for Pregnancy Care Centers - great atmosphere and response.
