Special congratulations for achievement in exams go to:
Jacob : Grade 3 Theory with merit
Sophie : Grade 1 Piano
and Grade 2 Theory with Merit
Rebecca : Grade 5 Theory with Merit
Tuesday, 6 May 2008
Easter workshop 2008: A dance through time
The Easter “Dance through time” workshop was a great success.
After loosening up with some piano pilates, ten young piano students got to know each other with rhythm games.
We then started to learn an early dance, Susato’s Pavane, on piano, keyboards, pitched percussion, and guitar.
Some people enjoyed learning without the dots—by ear—while others preferred having the printed music to play from.
We also practiced dancing the slow pavane rhythms.
After demolishing Jan’s delicious home baking, it was time to bring things up to date a bit more. We learnt to conduct dances in triple and duple metre, from the brisk gavotte to the slow and stately sarabande.
We listened to a musette played on a hurdy gurdy, a menuet on a harpsichord, and the whole orchestra joining in for Strauss’ Blue Danube and Offenbach’s Can Can!
Then we learnt that as composers started to look further afield for inspiration, more exotic rhythms came into dance music, from Russia, Hungary, Spain and of course Africa.
Together we improvised a Cha Cha - there were some lovely solos from the bravest — and we even learnt the proper Cha Cha dance steps!
After loosening up with some piano pilates, ten young piano students got to know each other with rhythm games.
We then started to learn an early dance, Susato’s Pavane, on piano, keyboards, pitched percussion, and guitar.
Some people enjoyed learning without the dots—by ear—while others preferred having the printed music to play from.
We also practiced dancing the slow pavane rhythms.
After demolishing Jan’s delicious home baking, it was time to bring things up to date a bit more. We learnt to conduct dances in triple and duple metre, from the brisk gavotte to the slow and stately sarabande.
We listened to a musette played on a hurdy gurdy, a menuet on a harpsichord, and the whole orchestra joining in for Strauss’ Blue Danube and Offenbach’s Can Can!
Then we learnt that as composers started to look further afield for inspiration, more exotic rhythms came into dance music, from Russia, Hungary, Spain and of course Africa.
Together we improvised a Cha Cha - there were some lovely solos from the bravest — and we even learnt the proper Cha Cha dance steps!
Russian Stories @ the Barbican
LSO Discovery Family concert
Sun 18 May2.30—3.20 pmBarbican
The latest in the LSO Discovery series at the Barbican offers the chance to leap into a world of intriguing characters and happy endings.
On May 18th, Gareth Malone presents and Pavel Kotla conducts a variety of music including Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet and Mussorgsky’s Night on a Bare Mountain.
Family Workshops Before the concert, from 10.30 to 12.30, Music and Art workshops offer the chance to make a costume to wear at the concert. Tickets £5.00.
Foyer Adventures From 1.00pm there are free activities in the Foyer.
Family Saturday mornings Sat June 7 and July 1210.00—12.30 Jerwood Hall, LSO St Luke’s hosts fun packed mornings for children under 8 and their parents too!
Music technology, gamelan, toddler workshops and an informal concert.
For more information on all these events and more, please visit http://www.barbican.org.uk/music/
Sun 18 May2.30—3.20 pmBarbican
The latest in the LSO Discovery series at the Barbican offers the chance to leap into a world of intriguing characters and happy endings.
On May 18th, Gareth Malone presents and Pavel Kotla conducts a variety of music including Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet and Mussorgsky’s Night on a Bare Mountain.
Family Workshops Before the concert, from 10.30 to 12.30, Music and Art workshops offer the chance to make a costume to wear at the concert. Tickets £5.00.
Foyer Adventures From 1.00pm there are free activities in the Foyer.
Family Saturday mornings Sat June 7 and July 1210.00—12.30 Jerwood Hall, LSO St Luke’s hosts fun packed mornings for children under 8 and their parents too!
Music technology, gamelan, toddler workshops and an informal concert.
For more information on all these events and more, please visit http://www.barbican.org.uk/music/
Pupils summer concert : June 27th 2008 Theme: Dance through time
Recital classes
Already thinking about getting ready for the concert in June?
Or perhaps you are hoping to perform with your school and want some tips on dealing with nerves, or how to introduce your performance in an interesting way?
If so, book into one of the recital classes in the May half term. No need to have a piece ‘finished’ - this is a relaxed, friendly way to get used to playing in front of others. We will talk about everything — how to choose a recital piece you will love, how to take that well earned bow at the end, and all points in between!
Recital classes May 29th and 30th, 2.00—4.00pm
Already thinking about getting ready for the concert in June?
Or perhaps you are hoping to perform with your school and want some tips on dealing with nerves, or how to introduce your performance in an interesting way?
If so, book into one of the recital classes in the May half term. No need to have a piece ‘finished’ - this is a relaxed, friendly way to get used to playing in front of others. We will talk about everything — how to choose a recital piece you will love, how to take that well earned bow at the end, and all points in between!
Recital classes May 29th and 30th, 2.00—4.00pm
Getting started with composition
Anyone can compose music!
Musical pictures
Start with a simple idea for a title. Contrasts are good, so how about: “Asleep? Awake!” or “Hippo and snake”. Use all the musical opposites you can think of: loud and soft, fast and slow, high and low, legato and staccato. To start with just improvise. Don’t remember if you cannot remember all your ideas, or repeat the performance exactly, but do try to play around with the same title a few times so that your best ideas stick in your mind and in your fingers.
3 note shapes
Put down a ‘triangle’ of three notes on the piano. Using only those 3 notes, experiment with playing them in a different order, repeating some and not others, varying the length of the notes, moving them up or down the octave. Use those musical opposites again too. As you get more confident, use bigger shape patterns (4, 5 or 6 notes).
Droning on
To get a fuller sound you will need to involve both hands. An easy way to do this is to simply put one note down in the left hand, and improvise a tune with more movement in the right. This is called a ’drone’ bass. But why not turn that idea upside down, and have the tune in the bass, and long notes in the right hand?
Add a note to give yourself a chord—fifths like A and E, D and A, C and G work well, and make an improvisation on the white notes sound really good too. Try F# and C# though, if you want to experiment with a black note only piece!
Writing it down
Don’t be afraid to start writing things down. You will probably start by writing down the note letter names, which is fine, but what happens if you forget the rhythms—and how do you show which hand plays what, and how high or low that C is to be?
Graphic scores
This is where a graphic score—basically a sounds picture—can be helpful.
There are no hard and fast rules here, but you will probably write single staccato notes as dots and longer notes or chords as bars and squares , and you will write upward or downward running scale patterns as sloping lines. Why not go back to one of your compositions and see if you can make a graphic score for it?
“Exactly right” scores
If you want anyone to be able to play your music for you or with you, exactly as you do, you will sooner or later find you have to write it down in “normal” notation. Again, start small, and get the basics sorted out—what metre is it? Is it clearly in a key? Do you need a single stave for a tune on its own, or the grand stave for both hands —or are you writing for several instruments?
If you like, bring your ideas to your next lesson, and I can help you to get started on writing it down.
Notation software
Sibelius and Finale are great for writing down your larger scale compositions. You need a good basic understanding of theory and notation to use it, and it can be quite time-consuming at first, but it gives very professional looking results.
To download free composition software, go to http://www.finalemusic.com/notepad/
Libor Novacek recital at Wigmore Hall
June 4th at 7.30pm.
Libor Novacek came to my attention when he stood in for another pianist at a few hours notice at the Little Missenden Festival. Winner of the Landor piano prize in 2005, he plays absolutely beautifully. He has since recorded the Liszt Annees de Pelerinage, an album of French and Czech piano music , and a Brahms CD, all of which have been very highly rated by Gramaphone and BBC Music reviewers. He is also a great communicator as a performer.
I’ll be going, so let me know if you would be interested in tickets and/or sharing transport to this event.
Tickets £15, £12, £8.
Libor Novacek came to my attention when he stood in for another pianist at a few hours notice at the Little Missenden Festival. Winner of the Landor piano prize in 2005, he plays absolutely beautifully. He has since recorded the Liszt Annees de Pelerinage, an album of French and Czech piano music , and a Brahms CD, all of which have been very highly rated by Gramaphone and BBC Music reviewers. He is also a great communicator as a performer.
I’ll be going, so let me know if you would be interested in tickets and/or sharing transport to this event.
Tickets £15, £12, £8.
Let's Teach Jazz
The ABRSM “Let’s Teach Jazz!” course has been great fun. Some of you have already been “guinea pigs” for a style of teaching that leaves the printed notes behind. Both jazz and classical playing can improve greatly when you simply imitate details of rhythm, articulation and expression that would be really quite complex on the page. At time of going to press I am in the final stages of preparation for the exam on May 18th.
I am enrolled on the new ABRSM piano syllabus seminars for November 2008. This is a preview of the pieces that you can choose from for exams from March 2009—although the current lists are still valid for that session too.
Please note: The requirements for scales and aural tests are also changing with effect from January 2009, whichever pieces you choose.
I am enrolled on the new ABRSM piano syllabus seminars for November 2008. This is a preview of the pieces that you can choose from for exams from March 2009—although the current lists are still valid for that session too.
Please note: The requirements for scales and aural tests are also changing with effect from January 2009, whichever pieces you choose.
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