Practice Tip Number 3

Thanks to Dr. Helen Marlais for these tips!

Number 3: Phrasing

This seems like an obvious tip, but how often I forgot to think of the long line while immersed in the minutiae of each measure.

1. Find the phrases: if marked easy - if not, play through and number the measures until you find the beginning of each phrase. Always use pencil as sometimes mistakes are made or you change your mind about which measures make up the phrase. Then count of the number of measures in each phrase - some pieces will have phrases with an even number of measures (4 bars in each phrase for example) and others will have quite irregular numbers of measures (like Bach). Play the piece - thinking about how to shape each phrase so that the composer's intent is clear.

2. Once you hear the long line of the melody - then practice over the bar line to phrase correctly.

3. Look at phrases versus articulation - articulation happens at the end of the phrase, but also with the phrase.

4. This process is helpful to begin to see the structure of the piece. And,

5. For flow ---- seeing/hearing the big picture.

It might seem like this is something to do later in the practice regimen. I thought so, and I often practice impulse and other ways first, but I'm beginning to see the value of looking at phrasing early in the practice process. I always tell my students not to wait to put in the dynamics and articulation. I think it is so difficult to add later and expression is a vital part of any piece. I once had a teacher who said that if I played a note with the incorrect articulation or dynamic --- I played a wrong note. My finger had pressed down the right key, but in the wrong way. I think that when there is too much focus on the details and not any notice of the long line, then extra work is needed later to develop the long line. Not to mention the crucial smooth crossing of the bar lines so that the piece flows beautifully and expressively.

Practice Tip Number 2

The next tip is: Procrastination....KIDDING! (Just a little slow getting to the piano this morning)

Dr. Helen Marlias' Tip Number 2.

Blocking - creating vertical harmony

This is one of my favorite tips. Finding chord patterns in music and then playing them as a block chord. Not only does it help to establish what the harmony is for a given passage, but puts the notes quickly into your fingers. It is also helpful for leaps. I practice this way all of the time and I also show my students how to block passages in their pieces. A most useful way to practice.

Daily Practice Tip

I attended one of Dr. Helen Marlais' workshops at the MTAC conference this past summer. I thought instead of posting all of her tips in one email, I post them daily.

Tip Number 1:

Play - Prepare

For me this means to be aware of where you are in a piece and where you need to go...for the next note, phrase, theme, section, movement, next piece, etc. Dr. Marlais specifically mentioned this technique for practicing leaps. When I practice leaps, I

1. look at the keyboard for the shortest distance between the leaps (which interval is the smallest part of the leap);

2. stay on the first note of the leap for a long time until I've mentally prepared where on the keyboard I need to leap to - then I leap as fast as possible and try to land in the correct place. If I've mentally prepared and correctly visualized the key/chord/octave pattern in my head of the jump - I rarely miss; and

3. have fun by leaping to just get the gesture and to measure the distance of the leap.

For example, if I need to leap from a "C chord" in the middle of the piano to the lowest "C chord" on the piano...I'd play a five finger cluster in the middle of the keyboard and then leap as fast as possible to the bottom of the keyboard and play a finger cluster where eventually I have to play a chord. As soon as that is easy...I'd play the chord in the middle of the piano and then a cluster at the bottom of the keyboard. Then once that was easy...I'd play the chord in the middle of the piano and the chord at the bottom of the keyboard. Success!

All of the pieces I'm playing this Sunday - have really challenging leaps. Believe me, I've been using all of these techniques over the past several weeks.

Also for my concert preparation this Sunday - I'm using the play-prepare tip for pacing myself to play for 45 minutes in one stretch. Flexing my mental muscles--- as I have the technical, expressive and imaginative aspects of the works in place --- in order to pace myself to have enough energy for the demands of each piece. I'm "leaping" from one piece/one mood to another piece/mood. Just as challenging as leaping from note to note.

Moon Music

The Moon is now making music! : Moon Music

You may have to be a little patient for this to load in:

http://wms.selene.jaxa.jp/selene_sok/moonbell/moonbell_en.html

But notice how the satellite carves out an orbit, and the music is composed based on the surface height being passed over at that moment! Also try "Free Scratch" which allows you to play a single note (click the mouse) or an elongated sweeping melody (click-drag over the moon's surface). How cool is that? The music is eerie and yet kind of self-consistent in a mid-20th century kind of way!

R.I.P. Piano

The Piano has had some distressing press of late...

In June the Los Angeles Times reported that the piano has lost its status in US homes replaced by the guitar (this news was also reported with great sadness at the recent Music Teacher's of California conference in Santa Clara) - read the entire article below:

The piano's status in U.S. living rooms is declining - Los Angeles Times

The July 2009 BBC Music Magazine published a story "Hammer Horrors! It shouldn't happen to a piano...Fifteen tear-inducing examples of utterly beastly keyboard maltreatment" with some of my favorite examples such as:

14: the MIT students dropping a piano off Baker House to prove the gravity works (great video of the first piano drop on You Tube)
10: being eaten by your piano (in the Japanese horror film "Hausu" Melody is munched by her grand piano fingers first) --- I don't really blame the piano - what piano wouldn't want to eat a "melody"?
9 and 13: La Monte Young (I've the pleasure of working with La Monte) says to feed and water the piano in performance or try to push it through a wall.

and many, many more very funny or horrifying examples. To see the examples from the magazine go to:

www.bbcmusicmagazine.com

So, I guess it is rather serendipitous that I'd see the piano here on a recent trip to Texas...








Photos from a Tyler, Texas cemetery.

I Love Trail-Mix

I've been asked to be an alpha tester for a new file organizing and sharing software program created by Brennan Gaunce called Trail-Mix. It has changed my life on-line! For example: my blog posts are now so much easier to create. Every time I have a topic or idea I want to blog about, I file it in a Trail-Mix Activity Folder under notes, web links, files or pictures. Then when I want to blog about that topic, I simply open the Activity Folder and drag the content to Blogger's New Post window. So simple! I love this product. All bloggers - check it out. It runs as a Firefox plug-in.

The 10 Reasons Why I Love Trail-Mix!

1. I love saying the name: "Trail-Mix!"
2. Trail-Mix and Firefox make for speedy web searches
3. Sharing trip information with my family: all the details are in one place, in a Trail-Mix Activity Folder
4. The Trail-Mix features: notes, files, pictures, web links all filed under a specific Activity Folder
5. I love "squirreling away" little nuggets of information in Activity Folders
6. Three words: click and drag
7. No more searching around the Internet for pages to hyperlink (In what AOL folder did I put that "favorite" link?)
8. Blogging is greatly simplified - ideas for posts are stored in one place
9. I can drag from Trail-Mix directly to Blogger, skipping the tiresome old way of copying and pasting links, files, text, pictures
10. I think that Trail-Mix makes my PC think it's a Mac!

PS: I also use this application when I'm creating itineraries for travel --- especially my "ArtTrek" itineraries which are extremely detailed. For example: the "ArtTrek" to Chicago last May was created using Trail Mix. The Trail-Mix application saved me so much time that I didn't need to rush my packing.

Steinway Art Cases

1908 Steinway Piano / Model A

One of the things I love about my 1908 Steinway is its beautiful art case. (More photos of my piano in my 9/30/08 post.)

While searching for digital piano recommendations yesterday, I happened upon Steinway's site with some of their art case options. All were beautiful, but here are a few of my favorites.


By Dale Chihuly
Model D
8'11.75"

In keeping with Mr. Chihuly's reputation for avant-garde glass artistry, Olympia - Steinway by Chihuly breaks dramatic new ground in the long history of Steinway art case pianos. Olympia - Steinway by Chihuly, unveiled at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, reflects the abstract expression of wintery mountain forests juxtaposed with the bright Promethean colors idealized by the fire of the Olympic spirit. The piano's many extraordinary features include a clear glass piano desk, and a translucent glass top, the first ever designed for a Steinway piano.

Now, wouldn't Chihuly's piano fit in beautifully at Ashley Lake? (Future site of the piano studio at Ashley Lake, 13 miles West of Kalispell, Montana. Architect Jeff Sheldon)


By Steinway Master Craftsmen
Model B

This remarkable instrument is an identical re-creation of the piano Cole Porter played in his Waldorf Astoria residence, and on which he wrote many of his best loved songs. Skillfully re-created by Steinway master craftsmen in figured mahogany, the design features double Empire-style legs, intricate hand-carvings and decorative paintings to beautifully embody the passion and creative spirit of this great American composer. Mr. Porter's original Steinway was created in 1907, and today distinguishes the lobby of the famous Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Manhattan.

I've sat at Cole Porter's Piano at the Waldorf. They won't let you play it --- there is only one woman in all of NYC who is allowed to play it. She managed to get her name in Porter's will as the caretaker of the instrument. At least that is what the bellman told us.

By Joseph Sidorowicz

The design of the newest Steinway art-case piano Grove Park pays tribute to the Arts & Crafts Movement.

There is a delicate and deliberate balance of both architectural and furniture design elements that are incorporated into the overall theme of Grove Park. The striking figure of American Quarter sawn White Oak veneers is used throughout this unique design. The lid of the piano has a fine ebonized stringing inlaid around its perimeter as well as a geometric quadrant of inlaid Malachite, a natural stone material with a greenish hue, at the front corners of the lid. This same Malachite motif is repeated at the upper portion of each leg and once again on the bench. All of the hardware is finished in an antique bronze, which contrasts with the mellow golden oak.

The handcraftsmanship of the various components such as the legs, lyre, music desk, and bench all utilize classic mortise and tenon joinery. The centerpiece of Grove Park is the music desk which features a leaded glass panel depicting a majestic oak tree with outstretched limbs reaching across the horizon with the sunset in the background peaking through between its branches. The bench is designed in a duet configuration. It has a low back design and a repetition of vertical spindles and is capped by a horizontal top rail in the spirit of the classic Morris chair design. There are two leather upholstered bench cushions that are inset into the bench top.

This piano would look great in a Maybeck house in California or in a Frank Lloyd Wright! The Robie House (below / view of the front of the house from the street) in Chicago will do.

Frank Lloyd Wright was an accomplished pianist and always had a piano in his home. His designs were influenced by the Arts and Craft movement - especially the Roycroft Community in New York. I think he would approve of Joseph Sidorowicz's art case.