Piano Fight

Although not quite as violent as the Violin Death Fight posted on The Collaborative Piano Blog, this is still pretty funny.

(c) 2009 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

The Blindfolded Pianist

After fighting with my drum kit over the best arrangement to use with I Got Rhythm, I thought I better take a practice break before I give in to the urge to hit it.Martin Leung, AKA The Video Game Pianist burst onto the youtube stage with this "Blindfolded Pianist" videos. He is currently working on his Masters' Degree in Music and touring around the world with Video Games Live.

A pretty sweet gig if I say so myself.

I recently heard him perform with Video Games Live when they came to Calgary.

Here he is in his blindfolded glory:

(c) 2009 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

Oliver Jones Trio Performs Tribute to Oscar Peterson in Calgary

Things are slowly starting to "click" with the jazz pieces I'm working on this term. Playing around with the Spanish scale has been fun but my improvising goes much more smoothly when I just use my ear and my gut. Comping is starting to get better (it helps to play along with a recording or to sing along).I'll be getting lots of inspiration Thursday night when the Oliver Jones Trio performs at the Jack Singer Concert Hall in Calgary. Oliver is a contemporary of the late Oscar Peterson, and they grew up just doors from each other. Oliver's Trio is performing a tribute to Oscar.

I just listened to this video clip of them playing. Insane technique!

Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.

(c) 2009 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

St Francis de la Sissies Unique Version of Handel's Hallelujah Chorus

Somedays, you just need to have a good laugh in between practices. The St. Francis de la Sissies achieve just that with their rendition of Handel's Hallelujah Chorus:

Enjoy!

10,000 hours to Achieving Mastery

In his book, This is Your Brain on Music, Dr. Daniel Levtin wrote: "… ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert — in anything. In study after study, of composers, basketball players, fiction writers, ice skaters, concert pianists, chess players, master criminals, and what have you, this number comes up again and again. Ten thousand hours is the equivalent to roughly three hours per day, or twenty hours per week, of practice over ten years. Of course, this doesn’t address why some people don’t seem to get anywhere when they practice, and why some people get more out of their practice sessions than others. But no one has yet found a case in which true world-class expertise was accomplished in less time. It seems that it takes the brain this long to assimilate all that it needs to know to achieve true mastery."

He's not the only one to say this. Australian music teacher Leah Coutts ponders this point in her article AnInteresting Statistic and Unrealistic Goals Leah Coutts is a private piano teacher in Brisbane, Australia.

Blogger Michael Neill, blogged about the "levelling up" timeline to achieving mastery and puts that daunting number into perspective.

A quick Google search reveals that several studies have been conducted on this subject.

I suppose many teachers fall into the 1,000 - 10,000 level and I'd be curious to see which level some professional musicians are at.

There are just so many levels and facets to any art form that I don't think many people would consider themselves an expert at something. That's for others to decide, I suppose.

(c) 2009 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.