On Sturm und drang - Second Movement

Perhaps the spirit of my former piano teacher Irina Ginzburg was hovering as I was filling out my own registration form for the APTA Festival. She would want me to challenge myself. Before I could stop myself, I registered for the Teacher Recital class, which means three songs. It's not too scary, at least, I hope it isn't. It's just that I now have to add two senior level pieces to my practice list (on top of students' songs and gig repertoire...to practice in the wee hours in the night).

I'm pretty happy with my selections. I've been meaning to learn Chopin's Nocturne in e minor, op. 72 #1 for years; ever since I heard it in the Hallmark TV production of The Secret Garden. It's only four pages - however, the return of the A theme is a doozy! I've sightread Bartok's Bagatelle, op. 6 #5 before and find the rhythms catchy. Hey, if I can sightread it - then it's do-able. Both songs are Gr. 10 level, which provides a bit of a challenge without taking too much time. The final selection is Houki Boshi (Comet). It's one of the theme songs from the Japanese show Bleach. I plan on embellishing and improvising a bit, something which I already do with it.

The question is whether or not I will memorize all the songs. I'll play that by ear.

So all in all, not too bad. It's still added sturm und drang though. When to practice?

(c) 2007 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

Overcoming Stage Fright - Second Movement

"This week, I want you to practice performing." My students have been hearing me say this throughout the week, in preparation for my studio's winter recital on Sunday. We only have one shot on stage to weave our magic for the audience. Many musicians can attest to nailing their songs in the practice room, only to have everything fall apart on stage.

The secret is to practice performing. One must play through the song(s) in a performance setting, where you can get that heart pounding, feel the weight of all eyes on you and play through distractions. Some tricks I've learned along the way:

• perform often: the more you perform, the more used you get to the stress and the easier it gets

• cajole your family and friends to be a guinea pig audience - have them be a model audience one time and a disruptive one the next run-through

• know your repertoire really well

• visualization: visualize the setting, yourself playing well, yourself successfully navigating through a stumble, memory glitch

• breathing techniques

• put Maestro to work: Sometimes, I allow Maestro to provide distractions for the students to perform through. His favourite techniques include surrounding the student with toys, hopping on the bench and singing along.

Here are some cool articles on performance anxiety/jitters:

• First Performance Jitters

• Overcoming stage fright (my blog entry from May 10, 2006)

Happy reading! (c) 2007 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

Musicianship Musings

Sometimes, the word "musicianship" comes into a music-related conversation. Beginner pianists using the Piano Adventures series are more familiar with the term "artistry" from their Technique & Artistry book. "Artistry" in music and "Musicianship" mean basically the same thing. Ah, but what is artistry? Wordreference.com defines it as: a superior skill that you can learn by study and practice and observation; "the art of conversation"; "it's quite an art". I tend to associate "expressiveness" with these words. How well can we as musicians move our audiences? If the song is a happy one, how well can we paint a soundscape to portray that emotion? If the song is dark and mysterious, how well can we communicate that without words?

I feel that musicianship is more important than technique. Yes, technique helps us express ourselves better and helps us deliver a convincing performance; but it's musicianship that pulls on the heartstrings. The emotions we paint are what stays with the audience (and the musician) long after the performance. Most members in an audience won't walk away from a performance thinking "If only she didn't hit that wrong note in bar 25." They remember how the music made them feel.

(c) 2006 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

Summertime Music Musings

The double whammy wedding gig weekend is behind me. The first one went quite well. I had a lot of fun improvising on Canon in D. Everything was timed very well. I like it when that happens. The "rock music" wedding was interesting. I was shaky in a few spots and kept getting stuck in one part of "Another One Bites the Dust".

look inside

Classic Rock - Creative Piano Solo By Various. Piano Solo Songbook. Classic Rock, Rock. Softcover. 96 pages. Published by Hal Leonard (HL.138517).

However, I just plowed through. Sometimes, I really "faked it", but it turned out ok. The groom got a little teary eyed saying his vows, which was quite touching.

Today, I returned to the place I temped at last month. I'm filling in for two admin assistants, one week in each department. My primary function will be to keep their seats warm, so I'm bringing my lesson planning binder with me and I anticipate that I will complete the year plans for my 40 students while on my assignment. Granted, it will be done in between answering the odd call, scheduling a handful of meetings and filing, but I'll have time to complete it. Maybe, just maybe, I'll have a chance to score study my intermediate students' repertoire while I'm there too.

During my last temping assignment there, I completed an article on rhythm and flow in music and Iaido for The Iaido Journal. I'm not sure when it will be published, but you could check the link regularly.

I got promoted to First Vice President for the local branch of the Alberta Registered Music Teachers' Association. At first, I was a little leery but now, I'm excited at the idea of completing my time on the Board one year early. I'm trying to wrap up my work on the Governance Committee this month so that come September, I will just focus on the Website Committee and the behemouth project known as the Honours Recital. I have to get caught up on the latter this weekend and call a committee meeting...on my week off.

On a completely different note (but just as exciting), the Calgary Iaido Club, where I train, got the green light to host its first national Open Iaido Tournament. We'll have seminars in other disciplines as well. Our planning meetings have been a welcome change from some of the Board meetings I've attended. Has anyone else ever noticed that when there are mostly men at a meeting, it goes far more quickly than when there's mostly women?

Alas, I've mused long enough. It's time to get back to putting together my music card games for the students.(c) 2006 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

Springtime Recital Musings

My student that is scheduled at this time is M.I.A. so I thought I'd take the opportunity to muse on my studio recital, held on Sunday. It was mostly a blur, although I remember snippets quite vividly:

• Two young students became confused over the concert program. There were a few program changes, which threw them into a panic. They came running up to me during a performance in a tizzy. I had to sit with them to calm them down.

• One young student had the crowd in the palm of his hand while he performed the James Bond theme. I saw heads bopping in time to the music and parents smiling. It was clear to many that he enjoyed being on stage and enjoyed the music.

• One young girl who stomped up the stage and then did an adorable curtsey.

• A few parents smiling (some out of sheer pleasure while others in sheer puzzlement) over a student who performed to a Technobeat accompaniment on CD.

• One adult student who had a rough performance but returned afterwards to play through.

• One student nailed her rhythm troublespots in a piece she has been struggling with for most of the year.

I did wind up performing by memory. It was my first public performance of Andaluza. There were a few odd notes and I got the rhythm mixed up in a few places, but I negotiated them smoothly. It still sounded like a Spanish dance. Memorizing the patterns and chords helped immensely.

I believe that most people miss the glitches, if handled right. Studying Iaido certainly helps as I don't think I flinched when something went off track.

I've come a long way since being the performer who always choked on stage. I hope that inspires some of my more timid students. If I could transform from an uncontrollable bundle of nerves to someone who can fake it through trouble spots, so can they.

At a teachers' meeting yesterday, several of us were discussing recital etiquette. I do have some recital etiquette pointers on my student/parent section on my website however, my colleagues and I agreed yesterday that this is an area to be explained for EACH performance to ensure that the performers have the least amount of distractions.

Here is an article on recital etiquette.

(c) 2006 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB Canada. All rights reserved.