A Quick Note on Composing and Arranging

This week is Group Class Week, A.K.A. “Time to Catch Up on My Work” Week. My piano students will go on the annual field trip in lieu of their regular lesson. However, I’m still teaching my theory students and doing make-up piano lessons this week.  

Somehow, I wound up getting nominated for Calgary ARMTA’s Second Vice-President for 2006/07 at Monday’s meeting. It just sort of happened, leaving the incoming First Vice-President and I a little dazed. Ah well, we both knew we couldn’t stay in our current roles forever. Eventually, we’d have to move up.

The bane of my existence, bookkeeping, is nearly done. I’ve even started to put together the 2006/07 Studio Calendar (and scoping out piano pedagogical conferences and courses in far off places). A few meetings with prospective students and brides planning their weddings, along with a lunch with friends/colleagues complete my week.

Eventually, I’ll get to one item that’s been on my “To Do” List for a while – arranging Michael W. Smith’s song Above All into a piano duet for a student. Last year, I discovered that I enjoy composing and arranging. I currently use Finale Notepad (although sometimes, I’ll reach over for a trusty pencil and manuscript paper). Some of my students are showing a genuine interest in composing. I’ve found that the less instruction I give them at the beginning, the better. Some of their works are quite amazing.

I compiled this list of composing and music notation software links for my students, which I will share with you:

• Creating Music

• How to Compose Piano Music

• Canadian Music Centre

• University of Virginia Library - FREE manuscript paper

• Sibelius Music Notation Software

• Finale Music Notation Software

• Noteworthy Notation Software

• Mozart Notation Software

Happy composing!

© 2006, Musespeak™, Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

Friday Fun Link #15 & A List to Make Your Head Spin

My head’s starting to spin again. This week, I’ve been organizing next week’s Piano Group Class (a behind the scenes tour of the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium), preparing for Monday’s Calgary ARMTA Executive meeting (Barb, I’ll get my reports done before Saturday!), reminding and coaching students and their parents to register for their piano/theory exams and the APTA Music Festival, creating contracts with milestones for the exam students, parents and I to commit to, restraining myself from screaming at students who don’t practice (and trying not to look bored when they stumble through a piece they’ve had for far too long), fielding calls from parents looking for a piano teacher, fielding calls from brides looking for wedding music and trying very hard to keep up with lesson planning, practicing and paperwork.

All this while dealing with a dog with a bad case of sniffles (but really wants his walkies), a short story contest deadline looming, passing along sad news to my fellow U of L music alum (and then trying to track down contact info for classmates who are MIA), re-recording a student whose recital performance was full of static, looking for Iaido clothing that fits petite women, designing a photo waiver for the Iaido Club, practicing Iaido, getting used to life without a car (retired to Car Heaven), setting up networking lunches, dealing with a weird company about digestive enzymes that caused a nasty reaction and what else? Housecleaning. Whoa. I am out of breath just reading that. Now that is called a run-on sentence. I certainly need a Friday Fun Link to lighten the mood. This week’s link is CyberParodies. I’m listening to “Carbs” (a parody on “Cars”). Pretty wacky, just like my list.

And that’s that. Back to paperwork, practicing and practicing. Have a good weekend everyone!

© 2006, Musespeak™, Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

“Romantic Music” Musings

I bet you thought I was going to muse about sappy love songs. Nope. Not here. The Romantic Period (circa 1825 – 1900) saw an increase in nationalism and exoticism in the arts, as well as the themes of unrestrained passion, unrequited love, redemption and flights of fancy.

I’ve always enjoyed listening to and playing Romantic music. It is so easy to get caught up in the swelling melody that gathers speed and volume until it reaches its climax. I love the strurm und drang and rubato, which exemplify turbulent emotions. After the storm, there’s always a moment (or several), in which we are teased. We think we’re at the end of the song, but the composer sends us off into another direction. Then, there’s the penultimate chord. Musicians are taught to push to it and then savour the dissonance. Make the audience crave the resolution.

Frederic Chopin captured the nationalistic flair of his native Poland along with tender and searing melodies. Franz Lizst gave us fiery and brilliant passages that amazed audiences. Johannes Brahms showed us the angst-ridden and frustrated side of romance. You can learn about the music of these Romantic composers and many more at these sites:

• Classical Net

• Essentials of Music

© 2006, Musespeak™, Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

Terrific Thursday Link #3

Thanks to Liam, a student, and his mom for this week’s link. www.musicstudy.com has ear training and music theory software programs to help students of various levels. Check out their free demos.

Musicians & Memory

Musicians young and old struggle with memory. I have a few students who are really struggling with it this year (we memorize in chunks). You may ask, “Why do musicians need to memorize their songs?” If you learn something “by heart”, you know it inside and out. You understand it on several levels and can perform it confidently – consistently. Plus it just looks good.

Now there are times to memorize and there are times not to. Memorization is required at festivals and exams. Student recitals? It depends. If it’s a recital to air out exam pieces, then yes to memory. If it’s just a fun recital, it’s optional. If you’re just jamming with family and friends, memory is optional (improvising is probably more valuable here). If you’re at a family reunion and you’re dragged to the piano? You better have something ready at your fingertips (or be a good improviser!).

There are five types of memory that musicians use. The more forms you use, the stronger your memory is. They are:

1. Aural: memorizing by ear

2. Visual: AKA “photographic memory”

3. Tactile/Digital: AKA motor memory

4. Analytical: looking for patterns and relationships

5. Kinesthetic: AKA “muscle memory"

Here are a few interesting articles on memory and music:

• Pianists’ Four Kinds of Memory

• Memory Improvement Techniques

© 2006, Musespeak™, Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.