The Cafe Studio Showcase Experiment

In "Drowning in Music Lesson Planning" (August 2012), I mentioned some of the ideas I had for studio performances. One was the idea of having a performance at the neighbourhood café in lieu of a winter recital.

Last week, we had our Studio Winter Showcase at Caffe Crema. I have heard back from all students and families who were part of the event, and have taken some time to reflect on the experience.

It was a good thing I confirmed my booking from August. My contact quit her job and didn't pass the details to the remaining staff. My worries intensified when I overheard the sound technician complain about a booking that fell through the cracks.

We got everything sorted out more or less. There was a bit of miscommunication about the layout. It was workable though, so not a big deal.

I booked the café from 1:00 - 4:00 PM. The afternoon was comprised of three sets, with 10-minute intermissions to allow people to come and go, place their orders and visit. One of my students came early to help with the set up. She also volunteered to emcee as well. Another student relieved her when she got ready to perform. Other students, along with their parents, helped out with setting out the programmes and packing up. That worked out beautifully.

Feedback has been overwhelming positive. Many enjoyed the cozy atmosphere of the cafe. They liked the "come and go" casualness and found that it was easier to get family and friends to come.

Hands down, everyone enjoyed the food and drinks. I am willing to bet $1,000 Maestro Bucks that some of them will become regular customers at Caffe Crema.

Everyone did admit to feeling more nervous than they do at recitals. This can be attributed to three factors:

1. Uncertainty over a different venue
2. Uncertainty over playing a different instrument
3. Fear over playing in public

For most of my students, this was their first public performance. Studio recitals and examinations are private. Music festivals are semi-private. The idea of playing for a bunch of "random" people with absolutely no connection to my studio or their families was terrifying for some of them.

My very first performer of the day walked in with tears streaming down her face. She absolutely didn't want to play in public. For a fleeting moment, I thought, "Oh no! Should I have made it a private performance? Did I introduce this change too abruptly?"

Several of us gave her hugs and encouragement. She got up there and played her entire set of five songs. Her voice didn't betray how nervous she was when she introduced each piece. She was able to smile after all was said and done.

Was it a perfectly clean performance? No. Was it a fluent performance? Yes. Then that's all we can ask for.

I only heard one negative comment. That's bound to happen with any public performance. My knee-jerk reaction was to never have my students do anything like this again - to protect them from ever hearing such criticism. Later, I came to the realization that it's not my job as their teacher to shield them from criticism but rather, to help them deal with it - to use the constructive criticism and discard the rest.

Will I do something like this again as a performance opportunity for my students? Probably. Only two said they would rather not do it again and I have a couple of options for them. Would I go back to Caffe Crema? It's a definite possibility.

Most of them enjoyed performing on a different stage. They gave me variations on this theme, "I was more nervous than usual, but as you said not everyone was listening. I'll never see those random people again." That showed in their playing, enough for some of the "random people's" kids to inch closer to the action. Clear enough for my friend and fellow teacher, Sharon Fast to say, "It's great to see what other teachers are doing in their studios and you are really bringing out the creativity in those kids! And they really seem to enjoy music making!"

What a Difference Time Makes

It's amazing how much of a difference time makes.Pieces get stronger and diction improves like magic. Well, magic in the form of practice, that is. I first performed つばさ を ください ("Tsubasa wo kudasai" - "Please Give Me Wings") in the Spring of 2011 before I enrolled in Japanese language classes. Considering that my おとうと and I had approximately a week to throw this charity performance together, it didn't go too badly. Musically, I should have sang it in a lower key to fully utilize my chest voice, but whatever.

Here's the performance from the 2011 Calgary Hana matsuri:

We performed it last week at my music studio's winter showcase. Let me tell you, I worked hard on my pronunciation! My hand was forever moving to shape the phrase just as sensei does in class with our sentences. I grilled myself on "tsu" and "hatamekase" ad nauseum. For an additional challenge, I "misplaced" my romaji and typed out the lyrics and chords in Hiragana.

During rehearsals, we experimented with a couple of things. For instance, we knew we still wanted to pay homage to Megumi Hayashibara's version from Evangelion: 2.22 You Can (Not) Advance [Blu-ray]. We also wanted to direct a nod to K-On! from their FUWAFUWA TIME mini-album.

The fun thing about music is that it's organic. We can personalize it and make it our own. The ending was one of those on-the-spot ideas that popped up mid-rehearsal - and it stuck.

Here's the performance. Sure, I repeated a line twice since I blanked out on "とんで ゆきたい よ", but who cares? It didn't lead to a train wreck and still worked out. People enjoyed it and that's all that matters when all's said and done. Oh and I think I can pat myself on the back for improving upon my pronunciation. やった!

Sight Reading Tips

While cleaning up some archived entries on my teaching blog, I found this one on sight reading tips, called (predictably) Sight Reading Tips. Here are some other articles and vblogs that I've come across that also address how to practice sight reading.

• Five Steps to Mastering Sight Reading

• Sight Reading A to Z

• The Sight Reading Box

This is a pretty good tutorial. I like the driving analogy.

Jazz Music and Improvisation Guide Books

As I mentioned earlier, I recently presented to the Piano Pedagogy Group. The piano teachers in this group are currently working on their Grade 10 or their Piano Pedagogy certification through Royal Conservatory of Music, Conservatory Canada or London College of Music . They are all classically trained (translation: improvisation, lead sheets and chord charts are scary). This is a list of the "How To" books that I use whenever I teach and play contemporary music (e.g. pop, rock, Latin, jazz, ragtime) that I shared with them:

Conservatory Canada Contemporary Idioms Syllabus

look inside

How To Play From A Fake Book

By Blake Neely. For Guitar, Piano/Keyboard. Piano. Instructional. Instructional book. Standard notation and instructional text. 88 pages. Published by Hal Leonard (HL.220019)

look inside

Lead Lines and Chord Changes

By Ann Collins. For Piano. Piano Collection; Piano Supplemental. Early Advanced; Late Intermediate. Book. 80 pages. Published by Alfred Music Publishing (AP.199)

...more info

look inside

Volume 1 - How To Play Jazz & Improvise

By Jamey Aebersold. For any C, Eb, Bb, bass instrument or voice. Play-Along series with accompaniment CD. Jamey Aebersold Play-A-Long series. Beginner, intermediate. Book & CD. 104 pages. Published by Jamey Aebersold Jazz (JA.V01DS)

look inside

Volume 3 - The II/V7/I Progression

By Jamey Aebersold. For any C, Eb, Bb, bass instrument or voice. Play-Along series with accompaniment CD. Jamey Aebersold Play-A-Long series. Beginner, intermediate. Book & CD. 100 pages. Published by Jamey Aebersold Jazz (JA.V03DS)

(6)

...more info

look inside

Boogie Woogie for Beginners

Arranged by Frank Paparelli. For Piano/Keyboard. Keyboard Instruction. 48 pages. Published by Hal Leonard (HL.120517)

(2)

...more info

There are a few more in my "To Check Out" pile. I'll add them once I've had a chance to go through them a bit.

Johnny Summers "Piano Sessions Vol. 1" CD Release Party March 2013

If you love jazz and you live in Calgary, come out to Johnny Summers' upcoming CD release party. Deets as follows: Date: March 16th 2013

Calgary CD release concert for Johnny's new recording "The Piano Sessions Volume 1"

featuring Chris Andrew, piano

Special guests Al Muirhead, Shane Statz, and The Polyjesters Jason and Sheldon Valleau!

Tickets will be on sale soon.

Johnny Summers is the director of the Calgary Jazz Orchestra.

Here's my CD review.

Here's a video of Johnny in performance: