Vivaldi's 'Other' Gloria

While I was writing this week's article for Examiner.com, I listened to Antonio Vivaldi's Introduction and Gloria, RV 588. It is not as famous as his RV 589.

I've always enjoyed Vivaldi's music, ever since I studied his Four Seasons in music history.The imagery in all four concerti is just lovely.

That admiration grew even more when I visited his fair (but stinky) city of Venizia in 2001. The culture is so rich in Venice. Musicians performing everywhere. Stunning blown glass works and delicate lace.

In  The ‘Other’ Vivaldi Gloria: Discovering a Lesser-known, Gregory M. Pysh describes it as "a delightful and most accessible setting for choirs of all abilities." It certainly is sonorous and pleasing to the ear, although I wouldn't go so far as to call it completely "accessible" to all levels. Every work has its trouble spots.

Here is a snippet of this work by Antonio Vivaldi for choir and chamber ensemble:

Alas, I cannot attend this Sunday's performance of this by the Calgary Bach Society (so many Calgary concerts and events, so little time). I do hope to catch a performance by this local chamber music ensemble soon.

If you'd like to add Vivaldi's Gloria & Introduction to your music collection, you can find it on Amazon:

Our Growing Collection of Geek Dog Products

Maestro and I like to check out both local and online stores for fun dog fashion and accessories and geek dog products. We even jumped onto the DIY wagon and designed a few dog shirts on Zazzle. Although Maestro received many compliments, he didn't really like his Doggles:

Maestro at the Calgary Folk Fest

On the other hand, we both like his Ultimate Trail Pack. Due to his back problems, Maestro can no longer carry his own pack. However, we still bring it with us on day trips and visits with family and friends.

We both prefer walking with the Dogmatic FreeLeash. This useful dog accessory enables me to carry other items without worrying about where Maestro is.

Another useful item in our geek dog product collection is his Waste Manager Disposal System. With it, we can feel good about taking care of the environment, one poop at a time.

The latest addition our dog fashion collection is the Star Wars R2-D2 Dog Collar, which was ordered from ThinkGeek. The reaction has been pretty consistent: "What a neat collar....[person takes a closer look]...Hey! Star Wars! Cool."

One of the ladies from the Canine Aquafitness Centre hopped onto ThinkGeek's website after Maestro's laser appointment to order geeky Christmas gifts for her entire family.

Here's Maestro showing off his new newest geek dog product:

How to Warm Up at the Piano

My colleague Robert Estrin of Living Pianos recently posted a great video tutorial on how to warm up at the piano. There are some great tips for all musicians!

He talks about staying healthy and taking breaks. He also mentions the importance of stretching.

Here is is clip on how to warm up at the piano:

Here are some keyboard warm-ups, courtesy of my colleague Irina Gorin. These are geared towards beginner piano students:

Finally, check out my series on musician stretches:

• Face and Neck Stretches for Musicians

• Arm and Hand Stretches for Musicians

• Back and Shoulder Stretches for Musicians

On the advent of change

Last night was our choir director's last Mass with us. She will be missed. It's not good-bye though. She will fill in when I'm unable to play the piano and there are other musical projects that we can collaborate on. Having said that, my days with my church choir are also numbered.

Our choir continues to attract new singers, but pianists, guitarists and leaders are harder to come by. We can only hope and pray that more instrumentalists and a new director steps forward before my last Sunday.

I had a good chat with one of the choir members about these changes a few weeks ago. She and I have served on three or more church ministries for several years now. Since joining the choir, I had to drop my other ministries.

That evening, we talked about the need to take time to rest and renew.

Rest and renew. I like the sound of that. It is something that I think as adults, we have a tough time doing. It is something I will need to do more regularly as I concentrate on several big projects.

When I visited my old dojo in the summer, I realized how much I missed practicing iai. Practicing mushin. Engaging in active meditation.

I learned that one of the training nights had moved to a non-teaching night. However, it conflicts with choir practice and the church service I play at.

I still plan on serving the church community in some way. I do look forward to serving in ways that aren't tied down to a specific Mass and to be able to attend any Mass.

Just like I am looking forward to returning to studying Iaido and learning Jodo in the new year. Will I be able to grade for my Sho-dan next year? Who knows? I'm not going to rush it though. For now, it is enough knowing that these changes are over the horizon.

Piano Parties: Giving music students a comfortable place to perform, learn and socialize

Last year, inspired by music educators who host social events and informal performances for their students, I jumped on this creative music teaching idea. I offered three piano parties to my students, which fast became one of the most popular events of the year. Last weekend, I hosted the first one of the 2013/14 year. It was a Halloween Piano Party. All of my students came in costume and brought treats to share. I supplied a meat and cheese tray, juice and games.

The students who arrived first created their own ice breaker. One of the questions was "If you could have a superpower, any super power in the world, what would it be?"

My students and I played one spooky song each. For most of us, we performed one of the pieces I assigned as a Sight-Reading Challenge. They did well.

Me, on the other hand, performed something I hadn't run through for a few days and had to compete with kids and canine assistant who were all excited about the arrival of two more students. It became a case study on playing with distractions.

Then, I introduced my music students to some tabletop games that most had never seen before. On one hand, I was thinking of giving them a break from music games. Later, after reading that my colleague, Diane Hidy often does puzzles with potential students, I realized that I had a golden opportunity to see how my students think.

We started with Labryinth. It's a 3D maze game, in which the players race to find the treasures. Of the four newbies, one caught on very quickly. Another couldn't care less, while the other two had an extremely tough time planning their moves because they couldn't seem to visualize what their next move should be. At least, not without someone (either myself or my other two students who have played the game before) pushing a tile in to show them possible cause and effects. It was a game where my visual, creative thinkers dominated.

The second game was the undisputed favourite: Tsuro. It's a tile-based game in which you try to be the last dragon flying on the board. Each tile contains four lines; four possible paths to follow. All of my students latched onto the concept fairly quickly. The two who struggled with Labyrinth had an easier time because they could fiddle with the tiles and pretend to lay it down to see where the path would lead.

And yes, they started to think ahead, asking themselves: "If I put the tile down like this, what is my dragon's path?" Not all of them. One of them left things to chance.

The third game I introduced them to was King of Tokyo. It's a dice and card game in which monsters take pot shots of each other. The victor is either the first monster to reach 20 victory points, or the last monster standing.

One thing I learned with the games is not to spend too much time with the rules. I gave the kids the objective of the game, general actions and then had them jump in. With King of Tokyo, I explained what their dice rolls gave them, answered the questions about the cards and then let them decide what to do.

One student left King of Tokyo to return to Tsuro, leaving two boys and one girl. My female student was starting to think strategically but her monster was killed off early in the game. She too, returned to Tsuro.

That left the two boys who were looking forward to being monsters to enjoy an epic slugfest to their hearts' content. Neither were thinking of victory points, opting to just continually take pot shots at each other.

In short, I learned three things. First, the visual and creative thinkers were most successful at the games. Second, the ones who thought strategically were also my students who are more detail oriented and third, the one who didn't really care about strategy is also the one who has the most problems with timing. He was also the most enthusiastic about being a monster.

All in all, my music students had a fun time. They all cheered each other on when they performed. They ate a balance of sugar and healthier food and they thoroughly enjoyed themselves with the tabletop games.

I relished in the opportunity to give them a relaxed performance opportunity, another way to see how they think and to share with them some fun games that they could enjoy with their family and friends. The piano party continue to be one creative teaching idea that is worth repeating again and again.