Fluid Piano

Invented by Geoff Smith, the fluid piano offers microtonal tuning on every note. The performer is able to change the tuning on each individual note and is no longer limited to the intervals of the Western scale. It’s possible for this piano to be used in the performance of  classical Indian music as well as new music by contemporary composers. It took ten years for this project to come to fruition, but will it take another ten years for it to become mainstream? Watch the video here.

The Swell Season

Tonight The Swell Season starts kicks off their US tour with a performance in Seattle. The Swell Season are Glen Hansard (from the Irish band, The Frames) and Marketa Irglova (classically trained Czech pianist and vocalist), both are known for their performance in Once, the 2007 music film from Ireland. The two were a couple and now they’re not but they’re still making beautiful music together.

Falling Slowly is one of those tunes you’ll hum for hours after you’ve heard it, mainly because of the repetitive melody, but also because it’s one of those “I could’ve written that” type of tunes. Want to learn it? Scroll down a bit on this page – Mario Ajero has a podcast lesson for you.

Nora, again

According to Jill Rosen, pet blogger at the Baltimore Sun, Nora the Piano cat is booked for tomorrow. Of course I loved the Catcerto, but that was because of the ingenuity of  Lithuanian conductor, composer and artist Mindaugas Piečaitis.

Nora, the Philadelphia cat known for her musicality, who was named ASPCA’s Cat of the Year this year, will play Saturday, Nov. 21, at the Westchester Cat Show in White Plains, New York. The gray kitty’s first concert is a benefit, being called “Shelter Aid.” Millions have already seen her taped performances on YouTube.

Nora will perform live via webcam from her piano at home in Philadelphia. She’ll be joined by her accompanist and owner Betsy Alexander.

Everyone will be holding their breath because Nora is a cat — and being a cat, she just might not performa on command.

The concert is at 1 p.m. Go to http://www.ustream.tv live then to see the potential show. Replays will be available later.

As far as watching Nora and her owner “improvising” at the piano, I’d rather my own cats chase their new laser pointer.

Improv at The Music Studio

Last week Eve Risser, Joel Grip, Ron Stabinsky and Jack Wright presented an exciting evening of improvisation with saxophone, double bass and prepared piano at The Music Studio. In a performance (one that was partially performance art) we got to see Joel play bass with three bows at once, Eve set loose a gaggle of wind-up toys in and around the piano strings and Ron mix in extension cord and Styrofoam to complete his performance. Eve and Joel were here from Paris, passing through our little town on the way to Baltimore and Jack made the trip up from Easton,  thanks to Ron, an NEPA native.  Who would have thought we’d have a standing room only crowd on a weeknight in a town that rolls up the sidewalks 9 pm?

Duo Pianissimo – One Piano Four Hands

Back in the 80’s I spent a few years studying and performing works for one-piano four-hands. As  a result, I have an appreciation for the difficulty of performing pieces such wonderful works as  Schubert’s Fantasie in f minor, Faure’s Dolly Suite and Mendelssohn’s Allegro Brilliante (up to tempo).   I recently had the pleasure to interview pianist Justine Verdier, one half of the piano duo, Duo Pianissimo. Justine will be performing  with her partner Daniel Diaz on December 1st in Bollullos del Condado in Huleva, Spain.

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AP:  What attracted you to the piano duo repertoire?

JV: My piano duo partner is also my partner in life. That is why as a couple of pianists we were naturally attracted to the piano duo repertoire, probably to have the opportunity to share something more mutually. We started playing together and found out that we had a lot of ideas and musical feelings in common, and that somehow we could complete each other while we perform, which is not always easy to find in a chamber music partner. That’s why after our first duo concert experiences we decided to keep playing together seriously and create the Duo Pianissimo.

AP: Do you have a favorite piece or composer?

JV: This is a difficult question for any musician. We actually don’t really have “a” favorite piece, we just play pieces that we like a lot, so it is quite hard to choose which one we appreciate the most. Until now I would say that “our” piece is Ravel’s Spanish Rhapsody because it totally represents our duo – a Spanish piece written by a French composer. Daniel is Spanish and I’m French. Besides, it is a masterwork, full of colours, amazing harmonies and always guarantees a real success with the public.

AP: Do you always play the primo part or do you and your partner switch? Do you play two-piano four-hands?

JV: Until now we haven’t had the opportunity to play the two-piano repertoire because before all else it requires 2 pianos to study, which isn’t always easy to find, and anyway most of the concert organizers already complain because they have have to rent one piano for piano recitals, so imagine what they would say for two pianos! That’s why we didn’t start yet to study the two piano repertoire, but it stays in our plans for the future. In our four hands repertoire, we do switch the parts to have the perspective and experience of playing the two parts and better understand what the other one has to do.

AP: What’s your practice routine for Duo Pianissimo? Do you learn the pieces together from the beginning? How do you work on your ensemble playing? Who is your duo coach?

JV: We always learn the pieces together from the beginning because, in my opinion, it has to sound like one  pianist and no professional pianist that I know would start a piece learning his hands separately. Everything has to become a reflex, that’s why it requires many hours of training together, because during a concert you must be able to deal with any accident, for example any problem with the page-turning…We usually practice the pieces in detail, very slow at the beginning to fix any complicated fingerings, the pedal or the arrangements we might invent to make some passages more comfortable to play. Many times the composers seem to enjoy to cross the hands in very awkward positions or write the same note for both of the pianists. After that, we have to secure the places we might not be together (for example, the chords)…we have our personal ways to solve this problem. And then, after all those technical difficulties are cleared up, we can finally concentrate on the musical ideas, the phrasing and the sound. It takes time.

We don’t presently have a duo coach but we did start playing together on the advice of Rolf Plagge, a great pianist and teacher at the Salzburg Mozarteum, who is himself part of the duo Queen Elizabeth that he created with Wolfgang Manz. He has great experience with the piano duo repertoire, and taught us the very important basics about the ways of practicing, which have nothing to do with the solo piano routine.

AP: What problems do you run into that a solo pianist might not encounter?

JV: As I was taking about when I mentioned the reflexes, the most difficult part of four hands performing is the coordination. Many people think that to play in duo is easier than to play solo just because you have a score. It isn’t true at all, and most of the time I think it is actually more difficult than solo piano: you are not alone, whatever you so (well or bad) might influence your partner, unlike the solo piano where you just have to control everything alone. The score is a big help but personally I don’t read so much the musical text beecause it has to be known already by memory. I just need to read some annotations we write about the interpretation or some risky passages where we have to pay a lot of attention. A concert demands a lot of concentration and you can’t have any instant not focused on what you are doing.

AP: Do you have any tips you’d like to pass on to other duo pianists?

JV: Many pianists just want to play the duo piano repertoire with a friend or their life partner for a concert, or think they would prefer to leave their solo piano projects to create a duo with someone, because it is “easier” or not so stressful. This is just a first impression, of course any professional pianist can find a partner and play together for fun. But in my opinion, if you want to sound professional, it is as hard as solo piano, needs the same practicing time or even more. For example, if you have a very difficult part, you shouldn’t only practice what you have to play as if you would be playing alone, and then just play it with your partner one or two times to check if it goes. The practicing has to be very exact in details, otherwise the listener can hear anything that might not be together. You also have to find some signs or movements you will agree together to secure the ensemble. I also recommend to discuss together the interpretation, instead of letting one of you decide and command everything. After all, it is a duo interpretation and the creation of two musicians sensibilities – that is what is so beautiful about it.

AP: Tell us about your upcoming concerts. Do you have plans to release a CD?

JV: Our next concerts will be in Bollullos del Condado (Huelva, Spain) on December 1st, in March 2010 at the Cziffra Festival in Unieux (France), and then in September 2010 in Cannes (France). We have some concert projects in Mexico and Dubai but they aren’t yet confirmed. We don’t yet have plans to release a CD because I’m still studying a Master of Solo Piano at Salzburg Mozarteum. Daniel is working as a teacher and also has some very important exams to prepare and we haven’t yet found the time. But we do have some live recordings of our concerts.

AP: Thank you, Justine, for taking the time and giving us this insight into the world of Duo Pianissimo.

Rowan Atkinson plays Beethoven

Teaching Piano Students

The other day I ran into the mom of one of my piano students in the check-out line at the grocery store. While we were chatting, another young mother behind me chimed in. “She was my favorite piano teacher,” she said. It took me a moment to realize she was talking about me. I was embarrassed that I didn’t recognize her. When I got home I pulled out old newspaper clippings and found that she’d played in a one of my recitals almost twenty years ago. The students come and go and it’s important to remember that although as teachers we may see hundreds of students over the years, the average piano student may have only two or three piano teachers in their lifetime, and the piano teacher is one of the only teachers that a student will see one-on-one. I thought about that today when I saw this and this.

Sarah Newton writes about the student/teacher relationship which is much more important than that old Czerny book anyway, wouldn’t you say?

Thank you

Thanks, Claudine, for posting AllPiano on the Classical Network. If you haven’t seen it yet, take time to visit Classical-Network.com, a bookmarks site chock full of classical music pages from social networks, blogs, artist and orchestra websites.

And to Natalie Wickham from the Music Matters Blog, a piano teacher’s cornucopia of tips, articles and links, a big thank you for posting this.

Music and the Brain

Music and the arts are important to teen brain development. HT to Sarah Newton for posting this…

According to Dr. Giedd’s brain research, the best teen activities for the brain are those that involve physical activity, academics and the arts. But many teens spend hours in front of a computer screen, playing video games and watching TV instead of engaging in activities that would stimulate different brain pathways for lifelong learning, enjoyment of the arts and the enjoyment of physical activity.

In his web video lecture on the teen brain, Dr. Giedd shows brain research images and presents a good case for why parents would do teens a favor by encouraging endeavors in sports, music, visual arts, creative writing, dance and drama. An argument could be made that some types of media are more brain friendly than others. If teens are watching TV shows such as American Idol and America’s Got Talent, adolescents may be inspired to pursue artsy activities. Video games such as “Rock Band” and “Dance, Dance Revolution”, ones that offer a taste of the arts might be a small step towards healthy brain connections for teens. Read more.