At a gathering in Vancouver recently, the host, who loves piano music but doesn’t play well himself, asked if I would play his favorite piece, Schubert’s Serenade. That meant, sight-read his score. Hmm. In public, so to speak, in front of my childhood piano teacher and other musically well-educated people. This was a daunting prospect for someone who has always considered herself to be a limited (what a lovely euphemism for “rotten”) sight-reader.
OK, let’s do it! Looking at the score, I saw that the melody was played by the hight hand in the middle of the keyboard and the left hand played single notes below and chords above – in other words, crossing hands in every measure! I noticed that the key was D minor and began to count inside myself, “1 and 2 and 3 and."
I played it perfectly!
So what, you might ask? It wasn’t the world’s most complex piece, was it? No, but no one can really know how awful I have always felt about my sight-reading! Reading the Serenade well was an incredible payoff for me, of my months of effort of practicing sight-reading every day for 15 minutes, using fresh-to-my-eyes music, employing the Sight-reading Checklist (the list of steps great sightreaders go through before they start to play, to be blogged next), counting out loud and reading with the metronome at a very slow tempo.
It was one of those “I felt 10-feet tall” moments.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Megan and the Gossec Gavotte
As a young mother in 1967, newly introduced to and excited about the Suzuki method for violin, I wondered how much effect being exposed to the same recording day after day would have on my then-five year old daughter Megan.
I was certainly a keener so I bought the only recording available at that time, John Kendall’s LP Listen and Play. On the recording, for reasons best known to Summy-Birchard, there was a stop after each approximately 30 second piece. This might have been of benefit to a teacher but for one who wanted to let it play all the way through, it was irritating to have to lift the record arm and place it on the next piece. So I made a tape-recording of the platter. In the middle of the Gossec Gavotte, the machine had a kind of hiccup and instead of “da de da da de de dah” it went” da de glup de de dah”. “Oh, well”, I thought to myself, “Megan will know what is intended”.
I put the recording on every day, as I was supposed to do. Some weeks later, Megan was lying on the living room carpet, coloring and singing to herself. I heard the Gossec Gavotte, “da de glup de de dah”.
I made a new recording that day.
I was certainly a keener so I bought the only recording available at that time, John Kendall’s LP Listen and Play. On the recording, for reasons best known to Summy-Birchard, there was a stop after each approximately 30 second piece. This might have been of benefit to a teacher but for one who wanted to let it play all the way through, it was irritating to have to lift the record arm and place it on the next piece. So I made a tape-recording of the platter. In the middle of the Gossec Gavotte, the machine had a kind of hiccup and instead of “da de da da de de dah” it went” da de glup de de dah”. “Oh, well”, I thought to myself, “Megan will know what is intended”.
I put the recording on every day, as I was supposed to do. Some weeks later, Megan was lying on the living room carpet, coloring and singing to herself. I heard the Gossec Gavotte, “da de glup de de dah”.
I made a new recording that day.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Classical Calm
This past week I got an entirely different slant on the broader benefits of listening to classical music. And this one is for the dogs!
As I was finishing up a lesson with an exceptionally talented 18-year-old young man, I commented on his remarkable ability to connect with the music and communicate through his playing. I asked him how he gets himself into this seemingly altered state when he plays the piano, particularly Mozart. He really could not answer my question, but he told me that ever since he was a little boy, classical music has had a powerful effect on him. Giving an example, he shared his experience as a little boy. Whenever the family went on a long car trip and he got rambunctious or irritable, his mother turned on the Pachelbel Cannon. Soon thereafter, he “zoned out,” as he described the feeling, settled down and usually fell asleep.
Two sisters waiting for the next lesson heard this conversation and added their special story. The interesting difference was that their story was about their dogs! Each of them had gotten her own fluffy white puppy for Christmas. One day when the dogs were with them in the car, the teenage sister turned on the radio and tuned in some rock music. The dogs suddenly became agitated and began to bark incessantly. So the girls turned the rock off. A bit later their mother tuned in the classical music station. The dogs appeared to calm down even more. The girls and their mother talked about how the dogs reacted to the music. They tested the little Bichon Frise/Poodle pups by playing both rock and classical music. Sure enough, the dogs barked frantically during the rock music and quieted down immediately when the classical music was played. Ever since discovering that classical music has such a soothing effect on the dogs, they tune in the classical music station whenever they leave the dogs home alone. The dogs consequently stay calm and out of trouble. Perhaps this is a potential new market for music therapists.
As I was finishing up a lesson with an exceptionally talented 18-year-old young man, I commented on his remarkable ability to connect with the music and communicate through his playing. I asked him how he gets himself into this seemingly altered state when he plays the piano, particularly Mozart. He really could not answer my question, but he told me that ever since he was a little boy, classical music has had a powerful effect on him. Giving an example, he shared his experience as a little boy. Whenever the family went on a long car trip and he got rambunctious or irritable, his mother turned on the Pachelbel Cannon. Soon thereafter, he “zoned out,” as he described the feeling, settled down and usually fell asleep.
Two sisters waiting for the next lesson heard this conversation and added their special story. The interesting difference was that their story was about their dogs! Each of them had gotten her own fluffy white puppy for Christmas. One day when the dogs were with them in the car, the teenage sister turned on the radio and tuned in some rock music. The dogs suddenly became agitated and began to bark incessantly. So the girls turned the rock off. A bit later their mother tuned in the classical music station. The dogs appeared to calm down even more. The girls and their mother talked about how the dogs reacted to the music. They tested the little Bichon Frise/Poodle pups by playing both rock and classical music. Sure enough, the dogs barked frantically during the rock music and quieted down immediately when the classical music was played. Ever since discovering that classical music has such a soothing effect on the dogs, they tune in the classical music station whenever they leave the dogs home alone. The dogs consequently stay calm and out of trouble. Perhaps this is a potential new market for music therapists.
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