Happy New Year! And I’m back blogging again!!!

OMG It’s been a very long time since my last post here! The last few months have been incredibly busy, but very rewarding too! I have been teaching at full speed, playing concerts, started taking piano lessons again, rehearsing lots of new pieces and preparing for upcoming auditions and music festivals. A great way to start the new year, I think!

One of my resolutions for the new year, include do some kind of sport (the only sport I do now is to tickle the ivories… ha ha), learn to play jazz (oh, yeah!!), get back to reading interesting books, keep sharing my passion for music and arts (of course!), blogging, and a gazillion other resolutions (I’ll be lucky if I get to half of them… lol)! But I think among all of them, I would definitely  include doing something back to the community! I think Spokane has a great potential and I really would love to help nurture the arts and music community in some way or another!

In 2011, it will be five years since I moved to Spokane. These past five years have been challenging, definitely, but so rewarding!!! I went from having no prospect at all with a career in music, having no piano to practice nor teach, no money for college and having all my family and friends in the other side of the world, to graduating from college, being granted  for a full year with a brand new beautiful piano that I could have never dreamed of (not even on my most remote dreams), started my own piano studio with amazing students, married my loving husband, and had a chance to meet some new great friends along the way!

As hard it may seemed at times, in retrospect, I’m so thankful for my time here in Spokane. Not many people can say they do what they love, and please, I don’t intend to brag about it at all!  And don’t get me wrong, a musician’s life is hard! It requires a lot of hours of daily practice just to keep up with your level of skills, plus lots of hard work on teaching, composing, performing, and studying music in general acquire more knowledge and understanding of music on a much deeper level.

Nonetheless, I have learned a lot in my time here and I just wanted to share some of my thoughts! I am very excited for the 2011 with lots of great projects coming up! I’ll keep you posted!

I wish an awesome New Year to all of you!!!!

Recording on a Digital Piano

Recently, I have been experimenting with a lot different ways to record piano music. As much as I love the sound of an acoustic piano, I decided to experiment with the digital piano to see what kind of sound I could get with it. A few weeks ago, I blogged on the 200th anniversary of Robert Schumann, which you can read more about here. So, this week I decided to record a little of Dreaming from Scenes of Childhood by Robert Schumann.

I hope you enjoy!

Listen to Dreaming by Schumann here

New Recording is Up!

Today I was very inspired to play Romantic Composers, so I decided to record the Chopin’s Nocturne in B-flat Major, op.9, n.2. This was the very first nocturne I ever learned many years ago, and I still remember how technically challenging this piece was at first. All the thrills, ornaments, pedaling, left hand jumps, the octaves on the right hand and the little cadenza at the end plus all the artistic expression seem to be endlessly difficult at the time.

Now, I look back and I realize how technically simple this piece has became for me after all those years. Also, I never thought back then that understanding the music theory behind this nocturne would actually help me play it technically and artistically better. Its harmonies are actually quite simple and they reoccur many times throughout the piece.

This is a very simple recording and I am still deepening my understanding and the meaning of this work, with many more things to mature and develop on my own playing, but I hope your enjoy!

Click here to listen to Chopin’s nocturne op.9, n.2.mp3

“Liszt’s Manner of Giving Lessons” – Part II (continuation)

This blog is the last part of three posts about Siloti’s experiences and impressions on this master and teacher Franz Liszt, originally published on the book “Siloti’s Memories” by Meethven Simposon, and later printed on the The Etude edition of July 1920.

Liszt’s Manner of Giving Lessons”

Liszt’s lessons were of a totally different order from the common run. As a rule he sat beside, or stood opposite to, the pupil who was playing, and indicated by the expression of his face the nuances he wished to have brought into the music. It was only for the first two months that he taught me in front of all the other pupils; after I went to him in the morning when I was working at any specially big thing, and he taught me by myself. I always knew so throughly what I wanted to express in each piece of music that I was able to look at Liszt’s face all the time I was playing.

No one else in the world could show musical phrases as he did, merely by the expression of his face. If a pupil understood these fine shades, so much better for him; if not, so much for the worst! Liszt told me that he could explain nothing to pupils who did not understand him from first. He never told us what to work at; each pupil could prepare what he liked. All we had to do when we came to the lesson was to lay the piano at the piano; Liszt the picked out the things he wished to hear.

There were only two things we were not allowed to bring: Liszt’s 2nd Rhapsody (because it was too often played) and Beethoven’s Sonata quasi una fantasia which Liszt in his time had played incomparably, as was afterwards proven to me. Neither did he like anyone to prepare Chopin’s Scherzo in B-flat minor, which he nicknamed the “Governess” Scherzo, saying that it ought to be reserved for those people who were qualifying for the post of governess. Everything else of Chopin’s, particularly his Preludes, he delighted in hearing. He insisted on a poetical interpretation, not a “salon” performance, and it irritated him when the group of small notes were played too quickly, “conservatorium-fashion” as he called it” (The Etude, p.448).

“Liszt’s Manner of Giving Lessons” – Part II

This post is Part II of the original article from the July 1920 edition of The Etude by Alexander Siloti on his thoughts and experiences studying with Franz Liszt.

“To describe Liszt’s lessons in such a way as to give an idea of his personality would be impossible. It is necessary to see certain and certain people if one would have a clear impression of them. There were thirty or forty of us young fellows, and I remember  that (…) we looked small and feeble besides the old man, shrunken with age. He was literally like a sun in our midst; when we were with him we fest the rest of the world to be in shadow, and when we left his presence, out hearts were so filled with gladness that our faces were, all unconsciously, wreathed in rapturous smiles.

The lesson took place three times a week – on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays – from four to six o’clock. Anybody who wished could come and have a lesson without paying a farthing. Liszt remembered his own desire, when quire a boy, to enter the Paris Conservatory, and the refusal to admit him on the part of the director (Cherubini) because he was a foreigner. This refusal, he said, made such an impression on him that he voweled to himself that if he ever became a great musician he would give lessons without taking any payment. It was practically a condition that men should come to the lessons, not in frock coats, but wearing lounge jackets, and that ladies should be simply dressed – the idea that the poorer pupils should not feel uncomfortable besides the richer ones” (The Etude, p.447).

©2010 Spokane Piano Studio

“Liszt’s Wonderful Hospitality” – Part I

The following are thoughts extracted from the July 1920 edition of The Etude by Alexander Siloti on his experiences studying with the composer and pianist Franz Liszt.

“I packed up my belongings – not for my new quarters, but for Russia – and, taking with me Chopin’s Ballade in A-flat, I went to Liszt for my lesson. As I approached the house the same sinking sensation which I had experienced at table came over me again,  and I went into my lesson as to a final ordeal before I started back in Russia. Liszt said good-morning to me very kindly. There were about twenty-five pupils present. Somebody played something – I do not remember what it was – then came my turn. I sat down and began the Ballade, but I had only played two bars when Liszt stopped me, saying: “Si, signore, si, signore,” said Liszt in Italian, smiling a trifle maliciously. I continued playing, but he stopped me several times and played over certain passages for me. When I got up from the piano I felt bewitched. I looked at Liszt, and was conscious of a gradual change in myself. My whole being became suffused by a glow of warmth and goodness, and by the end of my lesson I could not believe that, only two hours before, I had packed my things and wanted to run away. I left Liszt’s house a different being, and was convinced that I should stay and study with him. All my trouble – that feeling of loneliness and helplessness, arising from my ignorance of the language – as if it at the touch of a magic hand. I had become all at once a man who knew his own mind; I realized that there was a sun to whose rays I could turn for warmth and comfort” (The Etude, p.447).

Liszt was undoubtedly consider one of the great pianists in the history of music. His vast knowledge and music skills were obviously present through his virtuosic playing and his teachings. He inspired his students to not only become better at piano playing, but to enrich their lives and become better people through music. This is an example that all music teachers should embrace. Music should not be about knowing how to play “the notes”, but it should be a channel to better comprehend the world around us and to express our feelings, thoughts and our souls.

Very Rare Music Publications from 1905-1920’s

A few months ago, one of my students gave a collections of antique scores and music magazines from the about  1905’s and 1920’s that he had found in a garage sale. The pages were very warned out and fragile,  but I have found these incredibly fascinating with lots of great insights on how people understood and taught music almost a century ago. Among these rare publications, there was The Etude, which was a U.S Magazine  with its first publication in October 1883, and its last publication in 1957. The articles in this magazine were targeted to both musicians and amateurs, including subjects varying from music history, pedagogy, gossips and piano sheet music.

One of these collections of The Etude (July 1920) tells us about Liszt’s teaching style by one of his own pupils, Alexander Siloti, who was considered one of the great Russian pianists and masters of his time. Since the article is quite long, I will be dividing the next posts for this blog into three parts, with Part I talking about “Liszt’s Wonderful Hospitality” and Part II, about Liszt’s Manner of Giving Lessons”, and Part III on Liszt’s Manner of Giving Lessons” (continuation). The original article were excerpts extracted from the complete authorized English translation of the book “Siloti’s Memories”, by Meethven Simposon.

Stay tuned for more updates in this post about interesting thoughts and facts on the great pianist and composer Franz Liszt! 😉

Connecting Music and Arts on the Streets!

In 2010, many places around the world will have a chance to see the “Play Me – I’m Yours” project, which combines music and artwork in urban settings. The project has been touring internationally since 2008 and it was created by artist Luke Jerram. The largest exhibition will happen in New York for the next two weeks this Summer. The project will feature 60 pianos around the streets of New York, including locations such as parks, train locations, bus shelters, sidewalks and street corners for anyone to play.

The pianos are painted by different artists and each piano acts as a reflection of the community in which they are placed. The installations attracts a wide range of people closer to the arts, from individuals with no music experience to experienced performers.

Music and arts are a vital part of our society because they give us an opportunity for self-expression, which helps us to find significance in life. This is a wonderful project because it not only promotes the arts, but it brings your everyday people closer to them. By keeping these important elements alive in our daily lives, we will be building and developing stronger and healthier communities. Music and arts should know no boundaries or barriers and they should be seen limitlessly.

For more information, videos, pictures and highlights of “Play Me – I’m Yours” project, visit:

http://www.streetpianos.com/

©2010 Spokane Piano Studio