Ready for Christmas! Here is a great way to have fun with the family, enjoy some music, inspire your children in their musicCome join us Friday, December 5th at 730 p.m. & Saturday, December 6th at Beargrass Christian Church. It is located at 4100 Shelbyville Road, Louisville, KY 40207. And yes, it's free!
We will be featuring guest conductor Jason Hart Raff and, some of my friends, The Misty Mountain String Band. So come enjoy some of your musical holiday favorites!
Some of the selections includes:
Music from the movie Frozen, The Night Before Christmas (narrated by Helen Starr Jones),Sleigh Ride, Overture on French Carols, Evening Prayer and Dream Pantomime from Hansel and Gretel, Rejoice from Messiah (featuring soprano Darlene Welch), O Holy Night, The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers, O Little Town of Bethlehem, andThe Bells of Paradise
You are a 3/4 of the way through the book and are now going to embark on the 3 Minuets of J.S. Bach! You are now playing Bach, this a good step up! Bach wrote these minuets originally for his wife to play on the harpsichord. Here are some tips to get started: Structure. The piece is organized in two main sections, but we can think of the song in 3 parts (more why below). Here’s how they are played: part 1 mezzo forte (line 1-2), part 2 piano then mezzo forte (line 3-4), part 3 piano then mezzo forte (line 5-6). New Skills. 1. Hook Bows. This bow stroke is also called portato and is played down-down or up-up. You will recognize this in the music where there is a curved line over two notes and dots above them in measures 1 and 3. The best way to work your hook bow for now it to play with a smooth bow and stopping between the two notes. Another way of saying this is don't play hook bows with crunches and squeezing, since it will not give you a good tone. 2. Low-High Two. In the previous piece, Etude, low 2 on A and E string was introduced. But now, in part 1 and 3 we have low 2 on the A string and high 2 in part 2. This is why I break the piece up in three parts, so that it is easier to remember where the high 2 is played. 3. Artistry. Since the Minuet is a dance in 3/4 time, once the song is flowing we can emphasize the first note of every measure with more bow. The emphasis of the first beat in a Minuet is a way to make it more professional and expressive. Strategies: 1. Warm-up with the bow exercises, now with an emphasis on hook bows. 2. Play the finger concerto with low 2 and high 2. Play on every string once with low 2 then with high 2 and that will make it easier to switch between them. 3. Play through the piece with all low 2s then bring the high 2 back in part 2. You can also do it the other way, play everything high 2 and then add the low 2s where they belong. 4. Play along with the Youtube video above and other recordings. 5. Be creative with your playing this week, add hook bows to all the songs you know.
What do you think? Do you have any tips? Any questions, suggestions or concerns? Let me hear from you.
In our first and second posts on Ludwig van Beethoven we looked at his early life and music. We will now look at the big changes that would await him in his later years as well as some of his most famous works.
Big Changes In April 1800, Ludwig rented a
concert hall and performed some of Mozart’s and Haydn’s pieces. He also played a few of his own newly composed. The concert didn’t really turn out well, mostly
because the orchestra didn't follow the soloist.
Around this time, Ludwig began
giving music lessons to the daughters of Countess Anna Brunsvik. He fell in
love with the younger daughter, Josephine. But since she was the daughter of a
countess, and he was only a poor composer, she married off to someone else soon
after he began giving her lessons. Beethoven was very picky about the students that he took on and, at the same time, very dedicated to those he accepted. One of
the most famous were Carl Czerny who later taught Franz Lizst.
The next few years were a bit more prosperous for Ludwig mostly due to the fact that his brother came and
helped him manage his money and sell his music.
But, at age 26, Ludwig tragically began to lose his hearing. He suffered from a ringing in his ears that eventually made
him completely deaf. So little by little he could not hear the music he composed. Ludwig also
suffered from stomach pain all his life. He moved to a small country town
outside Vienna hoping that it would help his health, which led him to become very depressed during this time. He
didn’t want to keep on living, but he wrote a letter to his brothers saying
that he would continue to live for and through music.
When Ludwig returned to Vienna, he
began composing more heroic, grand pieces, like his Fifth Symphony. He was very
ill at different times during this period. He was also nursing his brother
through tuberculosis and taking care of his family, which took a great deal of
his money.
His Final Years
When his brother died, he fought his
nephew’s mother for guardianship of his nephew, because Ludwig thought he could
take better care of him. (This nephew’s mother was, among other things, a
convicted thief, so it’s no wonder Ludwig didn’t trust her.) During the last
years of his life, he tried to control his nephew’s life, but it didn’t turn
out very well.
He wrote his Ninth Symphony in those
last years. At the time, he had begun studying older pieces of music in depth –
mostly music by Handel and J. S. Bach. But his health was getting worse and
worse, and on March 26, 1827, Ludwig died at age 56. The story goes that there
was a huge clap of thunder, and the dying man sat up in bed and shook his fist
at the thunder, defying nature even as he died.
Music
Ludwig van Beethoven is one of the
most famous composers of all time. Some of his well-known pieces include the MoonlightSonata, the Ninth Symphony, Fur Elise, and the Pathetiquesonata.
He also wrote one opera, called Fidelio.
Beethoven is an important composer
because he helped usher music into its next stage, the Romantic era, by writing
powerful, grand pieces. So, he is famous as both a classical and a romantic
composer. His life was full of trouble and sickness, but he refused to let that
stop him from writing his music. His music is sometimes grand and exciting, and
at other times it is soft and sensitive. No one can deny that he is one of the
best composers that has ever lived.
Your child's recital is tomorrow and you are unsure what to do. Maybe you can say that you are anxious because you do not want your child to mess up. Here are some quick tips that will help in preparation for the recital:
1. Pack. Check your bag and instrument
twice the night before and the day of the recital; you want to make sure
you have everything you need. 2. Early is on time. Get there 20-30 minutes early to get settled in, unpack, use the bathroom, warm-up, and not feel rushed. 3. Encourage.
Tell your child how good they are doing, reassure them that you enjoy
their music, and give them some specific compliments. This is not the
time to ask them, "Are you ready?" or "Did you practice enough?" or "Are
you nervous?" These kinds of questions will just raise the anxiety
level of your child and will not help anyone perform their best. They
are already nervous, so be there for them to bolster their confidence. 4. Remember. Talk through what to do when it's their turn to perform, like you discussed in lessons with your teacher. 5. Enjoy. Look
forward to the recital, enjoy yourself, socialize, video record what
your child is playing, bring snacks for the reception and enjoy them
with people. Your attitude will affect others around you, so make the
most of the recital.
Are these tips helpful? What have you been doing to make recitals a good experience?
In our first post on Ludwig van Beethoven, we looked at his beginnings in music. He was first taught music by his father and performed regularly, then got the opportunity to study under and work for Christian Neefe.
Rise to Fame
After the death of his mother, Beethoven's father Johann turned to alcohol to find comfort in his sadness over his wife’s death. So eighteen-year-old Ludwig not only had to deal with his mother’s death and his father’s drinking problems, but he also took charge of his two younger brothers. As a result, Ludwig stayed in Bonn for the next five years, playing the viola in the court orchestra to earn money to support himself and his brothers.
A few years pass and in March 1792, at the age of 22 Ludwig left for Vienna to study and work on his counterpoint under Franz Josef Haydn and a few other teachers. It was around this time that he composed the Piano Trios. Soon after he arrived, he heard that his father had died. It was at this time that Ludwig started becoming popular and making a name for himself in Vienna over the next few years by improvising music for parties he was hired to play, performing many Bach pieces which he had memorized. During this time, Ludwig wrote pieces of music in the Classical style, like Mozart and Haydn. Soon, not only was Beethoven becoming popular for his extraordinary performance skills, but he was also slowly becoming famous for his compositions. Many rich and famous people paid him money for his musical work, even though he was known around Vienna as a rude and short-tempered man with a disdain for authority and high rank. He stopped playing if the audience whispered among themselves or made any noise and refused to perform if someone asked him to play without giving him previous warning. However, his rude behavior was always overlooked because of his great talent and passion. Guest author:Rachel Holbrook
Come back next week for Part 3!
Welcome to the 1st piece out of 5 that Dr. Suzuki composed for this book. Students typically enjoy Allegro because it’s fast and staccato, here are some tips to make it worthwhile:
Playing Position. Go to playing position a few times with your eyes closed. This will help challenge you to get ready to play. Structure. The piece is laid out in 2 parts. Here’s how they are played: part 1 forte (first line), part 1 forte (second line), part 2 dolce (third line), part 1 forte (fourth line). New Skills. 1. Theory.Allegro means fast, live, with energy. Ritardandomeans to gradually slow down. A Tempo means play at the original speed. Fermata means to hold it out at least 2 times the worth of the note. Tenuto means to play the notes with big bow to have a sustained sound. 2. Speed. At the beginning of part 2 (the third line) you will notice that it has the word dolce, which means sweetly, underneath the notes. To play sweetly musicians usually play with a long and smooth bow at a slower tempo. That is why we see the dashes on top of the notes (tenuto). This is a great opportunity for us to try part 2 at different speeds. Not only that, but at the end of part 2 we have a rit. so we slow down in different ways. I challenge students to hold out the last note of part 2 as long as possible. 3. Always Down. If you look at the beginning of each line, it starts down. So, after the last note of line 1-3 you need to lift the bow and place it back at the middle. Strategies: 1. Warm-up with the bow exercises, now with an emphasis on long and smooth bows. 2. Play and say the fingerings to focus your mind on the notes that you are playing. 3. Practice making the last note of each line very long and then pause to place the bow at the middle. This way, the bow will be silent as you prepare to start the next line. Over time you will be able to do it quicker and quicker, do not rush yourself because it will prevent you from playing your best. 4. Play along with the Youtube video above and other recordings. 5. Be creative with your playing this week, add dolce to all the songs you know.
What do you think? Do you have any tips? Any questions, suggestions or concerns? Let me hear from you.
In America, the colonists are
fighting for liberty from Britain. Jane Austen publishes her first novel, Sense
and Sensibility, in 1811. Napoleon Bonaparte conquers much of Europe. In
France, the peasants revolt against King Louis, and thousands of people are
murdered on the guillotine. Mozart is still giving concerts as a young man.
Early Life
Ludwig van Beethoven was born in December
16, 1770 to Johann and Maria van Beethoven. (Maria’s father was a chef at the
court of an archbishop.) Little Ludwig was first taught music by his father.
Some people say that Ludwig’s father was a harsh teacher, but we don’t know that
for a fact. What is true is that Johann van Beethoven tried to exploit his
son’s talent perhaps for money, and make him famous like Mozart. Johann even
pretended that Ludwig was six instead of seven in the advertisements for
Ludwig’s concerts. Around that time, Ludwig was also taught by friends of the
family and relatives.
Soon after, Ludwig had the
opportunity to study composition with an important teacher in Bonn named
Christian Gottleb Neefe. Even though Ludwig did not get much education besides
music, he became very interested in philosophy and literature. His interest was
spurred on by the fact that Bonn was a place where people discussed new ideas
constantly.
In March 1783, Ludwig had one of his
compositions published and began working for Christian Neefe as an assistant
organist. The Variations in C Minor on a march by Earnst Christoph Dressleris the first works he composed and published. Around
this time, Ludwig was introduced to several important people who liked his
music and some of them became his patrons later. A few years later, in March
1787, Ludwig traveled to Vienna to take lessons with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
We do not know if they actually met, because after just two months in Vienna,
Ludwig received the news that his mother was dying, so he rushed back to Bonn.
