Journeying Inside the Piano With Nils Frahm's Felt

Felt, a fascinating new project from Nils Frahm, looks at the acoustic possibilities of placing microphones within the piano so that they capture the hidden sounds of the piano's internal mechanism before the notes sound. From the Felt page on Soundcloud:

'Originally I wanted to do my neighbours a favour by damping the sound of my piano. If I want to play piano during the quiet of the night, the only respectful way is by layering thick felt in front of the strings and using very gentle fingers. It was then that I discovered that my piano sounds beautiful with the damper.’

Captivated by this sonic exposition, he placed the microphones so deep inside the piano that they were almost touching the strings. This brought a host of external sounds to the recordings which most producers would try their hardest to hide:

‘I hear myself breathing and panting, the scraping sound of the piano's action and the creaking of my wooden floorboards – all equally as loud as the music. The music becomes a contingency, a chance, an accident within all this rustling. My heart opens and I wonder what exactly it is that makes me feel so happy.’

Here are two excerpts:

  Nils Frahm - Felt (teaser) by erasedtapes

Stay tuned for the entire album, which will be released on October 11...

Creating a Better Registration Path For Your Studio

If you're managing a busy studio schedule, the process of contacting, interviewing, waiting for decisions, and placing students can be quite complex this time of year. Using Lists to Create a More Efficient Registration Path is my latest article for Music Teacher's Helper that looks at how you better be aware of a student's status every step of the way. If you've got 30 or more people in your studio, knowing the registration status of every single student is critical. The process I outlined in the MTH article owes much to John Paul Hatala's Flowork Model, the Kanban model of industrial management, and my current fascination with productivity apps on the iPad (I'm using Infinote to track studio registration).

Lady Gaga's Bad Romance Played as a Fugue on a 250-year-old Organ

Many of you will remember the arrangement of Lady Gaga's Bad Romance played as 3-voice fugue from a few months ago. Here's the same Giovanni Dettori fugue arrangement, played by Matthias Rascher on a 1756 Johann Philipp Seuffert pipe organ in the Maria Limbach Pilgrimage Church in Lower Franconia:
 


BTW if you're not yet sold on Lady Gaga, take a look at this video of her awesome keyboard skills.

(Thanks, Mona!)

Bryn Terfel and Llŷr Williams at Verbier

Baritone Bryn Terfel and pianist Llŷr Williams bring a great deal of intimacy and detail to Schubert in this recital from the Verbier Festival a few weeks ago. Part I is embedded below, with links to the rest of the recital (Schuman Liederkreis 39, Ibert Don Quichotte, Quilter Shakespear Songs, and a tribute to John Charles Thomas) following.



Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V
Part VI
Part VII
Part VIII

A Blow to Classical Music Criticism in Canada

Sad news out of Toronto - the Star's John Terauds, the only full-time classical music critic in English Canada, will be moving to the business desk of the Toronto Star. In addition to his fine writing in the paper and online versions of the Star, he also wrote Sound Mind, one of Canada's top classical music blogs. Over the last few years, John has been giving excellent accounts of the people and organizations involved in Toronto's growing classical music scene. I suppose that the Star will be using freelance journalists to cover classical music from now on, but quality can often be lacking from freelancers with little or no experience in the classical scene.

WholeNote's Colin Eatock writes:

If he's right, and “the future is freelance,” then I must be living in the future. And believe me, the future is pretty lean, and there’s no dental plan. His abrupt departure from the music beat at the Star once again raises the question of how classical music criticism can continue to sustain itself.

Is This the First Mention of the Words "Collaborative Pianist"?

Although the term "collaborative pianist" is generally known to have been coined by Samuel Sanders in the early 80's, less is known about when the term was first used in the press. Fortunately, Google News is a very useful tool for this kind of search. The first usage of the words "collaborative pianist" in print was from a review of cellist Barbara Mallow in the New York Times of Monday, March 13, 1978 by Joseph Horowitz. The first pianist referred to in this manner was not Samuel Sanders but Albert Lotto:

Albert Lotto was the strong, richly collaborative pianist in the Beethoven and Brahms works, and Carol Stcin Amado was the capable violinist.

Looking closely at the sentence, the usage in this sentence isn't in relation to Albert Lotto as a "collaborative pianist", but as a pianist with "strong, richly collaborative" abilities. Could Samuel Sanders have read this specific Joseph Horowitz review, prompting him to coin a new term for the entire accompanying field?

While you're contemplating, here's a video of Albert Lotto playing the Liszt Sonetto del Petrarca #104 in 2009. As always, your comments and reminiscences on this issue are welcome.

Collaborative Piano Studies at the Eastman School of Music

The Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester offers both Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in Piano Accompanying and Chamber Music, presided over by Dr. Jean Barr, who was the first person ever to be awarded a doctorate in the field. About the program:

The training of pianists as artistic collaborators is the goal of the graduate programs in piano accompanying. Collaborative pianists must have the same technical skills as soloists, plus knowledge of languages, diction, sonata and duo repertory, vocal repertory, and chamber music. Recital requirements include performances with instrumentalists and vocalists. The lively performance scene at Eastman creates a willing body of collaborators and many performance opportunities for accompanying majors. Guest artists and lecturers have included Bettie Buccheri, Jonathan Feldman, Graham Johnson, Warren Jones, Martin Katz, Gwendolyn Koldofsky, Tom Muraco, Robert Spillman, and Roger Vignoles.

There is plenty of information on the site, with sections on audition requirements and procedures, audition information for current Eastman students, detailed course information, and handbooks for each degree.

If you're interested in applying for one of the Eastman programs, you'll need to take a close look at the Accompanying Audition Repertoire List, especially regarding the song selections, which you'll need to learn in high, medium, and low keys.

For more information, contact Dr. Jean Barr at jbarr [at] esm dot rochester dot edu.

Disclaimer: I studied at the Eastman School of Music, where I received both a Master of Music (1991) and Doctor of Musical Arts (1994).

Complete listing of Degree and Diploma Programs in Collaborative Piano

You Know You Went To Eastman When...

If you went to the Eastman School of Music any time in the last 40 years, you might want to check out the fast and furious action on the You know you went to Eastman when... Facebook group. Part reminiscence, part group therapy, and part cultish ritual, the group is a great place to remember the great ice storm of 1991, practicing in the basement of the annex after hours, or surviving 3am fire drills in the old dorm...

The Sima Trio Plays the Babajanian Piano Trio

The Sima Trio are violinist Sami Merdinian, cellist Ani Kalayjian, and pianist Sofya Melikyan. Here they are in a brilliant performance of the Arno Babajanian Piano Trio's third movement:

(Via Sounds and Fury)

31 Days to Better Practicing - The Free Ebook

If you're learning an instrument and you want to improve your playing, learn music, or get more enjoyment out of playing, the one thing you need to do above all else is practice.

So begins the month-long Collaborative Piano Blog series on practicing that I wrote in the fall of 2007. Many musicians have difficulty in knowing how to structure their practice sessions, and much of my writing has been an attempt to help them discover a more engaging practice process.

I'm pleased to announce that 31 Days to Better Practicing is now an ebook available to everyone at no cost. Head on over to my Posterous site, where you can either view the ebook online or download your own copy. 

Pianists: Why You May Need to Mark in Rehearsal

In staging rehearsals, a rehearsal pianist is often expected to play some musical sequences 20 or more times in a row. My personal record is 50 times through the dance sequence of "Cool" from Bernstein's West Side Story for dance auditions this January. This kind of repetition can be not only mind-numbing, but can also lead to repetitive stress injuries. Proper learning and adequate thought about one's technical setup can only go part of the way when you need to repeat a section dozens of times for staging.

Just like classical singers, you may need to mark. Take a look at Geraldine in a Bottle's Can accompanists mark? for some excellent advice on when and how to let up on a long rehearsal day. The trick is to play slightly softer, leaving out notes when necessary, but with the same rhythmic impetus and intent. Remember to pace yourself, learn the music properly in the first place, don't go on autopilot, and be aware of your technical setup at all times.

Pianists: how do you cope with long hours of rehearsing?

The Top 30 Classical Music Blogs for August 2011

From Wikio, here are the latest monthly rankings of the top 30 classical music blogs. It's always great to see another pianist on the list, and this month Susan Tomes's blog moves up to #27.

1	Alex Ross: The Rest Is Noise
2	Nico Muhly
3	Opera Chic
4	Adaptistration
5	Musical Assumptions
6	Sandow
7	The Opera Tattler
8	Opera Today
9	Sequenza21/
10	MusicaSacra
11	Clef Notes
12	Michael Huebner's Blog & Column - al.com
13	oboeinsight
14	The Collaborative Piano Blog
15	Proper Discord
16	Ionarts
17	Elaine Fine's Thematic Catalog
18	AfriClassical
19	A Beast in a Jungle
20	Erica Ann Sipes - pianist and cellist
21	Andrew Patner: The View from Here
22	Of Music and Men
23	Eric Edberg
24	Jason Heath's Double Bass Blog
25	The Stark Raving Cello Blog
26	Bryan Pinkall's World of Opera
27	Susan Tomes: Pianist & writer
28	Lynn Harrell
29	Chamber Music Today
30	The Classical Beat

Choosing the Best North American Cities to Work In

If you're going to freelance as a teacher or a performer in a tough economic climate, it's all about location. The initial decision you make on where to live can have a lasting impact on the quantity and quality of opportunities that you have as a musician. If you have yet to make the decision on where to work as a teacher or performer, your choice of location is crucial. For example, one of the reasons that I've been able to work so steadily much both as a teacher and freelance performer is that I decided to live first in the urban areas of Vancouver, then Toronto, two quickly growing Canadian cities with active cultural communities.

If you're in Canada, a 2006 Hill Strategies report on Artists in Large Canadian Cities has an fascinating statistic of the top urban areas with a large concentration of artists (page 8):

1. Vancouver
2. Victoria
3. North Vancouver
4. Toronto
5. Montreal
6. Saanich
7. Halifax.
8. St. John's, Fredericton, New Westminster (tied)
11. Oakville

Since 1994 I've chosen to live in New Westminster (8) and Oakville (11), communities on the periphery of Vancouver and Toronto respectively.

CIBC World Markets just published another metric - the Metropolitan Economic Activity Index, whose top 10 cities are:

1. Toronto
2. Kitchener
3. Winnipeg
4. Regina
5. Montreal
6. Quebec City
7. Vancouver
8. Halifax
9. Ottawa
10. Hamilton

In the United States, Rice University's Kinder Center for Urban Research lists the top 25 growing US cities, of which the top 10 are below:

1. Houston
2. Dallas-Fort Worth
3. Atlanta
4. Riverside, CA
5. Phoenix
6. Washington, DC
7. Las Vegas
8. New York
9. Miami
10. Orlando

Forbes also has a list of the top 15 cities for young adults. Here are its top 10:

1. Des Moines
2. Raleigh
3. Madison
4. Salt Lake City
5.Omaha
6. Portland, Maine
7. Denver
8. Colorado Springs
9. Washington, DC
10. Minneapolis-St. Paul

How has your decision to settle in a particular city affected your career in positive and negative ways?