Aussie Musician

Piano Teaching In Four Sentences

2011-06-15T14:23:00.002+10:00

I'm sure I posted this before, but I can't find where.

This is a combination of Déjà vu and amnesia, I suppose, because I'm sure I remember forgetting it before:

Jules Massenet said that piano teaching involves knowing four sentences:

1. Bonjour, Mademoiselle

2. Not so fast/slow

3. Less pedal, please

4. Give my regards to your mother

Simple, eh!

Invitation

2010-09-02T08:57:00.000+10:00

I may not post much here any more, because I'm writing for Mitchell Conservatorium at the address in the link at the top.

Mitchell Conservatorium is the place where I have worked over the past ten years.

I am enjoying writing about the musical opportunities offered by our regional conservatorium and also about Music generally.

And getting paid a small amount to do it.

So come on over!

Alexander Tsiboulski

2010-07-26T23:32:00.000+10:00

Enjoyed seeing a whole page article about Alexander Tsiboulski, terrific new face in Australian classical guitar, in August's edition of Limelight magazine.

You can hear his playing at his Myspace page.

Alexander's All-Australian Naxos CD features more of the music he has sampled for us on his Myspace page.

I love the performance of the Granados Spanish dance he also has up there. Those dances, originally written for piano, sound superb when played by a sensitive guitarist.

In the Limelight article, Alexander made a great comment about one of the benefits of teaching, when he said that Teaching is a fantastic medium for developing one's own thinking and communication skills.

Effort Brings Success

2010-07-13T11:55:00.003+10:00

The motto of Blaxland High School, the last place where I engaged in crowd control [which some people call high school music teaching] is Effort Earns Success. It used to bug me. Success seems to come easily to some people, whereas others try hard and fail.

ABC Lateline interviewer, Leigh Sales asked Matthew Syed, journalist and former table tennis champion What weight do you give innate talent versus hard work and opportunity?

Syed replied that he gives innate talent almost no weight at all. He would agree with Tennyson that
The heights by great men, reached and kept
Were not attained by sudden flight
But they, while their companions slept
Toiled upward in the night.

He says that great athletes and musicians are made, not born. Some, like Ian Thorpe, may have all the right equipment, but what made him a world champion swimmer was hard work and the drive to keep at it.

When Mozart travelled Europe at the age of about six, wowing everybody with his amazing talent, he had already put in about 3000 hours of practice, according to a recent biographer. Talent was of some importance, but the work that he did is what made him one of the greatest composers the world has so far seen.

Syed points out that this is good news! It doesn't mean we can all write stunning piano concertos or win gold medals at the Olympic Games, but it does mean that it is Effort that Earns Success.

In 1965, my friend Ian and I were at another friend's house. This bloke used to always boast that success came easily to him. If he came top of the class, he would say "Imagine how much better I'd have done if I'd studied."

Up until that day, we swallowed it, but when this genius left his bedroom, we raided his desk drawer and discovered a study timetable and detailed, comprehensive handwritten study notes. He was clever, but he achieved success because he also worked hard.

I have seen seemingly less talented piano students go further than the naturally gifted through sheer hard work.

In 2008, my wife and I attended Angela Hewitt's performances of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, Books 1 and 2. On a Thursday in October she played the entire Book 1 from memory. That's 24 preludes and 24 fugues. (The fugues are fiendishly difficult and usually include 3 or 4 independent lines of music played simultaneously.) Then on the following Saturday, she played the more difficult second book of 24 preludes and 24 fugues. This time she had the sheet music in front of her, but did not ever seem to refer to it.

Of course Angela is talented, but the reason she was able to play these 96 mostly difficult pieces of music was her hours and hours of hard work. Both at the piano and also studying the music away from the piano. She couldn't have done it without her wonderful musical gifts, but the key thing was surely the months and years of solid work which she put in.

Thanks Matthew and Leigh. Great story.

Italian quote

2010-06-27T23:31:00.000+10:00

One of Joe Dolce's Italian quotes that he has shared:

Chi pò, non vò;

chi vò, non pò;

chi sà, non fà;

chi fà, non sà;

e così, male il mondo va.

- (Who can do, doesn't want to;

who wants to, can't do;

who knows how to do, won't do it;

who does it, doesn't know how to;

and, so, badly goes the world.)

Interesting project

2010-06-27T14:59:00.001+10:00

Someone called Deanne decided to embark on a project of recording the entire Beatles white album, with a new track appearing every nine days. If you don't know why she did it every nine days, you need to brush up on your Lennonology.

It is great to have a project to work on and this one is a most interesting one. Her first effort, linked above, is very well done. If you like it, you might like to join my much less ambitious project, which is to listen to what she did, a track per day, over the next 29 days in which I have access to a computer. [I'll be taking a break during the school holidays to visit my Aunty Ruth for her hundredth birthday and to meet my new granddaughter, Hilary.

Concert pics

2010-06-22T22:17:00.001+10:00

Zech playing and singing Crazy

One afternoon in June

2010-06-20T18:28:00.001+10:00

We had a lovely concert at Mitchell Conservatorium today.
Some of our students played for the tenth time, and some played for the very first time.
If my students give me permission, I'll post a few photos of the performance today.

The newest piece played, written this century, was called The Wild Rest, and comes from the brand new P Plate Piano series of books.

The oldest piece played was a fugue by Telemann that was written over 250 years ago.

Several of the students are preparing for exams (and playing for enjoyment), but others are not preparing for exams (and playing for enjoyment).

The greatest instrument?

2010-06-17T11:41:00.000+10:00

I think the greatest instrument is unquestionably the human voice, but after that comes the piano.

No other acoustic instrument can match the piano's expressive range, and no electric instrument can match its mystery. [Kenneth Miller quote included in The Essential Piano]

The pianoforte is the most important of all musical instruments: its invention was to music what the invention of printing was to poetry. [Bernard Shaw]

Musical curiosity

2010-06-05T17:22:00.001+10:00

Clever spelling of ... what?

Should we use secular music in church?

2010-05-21T10:03:00.000+10:00

As I see it, those who favour using contemporary secular music in church present their material in such a way that it looks like they are following what was done in the past, whereas those against it also slant their material to make it seem like it wasn't done previously.

As I understand it, Luther used only one secular song [which is the folk tune used in VOM HIMMEL HOCH]. In all that I've read, this one tune is the only one that Luther used which was being sung in a secular context, and when he discovered this, a new tune was substituted.

It seems to me that the popular myth that Luther used the bar tunes of his day is based on the misunderstanding that a bar tune is a tune sung in a bar, but actually it is a tune with an AAB structure, which is known as bar form, of which Luther, we are told [haven't checked], used many.

Those who want to say that Luther and the Wesleys used secular tunes don't usually cite any evidence, but simply make the assertion.

Having said this, I'm not against using pre-existing secular music in every case, but do see a problem with using a song which is currently played in a strip joint in church next week.

We sing hymns to folk tunes which Vaughan Williams set, we sing a Christmas song to Greensleeves [a song about a prostitute] and to The Tune from County Derry [which is popularly called The Londonderry Air or Danny Boy]. I don't think this is a problem if the tune doesn't make people think of prostitutes or give them maudlin thoughts of Ireland [in a song by a non-Irishman who never even visited Ireland!]

One Sunday many years ago when I was playing the organ in a church in Brisbane [in fact, the first Church of Christ in Australia], I played The Battle Hymn of the Republic at the conclusion of the service.

A little boy came out to the organ and sang in a loud voice

Little Peter Rabbit Had A Fly Upon His Nose
Little Peter Rabbit had a fly upon his nose
Little Peter Rabbit had a fly upon his nose
And he flipped it and he flopped it
And it flew right away

to my great embarrassment!

Another instructive experience, also in Queensland Churches of Christ, was in the opening convocation service for our college, held unusually in a large Presbyterian Church in Anne St, because there wasn't a Church of Christ big enough.

We weren't used to pipe organs in church, as we tended to have small electronic ones or pianos. As the organist played, I had warm spiritual feelings [whatever they are] as I listened to him play great classical organ music in his pre-service voluntaries.

A little boy from the country squealed "Oo! Sounds like a horror movie!"

Which shows that one man's Bach is another man's Boris Karloff!

David McKay
www.aussiemusician.blogspot.com

Traditional or Contemporary Music?

2010-05-18T12:03:00.001+10:00

In a discussion on the Yahoo Groups Theology List, a couple of people have argued that it is only acceptable to use Traditional Music and Traditional Instruments in church.

I don't think that this argument is sustainable. I don't think it allows for the diversity in cultures in the church today. I understand that there are now more Christians in China than in any other country. After that comes Africa.

Does God expect them to sing old-fashioned British and American hymns only?

There are many kinds of music that I enjoy and some which I don't enjoy. But I can't say that the music which I enjoy is godly but the music which I don't enjoy is ungodly.

And I think it is also dangerous to say that the music which makes me feel spiritual [whatever that is] is acceptable to God and the music which leaves me cold is unacceptable.

I am a Bach lover and have recordings of all his extant works [not to mention other music that has been attributed to Bach]. Bach's music makes me feel religious, especially the vocal music, but it leaves others cold. Also, the music of his secular cantatas is often very similar to the music in his sacred cantatas. Cantatas about hunting or drinking coffee include music that is similar to, or even the same as music that is in a cantata in praise of the Holy Trinity.

I think music has associations which we have made and so may make us feel happy or excited or sexy, but I'm not sure it is the music itself which does this. My wife just remarked that music might make her feel sexy if she was close to me, but we aren't sure it is inherent in the sounds! [Nice when your wife whom you have been married to for 36 years says that!]

Some of what people say about music borders on racism, I think.

For many of us, it would be extremely difficult to praise God in the ancient music of Israel or in the music of other cultures.

I think it is legitimate to say that music which makes us focus on the sounds and forget the message can be inappropriate. Unfortunately, for many people this would include a lot of the supposedly kosher spiritual music, because it makes many people focus on the sounds, on their emotions and not truly on our God and Saviour.

For many people Handel's Messiah is a lovely concert and doesn't make them feel remotely like worshipping the God whom it tells us about. But when I am at a performance of this wonderful work which has been performed every year since its creation over 250 years ago, I stand up in the Hallelujah Chorus, not because an English king decided to stretch his legs while it was being sung: I'm standing up for the "King of Kings and Lord of Lords" the magnificent anthem is written about.

Loud music which drowns out the message must be inappropriate, but this is not at all to say that we can't enjoying shouting to the Lord in joyful song.

I'm interested to know what is meant by Contemporary Christian Music. Would you include the wonderful songs of Stuart Townend? His music is actually "wordly", because it is based on Celtic folk music to some degree, but I don't believe that rules it out from being used in praise of God, because the words are terrific.

David McKay
Theologically trained music teacher.

The pedal is the soul of the piano

2010-03-12T10:45:00.005+11:00

I think many pianists would agree with this quote. But who said it? If you google it, you'll find it attributed to Arthur Rubinstein by several sources. But Stephen Hough says that it was Anton, not Arthur who made this comment.

The Wikipedia page about Anton Rubinstein is fascinating.

I couldn't resist adding Hough's citation of this aphorism to that page.

I particularly enjoyed the opening of the article, which sets you up for Rubinstein's comment about himself:

Rubinstein was born to Jewish parents in the village of Vikhvatinets in the district of Podolsk, Russia, (now known as Ofatinţi in Transnistria, Republic of Moldova), on the Dniestr River, about 150 kilometers northwest of Odessa. Before he was 5 years old, his paternal grandfather ordered all members of the Rubinstein family to convert from Judaism to Russian Orthodoxy.

Rubinstein, brought up as a Christian at least in name, lived in a household where three languages were spoken—Yiddish, Russian and German. Much later, when his musical "Russianness" was called into question by musical nationalist Mily Balakirev and others in The Five, Rubinstein might have been thinking of this part of his childhood, among other things, when he wrote in his notebooks,

“Russians call me German, Germans call me Russian, Jews call me a Christian, Christians a Jew. Pianists call me a composer, composers call me a pianist. The classicists think me a futurist, and the futurists call me a reactionary. My conclusion is that I am neither fish nor fowl – a pitiful individual”

I love playing the piano!

2010-03-02T11:26:00.001+11:00

OK, boys and girls, let's imagine an ideal world where every kid thinks like this:
This is my version of Helping Kids to Enjoy Playing which I call I love playing the piano!

I love playing the piano!

because…

1. Mum and Dad love hearing me play.

2. I can play any time I want.

3. Mum comes and listens when I do my practice.

4. Dad asks me to play his favourites.

5. They never tell me to stop because they’re watching TV.

6. My piano sounds great. Dad gets it tuned every year.

7. Mum and Dad don’t nag me about how much time I spend practising.

8. I can play lots of stuff.

9. I have a great teacher and we have fun piano lessons.

10. I think the piano is the best instrument!

11. It is fun to tinker and make up my own stuff.

12. Sometimes I can work out how to play songs I heard on TV

13. I have a great practice room. It’s warm in winter and cool in summer.

14. My school teacher asks me to play in class concerts

15. I have fun things to play in our school band

16. I got a Highly Commended award at last year’s eisteddfod

17. The music examiner wrote an encouraging report for my last exam

David McKay

--
www.aussiemusician.blogspot.com

Love Reconciled

2010-02-19T12:02:00.002+11:00

We are enjoying The Marais Project's latest recording of works by Marin Marais and other 17th and 18th century composers. The cd is beautifully packaged and includes comprehensive information about the composers, works, performers and even the instruments used to perform the music.

The group have included one contemporary work - Stephen Yates' Love Reconciled or The Rewards of Evil, which is a world premiere recording.

But as good as the cd is, the best way to hear the music is to attend one of the group's concerts, because live performance gives so much more than can be captured in an audio recording.

Good Vibrations from Celia Sheen

2010-02-18T12:38:00.001+11:00

Couldn't resist the reference to Brian Wilson's iconic song, which also uses the theremin.

... who danced with the Prince of Wales

2010-01-14T12:44:00.003+11:00

You know the song?
I've danced with a man who's danced with a girl, who's danced with the Prince of Wales.

I sometimes hear people talking about their piano teachers and their piano teacher's teachers, so I looked up the teacher of my teacher and discovered that my musical great-grandfather is Alexander Glazunov, because my piano teacher Neta Maughan's teacher, Alexander Svergensky was one of his pupils.

Doesn't change much, but.

Deja vu all over again ...

2010-01-01T15:29:00.003+11:00

I miss our old 5-CD changer. It gave us good service for maybe 8 years, but then began misbehaving.

I used to enjoy putting in several CDs and then clicking the random button and having my own private radio station.

It worked well for the double CD Daydreams set by Jean-Yves Thibaudet, which has combined his recordings of arrangements of Bill Evans and Duke Ellington tunes.

The second CD [the Edward Kennedy Ellington set] has plenty of variety and is fine to listen to on its own, but while the individual tracks on the first CD are all wonderful, they don't work as a set, as the mood rarely varies, and is mostly subdued.

But randomise the set, perhaps by adding another jazz pianist, and Bob's your uncle.

I must have bought this set about 7 or so years ago, but I have exactly the same reaction now as I had back then. Hence, as Justin would say, hence the title.

Unique chord, or uniqueish?

2009-12-30T18:40:00.004+11:00

I've played a lot of chords over the past 50 years, but there's one I only recall playing in one particular song.

I'd love to be told it is also found in other songs, but I don't remember it occurring, so far.

Thirteenths are among my most favourite chords, but while they are not ubiquitous, you do encounter them with some degree of regularity.

But where else does the great chord at the beginning of the second bar of The Sound of Music also occur?
[clears throat] The hills are alive with the sound of
mu -sic.

That chord on the mu is one weird chord. You play an E major first inversion chord with your right hand, and a low F with your left. It sounds amazing.

Any takers?

Our Century

2009-12-20T16:10:00.002+11:00

The 6 CD soundtrack to the Australian TV Nine Network's Our Century series has some great treasures, including the voice of Nellie Melba, cricket legend Don Bradman tickling the ivories, the original Aeroplane Jelly song, and the novelty song Is E an Aussie Lizzie, is E.

It also includes the Louie "D" Fly and Brylcream ads, Frank Ifield singing I Remember You, The Atlantics playing Bombora, and Lucky Starr singing I've Been Everywhere.

I also enjoyed Billy Thorpe's version of Poison Ivy. I'm a sucker for silly lyrics and what could be sillier than the lines

Measles make you bumpy
And mumps'll make you lumpy
And chicken pox'll make you jump and twitch
A common cold'll fool ya
And whooping cough can cool ya
But poison ivy, Lord'll make you itch!!

You're gonna need an ocean of calamine lotion
You'll be scratchin' like a hound
The minute you start to mess around.

Ray Brown's 20 Miles reminds me of a night at a noisy roller skating rink. In my mind it was at Swansea, Lake Macquarie, but I think my memory is wrong, because I've never heard of a Swansea skating rink.

I was interested to see that the Decimal Currency Jingle that we all remember, those of us who were around to welcome in

The fourteenth of February, 1966

was not recorded in Australia. Tsk, tsk.

There are some other great tracks from the Sixties and Seventies, including The Easybeats' Friday On My Mind, Eric Jupp's Skippy, Flying Circus' Hayride, Yesterday's Hero, sung by John Paul Young, Sherbet's Howzat, Glenn Shorrock's terrific versino of Bobby Darin's Dream Lover,Joe Dolce's Shaddup You Face, and Split Enz's interesting I Got You.

I lvoe the liner notes for Up There Cazaly, which tell us it was

dedicated to maybe the most famous of all cricket players to grace the immoral [sic] Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Unfortunately the set does not seem to be currently available, but would be worth a hunt in a second-hand store.

Song To Raymonda

2009-12-20T14:08:00.001+11:00

You can't beat Youtube!
I haven't heard this one in at least 30 years. It was on the radio in the year I left school. [No peeking now!]

What a great old song! Not an Aussie comp, but an Aussie band, at least.

Eres Tu [Touch the Wind]

2009-12-16T21:34:00.002+11:00

I had a Narromine flashback today. The song Eres Tu [Touch the Wind] came into my mind and I enjoyed playing it on the piano, while waiting for a student.

It's a great song, I think.

Still singing it Judith?

Cantatas for the season

2009-12-16T14:46:00.002+11:00

I'm attempting to learn more about Bach's cantatas through listening to the ones for the relevant part of the church year. At the moment I am listening to Advent and Christmas cantatas and am thoroughly enjoying John Eliot Gardiner's Pilgrimage CD no 15, which contains cantatas which were performed in New York in 2000.

The texts are wonderful and the music has great variety and is performed superbly, as always.

Graham Abbott's Keys to Music program on Bach's cantatas which was broadcast last Saturday is also beautiful and enlightening.

If you are quick, you may be able to listen to it at Keys to Music

Attempting to acquaint myself with Bach's cantatas

2009-12-11T14:51:00.003+11:00

I love Bach's cantatas, though I can only recognise a small number by name. In 2001, I boguht a copy of the Teldec Bach 2000 set, and, like many, found that the cantatas were less than satisfactory. The worst bit is the number of times the boy sopranos are out of tune. About 6 of the 60 CDs are actually painful, and it was good to be able to listen to all of Bach's works.

The booklets are very helpful, and it is interesting to be able to listen to all of Bach's extant works. My set cost me $1500 for 153, which sounds cheap at $10 per CD, but now there is a Dutch set of Bach's compositions that costs about $300. It does not include any printed information, but you can get this from a CD-ROM or online, I think.

But I am collecting Eliot Gardiner's wonderful Bach Pilgrimage set which is greatly superior to the Harnoncourt Teldec set.

I've discovered the excellent Bach cantatas website, linked to above, has enough information to answer almost any question I could ask about the sacred cantatas.

And Christoph Wolff's book gives you details of the three year cycle that Bach composed, most of which is extant. So you can go through the church year, listening to the relevant cantatas for each day or week or part of the Christian calendar.

I listened to BWV 61 today, as the first step on my journey.

You know what they say: the greatest journey begins with ...
a trip to the bathroom.

Been there, done that, got the Leipzig t shirt

2009-12-11T10:06:00.003+11:00

I'm listening to BWV 61 Nunn komm der Heiden Heiland [Come now, Saviour of the Gentiles] and reading about Bach's cantatas in Christoph Wolf's Johann Sebastian Bach: the learned musician, which I bought to use in preparing for appearing on ABC TV's Einstein Factor in 2007, and am chuckling over this, which sounds like it was written last week, as least in some places:

The Leipzig city council sent a memorandum in 1730 which said:
"In the churches of this town ... new hymns hitherto not customary, shall not be used in public divine services."

Free Christmas present

2009-12-06T16:58:00.001+11:00

Jingle bells! Jingle Bells!
The National Library of Australia has generously provided New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians online for all subscribers to use free of charge. It costs about $400 per year to subscribe to this standard music dictionary, though some are able to use it through their universities.

There are plenty of great music resources you can use instantly at
National Library of Australia
but if you want to use Grove [which would cost you $7000 to buy in hard copy] you need to apply at the site for a library card. I've already applied for mine! [Although a friend generously gave me the 29 volume set, you can't beat electronic access.]

David McKay

--
www.aussiemusician.blogspot.com

Favourite Aussie composition

2009-11-04T19:24:00.003+11:00

I'm running a U3A Music Appreciation course, which I do for the first six weeks of Term 4 each year.This year we are investigating Australian Music.

It is disappointing to me that one of the very best Australian compositions is not available any more.

Malcolm Williamson's The Musicians of Bremen was written for The King's Singers to perform in Australia, which they did in 1972 and later recorded on their LP Contemporary Collection. But now the LP is no longer available and it never made it to CD.

Disappointed!

I love this work and hope it may be rereleased. If this cannot be, I would at least hope that another Australain choral group, such as The Song Company would record it so that 21st century folk can enjoy it, too.

The Yarts

2009-10-31T15:08:00.000+11:00

1. The arts teach children to make good judgments about qualitative relationships. Unlike much of the curriculum in which correct answers and rules prevail, in the arts, it is judgment rather than rules that prevail.

2. The arts teach children that problems can have more than one solution and that questions can have more than one answer.

3. The arts celebrate multiple perspectives. One of their large lessons is that there are many ways to see and interpret the world.

4. The arts teach children that in complex forms of problem solving purposes are seldom fixed, but change with circumstance and opportunity. Learning in the arts requires the ability and a willingness to surrender to the unanticipated possibilities of the work as it unfolds.

5. The arts make vivid the fact that neither words in their literal form nor numbers exhaust what we can know. The limits of our language do not define the limits of our cognition.

6. The arts teach students that small differences can have large effects. The arts traffic in subtleties.

7. The arts teach students to think through and within a material. All art forms employ some means through which images become real.

8. The arts help children learn to say what cannot be said. When children are invited to disclose what a work of art helps them feel, they must reach into their poetic capacities to find the words that will do the job.

9. The arts enable us to have experience we can have from no other source and through such experience to discover the range and variety of what we are capable of feeling.

10. The arts’ position in the school curriculum symbolizes to the young what adults believe is important.
SOURCE: Eisner, E. (2002). The Arts and the Creation of Mind, In Chapter 4, What the Arts Teach and How It Shows. (pp. 70-92). Yale University Press. Available from NAEA Publications. NAEA grants reprint permission for this excerpt from Ten Lessons with proper acknowledgment of its source and NAEA.

Early account of Aboriginal Music

2009-10-18T18:13:00.002+11:00

I am enjoying reading Jack Egan's Buried Alive, in which he has given us extracts of accounts of 1788-92, the first years of colonisation of Australia by Europeans.

I enjoyed reading Captain John Hunter's February 1791 letter about witnessing Aboriginal singing and dancing. Hunter was a trained musician, as this extract shows:

Their dance was truly wild and savage, yet in many parts there appeared order and regularity; one man would frequently single himself out from the dance and running around the whole of the performers, sing out in a loud voice, using some expressions in one particular tone of voice which we could not understand; he would then join the dance, in which it was observed that certain parties alternatively led forward to the front, and there exhibited with the utmost skill and agility all the various motions which, with them, seemed to constitute the principal beauties of dancing…
Their music consisted of two sticks of very hard wood, one of which the musicians held upon his breast in the manner of a violin and struck it with the other in good and regular time; the performer, who was a stout strong-voiced man, sung the whole time and frequently applied those graces in music, the piano and the forte; he was assisted by several young boys and girls who sat at his feet, and by their manner of crossing the thighs, made a hollow between them and their belly, upon which they beat time with the flat of their hand, so as to make a kind of sound which will be better understood from the manner of its being produced than from any verbal description.
These children also sung with their chief musical performer, who stood up the whole time, and seemed to me to have the most laborious part of the performance.
They very frequently, at the conclusion of the dance, would apply to us for our opinions, or rather for our marks of approbation of their performance, which we never failed to give by often repeating the word boojery, which signifies good, or boojery caribberie, a good dance. These signs of pleasure in us seemed to give them great satisfaction and generally produced more than ordinary exertions from the whole company of performers in the next dance.

Some favourite quotes about Music

2009-10-05T17:15:00.001+11:00

Music is enough for a lifetime
But a lifetime is not enough for Music.
- Serge Rachmaninov

Musica laetitiae comes medicina dolorum.
Music is the companion of joy and the medicine of sorrow.
- Anon

Song title:
You don’t have to join the Ku Klux Klan to be a wizard under the sheets!

Album Title:
Songs I Learnt At My Mother's Knee (and some other low joints)

Music,
which can be made anywhere,
Is invisible and does not smell
- W H Auden

Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.
- Berthold Auerbach

You just have to press the right keys and the right pedals at the right time and the music plays itself.
- J S Bach

The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul. If heed is not paid to this, it is not true music but a diabolical bawling and twanging.
- J S Bach

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) [on the Well-Tempered Clavier]
This is not a brook [Bach means "brook" in German], it’s an ocean.

We musicians, like everyone else, are numb with sorrow at this murder, and with rage at the senselessness of the crime. But this sorrow and rage will not inflame us to seek retribution; rather they will inflame our art. Our music will never again be quite the same. This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before. And with each note we will honor the spirit of John Kennedy, commemorate his courage, and reaffirm his faith in the Triumph of the Mind.
from Leonard Bernstein's Tribute to John F. Kennedy Speech made at United Jewish Appeal benefit Madison Square Garden, New York - 25 November 1963

The whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking, 'Is there a meaning to music?' My answer would be, 'Yes.' And "Can you state in so many words what the meaning is?' My answer to that would be 'No.'
- Aaron Copland

My biggest kick in music – playing or writing- is when I have a problem. Without a problem to solve, how much interest do you take in anything?
- Duke Ellington

Objectivity in music is rubbish ... Have you ever had an objective love affair? And what is music but love?
- Lili Kraus

Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world.
- Martin Luther

It’s kind of like a funky sort of Afro-Cuban swinging jazz-rock sort of Classical punk waltz reggae calypso sort of Scottish feel.
- James Morrison, on his song "Ease on in"
James and his family lived, for a time, across the road from my Uncle Dave and Aunty Win. Aunty Win says they were very nice but very quiet, and only occasionally would you hear music coming from the house

Without music, life would be a mistake.
- Friedrich Nietzsche

There is nothing more difficult than talking about music.
- Camille Saint-Saëns

The study of the history of music and the hearing of masterworks of different epochs will quickly cure you of vanity and self-adoration.
- Robert Schumann

I haven't understood a bar of music in my life, but I've felt it.
- Igor Stravinsky

You just pick a chord, go twang, and you've got music!
- Sid Vicious

and I love these three Frank Zappa quotes:
Some people crave baseball -- I find this unfathomable --
but I can easily understand why a person could get excited about playing a bassoon.

I write the music I like. If other people like it, fine, they can go buy the albums. And if they don't like it, there's always Michael Jackson for them to listen to.

It has never mattered to me that thirty million people might think I'm wrong. The number of people who thought Hitler was right did not make him right... Why do you necessarily have to be wrong just because a few million people think you are?

Rock journalism is
people who can’t write
interviewing people who can’t talk
for people who can’t read.

Keating's eulogy for Geoffrey Tozer

2009-10-03T17:26:00.001+10:00

Whew! Is Mr Keating ever passionate about Geoffrey Tozer!

I didn't even know The National Times still existed!

Fifty years

2009-09-29T22:15:00.001+10:00

Today is the 50th anniversary of my first piano lesson.

I was very excited to learn piano and am still enthralled by this amazing instrument. And I'm still learning.

I love the sound of many instruments, but I do think the piano wins on versatility.

And it is a wonderful instructor because it is a great visual aid to learning about how music works. You can see musical intervals and chords on a piano in a way that you can't on a flute or even a harp or guitar.

When I was growing up, it was fun to listen to songs on the radio and then try to play them on the piano. I remember attempting The Beatles' Penny Lane and being frustrated by the chord that comes at the capitalised word in the first line of the chorus:

Penny Lane is in my EARS

I could not find a suitable chord and bought the sheet music for 35 cents and discovered that the chord is the tonic chord, the same as the preceding one, but is in first inversion [the bass note is the original middle note of the chord]. THAT was a revelation to me, much the same as the odd bass notes in The Beach Boys' God Only Knows were to Paul McCartney.

I think Rachmaninov was onto something when he said

Music is enough for a lifetime
But a lifetime is not enough for Music

Ten years ago I was lucky enough to be able to quit crowd control [which some people call high school music teaching] and get a job teaching piano at the Mitchell Conservatorium in Bathurst and Kinross-Wolaroi School in Orange.

There's so many things I am useless at, and I know I am only a very average piano player and teacher, but I'm an average one who enjoys plugging along with what God has given me. I pray that I may be able to praise him by using what I have and maybe even by improving a bit, even after 50 years.

Ross Hamilton's music analyses

2009-09-13T22:52:00.001+10:00

I find Ross Hamilton's analyses of pieces very useful. He has analysed about 1000 pieces from the standard repertoire. The pieces all come from Australian music exam syllabuses, but the vast majority of these would be in British exam systems as well.

I have used his analyses of Musicianship set works and have found them very helpful, though he has provided much more information than I have needed.

The only caveat is that they are not cheap, though he does provide some affordable specials.

See http://www.rosshamilton.com.au/index.cfm for more information.

Praise!

2009-09-03T14:05:00.003+10:00

I have been subscribed to Praise! which is a British hymnbook that has an online website, which gives you the words and sometimes the music of about 900 hymns, as well as interesting stories about the hymn-writers and adapters.

My hard copy of the book arrived today. The web is great, but there is something about having the book. I was prompted to order a copy at last because the Aussie dollar is about 50 p at the moment, whereas it is often about 30 p or so.

Subscribing costs 25 pounds per year, which sounds expensive, but you do get access to 3 books and updates for this price. And a CCLI licence also gives you permission to use the hymns in your church, provided that you follow the correct procedure for doing so.

I notice that the hymn book also has a notice that gives permission for a one time use of any hymn in the book, provided that you give proper acknowledgement to the source of the hymn you are using.

I hope to post interesting hymns I've found in the book from time to time. The hymn for today is a setting of Psalm 125 by Christopher Idle. The words are terrific and sound great when sung to the old hymn Sanctissimus, which is the one we always used for singing Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness:

Those who rely on the LORD are unshakeable,
firm as Mount Zion, supremely assured;
just as the mountains encircle Jerusalem,
round us forever is standing the LORD.

Evil shall not always trample on righteousness:
God's time will come when oppression shall cease.
LORD, bless the righteous, restrain the impenitent;
grant to your people the gift of your peace.

Geoffrey Tozer obit

2009-08-28T07:26:00.002+10:00

Child prodigy hit the highest notes Sydney Morning Herald, August 27, 2009
Geoffrey Tozer, 1954-2009

GEOFFREY TOZER was 13 years old when the legendary headmaster of Geelong Grammar School, James Darling, advised him: ''You're wasting your time at school''.

Although Tozer was not a Grammarian, the sage had taken the boy under his wing after hearing him play in concert. He told him: ''What you really need to do is read, play the piano and meet famous people. Get out of Australia as fast as you can. Go and grow.''

Tozer, a child prodigy who would become one of Australia's most internationally acclaimed and recorded concert pianists, had made his professional debut at the age of eight, dressed in velvet shorts, playing Bach's Concerto in F Minor with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

A year after Darling offered the advice, Tozer became the youngest recipient of a Churchill Fellowship, which took him to London. The next year he was a semi-finalist in an international piano competition in Leeds. At 15, he made his international debut at the Royal Albert Hall in London, performing Mozart's Concerto No 15 with Colin Davis and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Tozer, who has died, aged 54, of liver failure at his Melbourne home, went on to extensively tour Europe, the US, Asia and Australia. In 2004 he marked his 40th anniversary in the business with 40 concerts. His recordings covered composers from Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev, to Stravinsky, Ireland, Brahms, Bach, Schumann, Haydn, Beethoven, Liszt and Mozart. And he reintroduced international audiences to the works of the Russian Nikoli Medtner.

Geoffrey Peter Bede Hawkshaw Tozer was born in Mussoorie, a hill station in northern India, to Veronica Tozer and Geoffrey Conan-Davies, an Anglican minister. His mother had separated from her husband, an army colonel, by the time she arrived in Melbourne in 1958 with Geoffrey and his older brother, Peter.

He is thought to have showed an interest in music while still in his pram, aged six months, when his mother played Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony on the family's wind-up gramophone. He was soon taking records such as Benjamin Britten's Rape of Lucretia, rather than teddy bears, to bed. If one broke, he would cry like the baby he was and put all the pieces under his pillow.

At five years he astounded an audience at St Kilda Town Hall with flawless playing of Bach and Bartok. Besides, he was reciting passages from Oscar Wilde's fairy stories at three years, reading Homer at seven and, by 10, Shakespeare and George Bernard Shaw.

Tozer auditioned successfully at the ABC at eight years, after which mother and son walked the six kilometres home. By the age of 12 he had played five Beethoven piano concerts with the MSO.

His early education was at a convent school and then with the Christian Brothers. His mother switched him to De La Salle College when canings began bruising his hands, affecting his violin and piano lessons. He gave up the violin after five years to concentrate on piano. His piano lessons came from his mother, a music teacher, and private teachers such as Eileen Ralf in Hobart, Maria Curcio and Theodore Tettvi.

Tozer pigeonholed his concert career to graduate from the London Opera Centre (1979-80) and work as a repetiteur at the centre and at Glyndebourne. He then taught at the University of Michigan in 1981-82 before returning to Australia.

His many triumphs included a bravura performance of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas in 16 hours, spread across seven concerts over 11 nights in 1994 in Melbourne. He played with the Berlin and Moscow symphony orchestras, but his biggest audience was in May 2001, when an estimated 80 million Chinese watched him live on television playing the Yellow River Concerto. He made several tours of China.

Geoffrey Tozer's illustrious career was not without controversy. He became a favourite of Paul Keating, the former prime minister, who, as treasurer in 1989, introduced creative fellowships after meeting Tozer, then the music teacher at the Canberra school where Keating's son, Patrick, was a student.

Keating, who believes that Tozer was Australia's greatest pianist, said he felt ''ashamed'' that a pianist of his talents was earning only $9000 a year. He introduced what became known as the Keatings and the first five-year award in 1989 ($329,000) went to Tozer.

When the pianist was awarded a second fellowship in 1994 ($219,098), there was an outcry led by the Opposition protesting that, with so many worthy figures in the arts community, it was outrageous that Keating's close friend was selected a second time. Tozer's supporters say there is nothing unusual in dual fellowships. Tozer himself had followed up his first Churchill fellowship at the age of 14 with a second at 17. He was also twice awarded Israel's Rubenstein Medal, in 1977 and 1980.

Keating had already paved the way for a Canberra enterprise to make Tozer's first Australian recordings, and he promoted the pianist's talents to London-based classical music giant Chandos. He was vindicated when the Chandos recordings won rapturous reviews in Europe, with further success in the US.

He was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1992 for his recording of the three Medtner piano concertos with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The recording won a Diapason d'Or prize that year.

Tozer later attracted local criticism when he said he would have to pursue his career in London because Melbourne was a ''remote, provincial city'' and Australia had an indifference to the arts generally. He later said he had been caught in a moment of exasperation on a 40 degree day and that there was no question that Melbourne was ''home''.

His other awards included Hungary's Liszt Centenary Medallion, Belgium's Prix Alex De Varies and Britain's Royal Overseas League Medallion. He was never so honoured at home.

Geoffrey Tozer enjoyed the ballet and photography and liked to relax by going for long walks. He is survived by four of his five siblings - Peter, Tim, Meredith and Bliss.

Gerry Carman

Caveat Wiktor

2009-08-16T17:13:00.003+10:00

I enjoy using Wikipedia and am grateful to all those folk who voluntarily keep it up-to-date and, as far as I've discovered, usually accurate.

But, you do have to be wary. I was reading an article about Wieniawski's lovely Legende today, which is in ternary form, with the outer sections in G minor and the middle part in the parallel major. But not according to the article I found. The writer had been confused by the occasional G major chords in the first section, I think.
People will tell you that Wiki is no more inaccurate than Encyclopedia Britannica, but I can't believe that any professional musician would have made the error I found in the Wieniawski article today.

Caveat Wiktor!

Joe Green, continued

2009-08-16T17:10:00.002+10:00

We were delighted to discover that our old friend, Bernard Hull, was performing the role of Radames when we attended AIDA. The man playing the lead role was ill, and it was so good to see Bernard doing the part and doing it superbly. It must be tough being an understudy and knowing the part perfectly, but not often getting the chance to perform, yet always having to be ready.

Joe Green's Egyptian thingy

2009-07-14T18:35:00.003+10:00

My wife's mother has kindly given us two tickets to see the Australian Opera perform Aida at the Sydney Opera House.

We owned a CD of highlights, but I've never really engaged with it. It's Claudia Abbado, Placido Domingo and some other geezers, but it doesn't even include the triumphal march. How can you have a highlights CD without the triumphal march?

Today we've been listening to Herbert von Karajan, Carlo Bergonzi and the mob. It is magnificent. Several reviewers say it is still the best ever recording. We haven't heard many others [the odd triumphal march, of course, when people don't leave it out!], but it is everything that has been claimed for it.

And there are so many great moments left off the highlights CD. Verdi good, as Basil would say!

Q and A

2009-07-08T12:46:00.003+10:00

The Finale Music Notation Software users group has always helped me with my queries about using the program, but also with general music queries.

Here is an example, which I'm posting here so that I can perhaps find it again when I've forgotten the answer.

I notice in looking at Haydn and Scarlatti sonatas that sometimes the key signature is written differently from the way we write them now. In both instances there was a flat left off, so it can't have been copied by Lefty Sharpoff, I suppose...

The current example is Scarlatti Sonata in F minor, which has a key signature of 3, not 4 flats. [Was he only evicted from 2 flats while writing?] I notice that there are a lot of D naturals in the melody and wonder if this is the reason, but it is clearly in F minor. [K 466, L118, if you are interested.]

I'm interested to know why it was left off, and also when we began writing them as we do, if anyone knows, please.

Very soon after posting my question, I received this informative reply:

It wasn't exactly "left off." In fact it was a carryover from 16th century theory into baroque theory. In renaissance theory a flat in the key signature was an indication that the mode of the piece was transposed up a 4th. (And these were still the medieval church modes, which were still taught by theorists even though composers were gradually working their way toward major/minor tonality.)

Thus the Dorian mode, with its final on D, was a minor mode (using a minor third above the final), that had no key signature. One flat indicated Dorian once-transposed, with its final on G. Two flats indicated Dorian twice-transposed, with its final on C.

Thus G minor in the 17th and early 18th centuries was still indicated by one flat, with accidentals used in the body of the piece for Eb, and the same for C minor, in 2 flats, with accidentals used for Ab. (And of course not all the Ebs or Abs were, in fact, lowered, since the melodic minor scale used a raised 6th and 7th degree in rising passages.)

So it was a simple carryover from earlier practice which, obviously, still made sense to people. As to when the modern convention was adopted (which of course still requires accidentals for the raised 6th and 7th degrees), I don't really know, but I'd bet someone who has studied a lot of late 18th and early 19th century music will have an idea.

Golliwog's Cakewalk

2009-06-26T23:06:00.004+10:00

This is a helpful analysis of Debussy's Golliwog's Cakewalk:

Golliwog's Cakewalk (Children's Corner, 1909)

From Roberts, page 214-217: A Golliwog is "the name of a black doll in the books of the illustrator Flora Upton" (titles include The Golliwog's Circus and The Golliwog's Auto-Go-Cart), and was a great success in Europe as a toy. A Cakewalk is a dance form that originated in America, and was played in Europe by John Phillip Souza among others. The Cakewalk has its roots in black American music and is closely related to ragtime. Debussy saw Souza play cakewalks, and wrote that perhaps cakewalks are the one advantage American music had over "other kinds of music" (from a review by Debussy in Gil Blas).

Emotional Content: This piece is clearly humorous and even includes a satirical takeoff on Wagner's Tristan and Isolde beginning at measure 61. As in most early ragtime the tempo is moderate (allegro guisto = not too fast).

Shape and Flow: The piece is in a simple ABA form, with A being a very ragtime-like syncopated dance tune. The dynamics range from pp to sff, sometimes very suddenly, sometimes with a more conventional shape. The B section is very interesting, being an almost flirtatious, lilting section. The theme that appears at measure 61 is lifted from the prelude to Wagner's Tristan and Isolde, and is marked "with intense feeling". It is accompanied by light grace note chords and syncopated scmlaltzy harmonies. The overall effect is one of a somewhat silly singer taking over the dance floor to romance his love, with twittering laughter in the background.

Like ragtime's successor jazz, it is hard to play the Golliwog's Cakewalk wrong ("there are no mistakes in jazz") so long as you hit the notes. This is perhaps why Schmitz comments that "...this is one of Debussy's least misinterpreted pieces". It is a very forgiving piece, which works in a variety of tempos and dynamics so long as you're obviously having fun when you play it.

Having said that, I've become partial to a strict reading of this piece, reinforcing my opinion that Debussy has much better musical taste than I do. I play the work with an absolute minimum of pedal, and aim for a choppy, syncopated and transparent sound. Most notable are the dynamics, which I take as gospel even though they are sometimes counter-intuitive. These dynamics are part of the humor of the piece.

Section A:

The opening bars clearly announce that we are in for some fun, and should be played that way: loud from the start and louder for that final chord in measure 4. But immediately get quiet in measure 6.

Watch and play with the dynamics contrasts in measures 6-9, with a real trail-off in measure 9 leading to the main theme in measure 10.

Measure 10 is the only one in section A marked mf: the rest of the section is a alternation of extremes for humorous effect.

Note the interplay of p and f in measures 14-26. The first time we start at p and get softer with a sudden crash at measure 16 and a "molto" crescendo in measure 17. The second time, at measure 22 we start p and build in a more conventional crescendo to the ff in measures 24-25.

I take the articulation marks very seriously, alternating legato and staccato as marked throughout section A. The very first time I touch the sustain pedal is the first chord in measure 25, releasing it immediately on the next staccato B-flat octaves.

Measures 26-32 are quiet and without pedal in spite of temptation otherwise. I again use the pedal for second beat of measure 33, for just that eighth note.

I use the sustain pedal more heavily in measure 38, changing pedal on the quarter beats and releasing on the second beat of measure 39, holding the underlying chords all the while.

Section B:

I play this section very strictly, respecting the articulation, dynamics and rest marks throughout. I play the grace notes almost as a chirp on the chords.

Measure 61 starts the Wagner satire. This melody is messed with through measure 81, mixing it with the cakewalk theme. Once it's understood as a parody of a very serious romantic melody the effect is hilarious.

The grace note chords first appearing in measure 63 and occurring through the rest of section B present a technical problem (one of the few in the piece): how to hold the underlying sustained chords without losing transparency. Elder (p. 264) quotes Walter Gieseking as saying "The answering effect is like a mocking tap dance and shouldn't be played too fast. In bar 63 hold the pedal until the second beat. Don't pedal bar 64." I find that this works quite well.

Richard Prokop writes: "The section at m.61 or there abouts is interesting. I envision a drunk grandiosely stumbling through a room in those two measures (p avec une grande emotion) only to sober up long enough to click his heals comically in the following two measures with grace notes. Also of interest is the crescendo to p just before the grace noted chords. I try to make m.61-62 stagger rhythmically (as if I'm drunk)--so, I do a little accelerando to the F in the melody and then broaden the tempo with a little hesitation before the Db7 chord."

I find the only interpretational challenge in measures 71-72 and 81-82. I take these measures to be the overly-romantic singer running out of breath or energy while the crowd heckles. Of course the figure in these measures is rather orchestral and again pokes fun at Wagner. I play in strict time, sort of fading out at the end of each two-measure section.

Measures 85-86 and 88-89 pose the other technical challenge: the soft high notes at the end of each section should clearly be staccato, but the underlying chords must be maintained as marked. Elder (p. 276) quotes Walter Gieseking as saying (in reference to measure 88-89) "Take the F with the left hand so that the complete half-note chord can be held without pedal, for the right-hand staccati should be short." Elder then says "For pianists who could not stretch the tenth, he suggested catching the pedal after the bass D-flat and holding it." My stretch is pretty good, but I cannot make the stretch described here. It works well for me to simply catch the chords with the sostenuto (middle) pedal at the beginning of measure 85 and the second eighth-note (low D-flat) of measure 88. If you don't have a sostenuto pedal, as apparently Gieseking did not, use the sustain pedal technique described above even though that muddies up the texture a bit.

Section A reprise:

This is pretty much identical to the first section A.

I use a small amount of sustain pedal for the very last flourish, depressing it for the last two notes of measure 126 and releasing it on the next staccato octaves. This gives a nice feeling of a final roar.

My first piano

2009-06-21T17:21:00.003+10:00

Today is my Nanna's birthday. She was born on 21st June, 1885 and died on 3rd November, 1962

In September, 1959 she helped my mother and father to buy my first piano, which was an 85 note iron frame black upright which had been made late in the 1890s, I think.

The piano cost 99 guineas. Nanna said she would pay the 99 pounds if Mum and Dad paid the 99 shillings.

Mum and Dad bought the piano in a private sale from someone who lived in Marks Point, Lake Macquarie. The piano removalists couldn't get the piano down the stairs, so they had to lower it on ropes from the balcony. Mum was worried it would drop and be destroyed in the attempt!

But it arrived at Lot 33, York Crescent, Belmont North safely and soon after, on 29th September, 1959 I had my first piano lesson from Mrs Joy Walton at Melody Lodge in Albert St, Belmont.

I was a very nervous child and Mrs Walton was just right for me. She was kind and easy-going and I enjoyed every lesson from my Florence Wickins piano tutor.

I thought playing the piano was the greatest thing and never had to be told to practise. So it is not easy for me to relate to students who don't automatically want to practise, but I do try to understand.

I'm very grateful to my Nanna for her part in setting me on the road of discovering Music. Rachmaninov was surely right when he said

Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for Music.

Concert rumination

2009-06-18T23:13:00.003+10:00

On Tuesday we attended a superb concert. Our local Anglican cathedral was packed. Over 200 people came to hear Jane Rutter play. She is a great musician and terrific entertainer, too.

I'm sure those who came had a great night. But it was mostly oldies there. A few young people, but only a few. Very few of our music students came along. One of us oldies [sorry, Bronwyn] commented that every HSC Music student should have been there, because they would have seen what it takes to be a performer.

We especially enjoyed hearing her play pieces we ourselves have played: Mouquet's Five Brief Pieces, Debussy's Syrinx and Bolling's Irlandaise. I joke that she played them every bit as well as we do, but you know it is a joke! Her playing was thrilling.

Waddya have to do to get the youngsters along? I wish I knew.

Oh yeah. Accompanist David Mibus is terrific. He is also a very competent musician and well worth hearing.

Name that tune

2009-06-08T22:09:00.003+10:00

This is the complete music for a well-known 70s British comedy. Recognise it?

Bach Flute Sonatas

2009-05-02T12:26:00.004+10:00

I'm playing Bach Sonata for Flute in B Minor [BWV 1030] with Philip Braithwaite in a lunchtime concert at All Saints Cathedral, Bathurst on Wednesday, 1st July, at 12.30 PM. This and the B Minor Orchestral Suite are said to be Bach's most substantial works for the flute.

But I can't find a recording of the work which features piano accompaniment. I already own the Teldec Bach 2000 set, which features Franz Bruggen playing the flute, accompanied by Herbert Tachezi on harpsichord. But every recording I can locate also features harpsichord. This may be the correct instrument to use, but give us pianists a break, please!

Is this a project for Angela Hewitt?

Bruggen and Tachezi play the first movement in a bit over 7 minutes. So far it takes me almost 9. I wonder how fast Phil wants to play it? Should I tell him he's dreamin'?

Bach Pilgrimage

2009-04-05T16:00:00.003+10:00

This afternoon I downloaded from the International Music Score Library Project the scores for the three cantatas in the concert on the wonderful Bach Pilgrimage DVD and have just listened to the first two cantatas. The first one on the dvd is

BWV 179 Siehu zu, daß deine Gottesfurcht nicht Heuchelei sei
See to it that thy fear of God be not hypocrisy

which is based on the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke chapter 18. When the self-righteous Pharisee prays he brags about what a great person he is and is really praying to himself. But the tax collector humbly asks God to be merciful to him, because he knows he is a sinner.
The anonymous librettist created a wonderful interpretation of Jesus' parable, aiming to remind us, in the words of Ecclesiasticus 1:28

Do not serve God with a double heart

which is the basis of the sensational opening fugue.

The tenor then sings a recitative and aria which tells us that

Today's Christianity is, alas, in a sorry state. Most Christians are puffed up Pharisees.

The following bass recitative tells us that a true Christian is someone who

is inwardly and outwardly the same.

Magdalena Kozena sings the next aria

BWV 199 Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut
My heart is bathed in blood.

She is a superb dramatic performer and conveys the varied emotions of the text marvellously, from the deeply sorrowful opening recitative and aria to the joyful concluding recitative and aria

How joyful is my heart for God is reconciled with me

I'm looking forward to listening to the last cantata, after this short blogging break. Bach's music depicts the sense of the text superbly. I highly recommend this dvd, even if you do not yet know much about Bach. The rest of the recording tells the story of this pilgrimage around Germany, other parts of Europe and Britain, and finishing in New York. John Eliot Gardiner and his orchestra, chorus and guest soloists spent 2000 visiting places where Bach had first performed his music [which is only Germany], but also performing the cantatas on the day of the church calendar on which they were originally heard. [Occasionally this wasn't possible, due to the movable nature of the church calendar, which you will notice with the variety of tiems when Easter is celebrated, for example.]

Different Voices

2009-03-31T14:22:00.002+11:00

Have you come across Debbie Wiseman's Different Voices? Promoted as a new Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, it has much more in common with Peter and the Wolf. It is performed by The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by the composer and narrated by Stephen Fry and features Hayley Westenra singing the theme song throughout the work. I haven't tried it out on any children yet, but we adults like it. It is about 50 minutes long, so it is quite a bit longer than Peter and the Wolf.

It is a worthy member of the Music Introducing Children to Classical Music Club. The CD number is NAXOS 8.572022

Bach lives

2009-03-21T11:28:00.002+11:00

Today is the 324th anniversary of the birth of Johann Sebastian Bach, surely the most remarkable musician the world has known. Two years ago today I won an episode of The Einstein Factor, with this great man as my special subject.

This morning I listened to part of one of his many church cantatas, Cantata BWV 181 Leichtgesinnte Flattergeister, whose opening words in English have been translated as

Frivolous flibbertigibbets
deprive themselves of the Word's strength.
Belial with his brood
also seeks to prevent it
from being of service.

I was interested to read some comments by Andras Schiff in The World of Pianos: fascination with an instrument, published by Bechstein.

I cannot love Wagner, because he disgusts me. He was certainly a great composer, but I hear his human character and his egotism in each measure of his music. Self-centredness in art disturbs me a great deal ...

For me Bach is the greatest composer because he was so unconcerned with himself and deeply religious. It is like the men who built the great cathedrals during the Renaissance. Today we do not know who these people were. They worked to achieve a higher goal and not to immortalise themselves. That conforms to my ideal of art.

Fading away

2009-03-15T17:28:00.003+11:00

About eight years ago, I participated in a research project investigating people with perfect pitch. [This is the ability to hear a sound and to know the pitch of it.]

I was told that Australian research suggests that babies are born with this facility, and recognise their mother's voice not just by timbre, but pitch as well. In time, this fades as this method of recognition is no longer necessary.

However some people who begin music lessons at an early age retain the ability to hear a sound and to know its pitch.

But I was also told that as people get older, this ability is not as acute. I have noticed this to be true and have sometimes heard a recording and been thinking in, say A flat major, when the piece of music is being transmitted in A major.

When I was younger this didn't happen and when I was played a gramophone recording for an aural test, if the record was playing too fast, and I was told to write my answer in E major, but it came across as F major, I would find this disturbing and would have to write it out in F and then transpose.

I was playing in India in 1973 on a piano that had been tuned a semitone sharp and I found this most distressing and had a hard time keeping on keeping on [as my father used to say, quoting the Berger Paint advertisement].

But yesterday at James and Therese's wedding, the string players and trumpeter all noticed that the pipe organ I was playing was very sharp when they tuned their instruments. I was blissfully unaware of this until it was obvious by listening to the violinist tuning.

But it has advantages, because I can now play a flat or sharp instrument without having to do mental gymnastics to match what I hear with what I play.

All you need is ears

2009-03-15T13:11:00.002+11:00

... and a friendly bank manager, or maybe a very rich uncle.

On the back page of last week's Sydney Morning Herald TV guide there is a Len Wallis Audio advertisement. I've been reading these ads for years. The shop sells high-end audio and I always wonder how many units they sell, as the stuff sounds like it should be terrific, but pricey.

But last week's ad takes the cake. It is promoting Grande Utopia III speakers. They are so good, the ad says, that everything else you've heard so far is a murmur. The speakers are 2 metres tall and weigh 260 kg each. They cost $269,000 a pair and are worth every cent!

I'm wondering what your total outlay for your hifi system would be, if the speakers alone cost more than any house I've ever bought!

I'm guessing they sound pretty amazing, but I'm wondering if I could tell the difference from say a $4,000 pair.

Mozart? Schmozart!

2009-03-01T22:26:00.002+11:00

People rabbit on about Mozart as a child prodigy, and it's true. He was. But check out the earliest compositions of Chopin, born on St David's Day, 1st March, 1810. He wrote amazingly technical piano works [which was all he did write] at the age of 7. Much more demanding than Wolfie's first efforts.

For next week.

2009-02-23T10:06:00.003+11:00

I understand that some students are eagerly awaiting the Faerie's Aire and Death Waltz, so I am providing an advance copy here. You can also download this composition from this site.

Please pay particular attention when you get to bar 3.

Notice to students

2009-02-23T09:58:00.003+11:00

It has come to my attention that some of you are slackening off in your practice, although it is only early in the term.

Because of this, I am assigning you a daily warm up exercise, in preparation for the wonderful Faerie's Aire and Death Waltz which we shall tackle later in the term.

You may download a larger copy of the daily warm up, if necessary from this site.

Radiohead - Just

2009-02-20T06:50:00.001+11:00

I love this clip. Very creative. I don't know much about Radiohead, so don't take me as a mad Radiohead fan. Just mad.

C P E BACH

2009-02-17T11:04:00.003+11:00

Somebody likes Emanuel Bach, I trow, judging by the number of pieces in the new AMEB Piano Series 16. I'm looking forward to getting to know his music better, and enjoy these quotes from the Series 16 Fifth Grade Handbook:

A musician cannot move others unless he too is moved. He has to feel in himself all the feelings he hopes to arouse in his hearers, for it is the showing of his own emotion which calls up a similar emotion in the listener. [from Bach's own Essay on The True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments]

Was he a good example of this, you ask? Dr Charles Burney, music historian, described his playing at a party one night, like this:

He played till near eleven o'clock at night. During this time he grew so animated and possessed that he not only played, but looked like one inspired. His eyes were fixed, his underlip fell, and drops of effervescence distilled from his countenance.

Mozart said this about C P E Bach:

He is the parent, and we the children. Without him nothing would have been possible.

Finding Paul Kinny

2009-02-14T07:45:00.002+11:00

The reason I found out about Paul Kinny, my classmate from the 70s making these interesting guitars is that my colleague at Mitchell Conservatorium, Rob Shannon, told me that Paul taught him at Grenfell High School, and that he had found him to be very inspiring and encouraging.

I have happy memories of Grenfell, where I was twice involved in HSC Practical Music examining. The school has had a long proud history of great music teaching, and I was pleased to find that Paul had been there, paving the way before I got there in the 90s to see others continuing the work.

Grenfell is a very small town and the high school only has about 300 students. But a high proportion of the students have chosen to study elective Music, despite all the other choices available today. I think this points to a sensible attitude to music in the town and to quality teaching in the school.

I later learnt that one of the examiners for my own son's HSC at the Conservatorium High school in Sydney was one of those Grenfell teachers. I wonder what he made of Justin's piano pieces, which included opening up the piano and playing the strings as well as the keys?

Paul's stereo guitar

2009-02-13T15:03:00.003+11:00

If you are quick, you can see my former classmate [we're talking early 70s here, REAL early 70s] demonstrating his stereo guitar on the ABC TV program, The New Inventors. Paul Kinny is a pretty clever cookie, as you will read.

I'd love to be able to hear it live! Wonder if I'll ever get the chance?

Aural and Sight Reading

2009-02-12T13:10:00.002+11:00

If you need help in teaching students how to use their ears and eyes when they play or sing, you will find Samantha Coates new books How to Blitz Aural and How to Blitz Sight-reading may be just what you are looking for.

The Aural book even has a couple of my suggestions in it.

Everything Old is New Again

2009-01-28T10:54:00.001+11:00

It is interesting how some are going back to the old hymns. In a church that has mainly young folk in Sydney, the person in charge of music told me that they only sing Amazing Grace and And Can It Be. No other old hymn is worth singing, he said.

But he admitted that the young people sang those hymns more lustily than all the modern ones.

A couple of years later, he is now enthusiastically using some of the old warhorses and the people are loving it.

I have lots of old hymnbooks, but I am shy about using some of the hymns I love, because I think people might think them too old-fashioned, too sentimental or too hard to understand.

We did not sing God Moves in a Mysterious Way when I was young, though I was aware of it.

But I got hooked on it listening to John Piper preach on it in his sermons on Ruth. One Sunday morning I used it, with a nice new tune from Sovereign Grace Music and got roundly criticised, because it was too hard to understand. But I think it has magnificent truths in it.

I sometimes think that instead of setting old hymns to new music, we should write new hymns expressing those grand truths in 21st century language.

David McKay

Moron clapping: whoops! More on clapping.

2009-01-24T09:35:00.003+11:00

Sydney Morning Herald Letters to the Editor Thursday, 22nd January, 2009

Mind the claptrap

Manny Ax and Sam Allis are on the money ("Concert pianist with an ax to grind", January 21). Of course we should clap after a stirring moment in a piece of classical music, just as we do after a great sax solo in a jazz concert. Who cares if it is not the official end of the piece?

David McKay Bathurst

I was taught that the pauses between movements were to give the audience an opportunity to applaud, despite what all the rich snobs thought.

David Murphy Campbelltown

Sydney Morning Herald Letters to the Editor Friday, 23rd January, 2009

Sit on your hands, you goose

Shut up and wait until the piece is over (Letters, January 22). Enough is ruined already by fools who just want to clap. The finale of the Trout Quintet is regularly interrupted because there is a bar-and-a-half of silence after a loud passage, and some goose decides to applaud. The despairing opening to the finale of Tchaikovsky's Pathetique Symphony is amplified immeasurably by the raucous conclusion of the scherzo preceding it - at least it is when the audience refrains from inserting a two-minute clapping cadenza between the movements. What next? How about that big gap in the middle of Barber's Adagio For Strings - there's plenty of time for an ovation there.

Perhaps applause freaks such as Manny Ax should put themselves at the service of the music instead of wanting things the other way around. Just because no one is playing, doesn't mean there is no music.

Graeme Gee Telopea

David McKay (Letters, January 22), if you feel like clapping after a stirring moment in a piece of classical music, buy the CD or download it and don't attend the live concert. Then you can clap with impunity without disturbing other members of the audience, most of whom prefer to listen without your ad lib percussion solo.

Jeremy Lysaght Drummoyne

Those who are adamant about applauding between movements are more than welcome to do so, at the Andre Rieu concert of their choice.

Marcus Coleman Kingston (ACT)

Saturday, 24th January, 2009

The clap never bothered Mozart

The stuffy and arcane attitude of some writers towards clapping after movements is out of tune with the expectations of composers (Letters, January 23). Beethoven expected that after a stirring movement the audience would rise to its feet and applaud, and they frequently did. Mozart wrote to his father: "Right in the middle of the first allegro came a passage I knew would please, and the entire audience was sent into raptures - there was a big applauding moment . . . I was so delighted . . ."

It was only in the 20th century that this spontaneity was discouraged. These snobby attitudes and the labelling of perpetrators as fools discourage casual and youthful concert goers. Most musicians and conductors welcome this display of appreciation.

How can we expect children to embrace classical music when this analytical and detached attitude puts the structure of the music above the spontaneity and harmony between the orchestra and audience? Bring on the clapping.

Elizabeth Maher Bangor

It took a day or two for the aficionados to wake up to what was going on, but there they were in all their thundering majesty yesterday, tongue-lashing the impudent premature applauder with words such as "fool" and "goose", and suggesting these people remain in their living rooms. I was so impressed that I started to clap before I read the final letter.

Geoff Baldwin Drummoyne

I applaud people applauding inopportunely at concerts. I take fiendish delight in waiting for applause at the pause in the William Tell Overture, so I can turn to the audience and say "Fooled ya!", before continuing. Let's applaud the fact that people want to show their appreciation - a bit like laughing at a good joke before the punchline because the joke was being told so well.

Greg Ellsmore conductor, Coffs Harbour City Orchestra, Sandy Beach

First the critics find Christopher Wheeldon's ballet for dummies condescending; now the music police tell the great unwashed when not to applaud. Sorry for coming.

Ken Cullen Bathurst

Graeme Gee (Letters January 23), obviously those refraining from applause at times when no one is playing music are the philosophers, attuned to the sound of falling trees in distant forests.

Megan Brock Summer Hill

However ...

2009-01-22T09:46:00.003+11:00

We attended Angela Hewitt's wonderful performances of J S Bach's Well-tempered Clavier, in which she played Book 1 [24 preludes and fugues] completely from memory on Thursday evening, and then Book 2 on Saturday arvo, with the book open, but never once referred to, she divided them up into groups of four, with an interval after the first twelve.

When she took her glass of water after each group of four, and collected her thoughts, we certainly did not clap. We only clapped after all twelve. But, did we ever clap!

Clapping

2009-01-21T11:28:00.003+11:00

I love these wise words from Emanuel Ax about applauding.

I hate the way some people use strict rules about clapping in a snobby way.

I also liked Sam Allis' piece Concert Pianist with an axe to grind in the Sydney Morning Herald on the topic today.

MY Piano Teachers

2009-01-21T11:24:00.000+11:00

I first learnt from the sweet and soft Joy Walton at Melody Lodge, Belmont, then from the very strict Eileen Keeley, and finally from the wonderful Neta Maughan.

Mrs Walton taught me the basics and taught a nervous little boy that music, and especially piano playing, is fun.

Miss Keeley taught me that it is important to be accurate and that the fingering is there for a reason!

Miss Maughan, my wife's piano teacher, was my teacher for my last years of piano lessons. She, along with my wife, taught me to play musically and not just accurately.

All *four* teachers were very important for my musical development.

GROVE

2009-01-21T10:29:00.001+11:00

Do you use Grove? I'm jealous of those who can access it electronically without having to pay $US295 or 200 pounds per year, as we have to in Australia. But I should count my blessings, because a friend who used to work for MacMillans provided us with a copy of the 10 volume 5th paperback edition at half price post free in the 70s, then gave us an imperfect but perfectly serviceable copy of the 20 volume New Grove [1980 edition] in the 90s, and last week gave us a brand new copy of the 29 volume second edition of New Grove. We would never have been able to afford the $AUS 2000 the first edition was priced at here, and certainly not the $AUS 7000 for the second. As I hold a volume in my hands, I reflect on the fact that each of the 29 volumes is worth over $200!

Although hypertext linking has greatly enhanced using multivolume works electronically, there is still something about a book, I think.

It has been interesting to wade through the prefaces and introductory material and see how complicated making a work like this must be. There were thousands of contributors and over 100 editors, consultants, proof readers and admin staff. It has 21 million words and 29,000 articles.

This is a far cry from the 4 volume work published by Sir George Grove in 1879. In those days his dictionary only began with the Renaissance in 1450 and he deliberately excluded all investigations into the music of barbarous nations!

The New Grove, in contrast, even includes us barbarous Aussies! I'm hoping to use it as a resource this year when I take my U3A Music Appreciation class through some of our own music.

I love this new second edition, but will miss some of the great articles in the first edition: I notice that the article on St Augustine, for example, is quite different. We don't have the room for 49 volumes, and so I must part with the 1980 edition. I will certainly miss Volume two of the first edition, because I loved its title Back to Bolivia! Who would have thought there was a composer called Back?

Bravery and persistence award

2009-01-06T17:09:00.003+11:00

I have always been annoyed by Region Coding of dvds. Although I understand the theory that a company doesn't want people in say, Australia to be able to buy a dvd of a film that has not yet been released here by purchasing it over the internet, it seems to me that so many people have access to pirated copies that this plan is not successful. Also, so many people seem to either have multiregion dvd players or to know how to dezone them ... except this little black duck.

We've had a dvd player for about 7 years, but have not been able to play the odd dvd that is Region 2 [basically UK] or Region 1 [USA]. And if we had bought a dvd over the net from overseas, we couldn't be sure it would play on our Region 4 [Australia] player.

Until today, that is. I have had instructions on how to dezone my player but have never been successful in doing it. I've tried and given up several times. Today, I read and re-read the instructions and persisted.

Each time I tested it, I got the message Check Region Code, but I kept at it. And eventually, we have a dezoned player [at least I hope I haven't set it so that I can now only watch two dvds!]

In November, a friend loaned me a copy of Christopher Hogwood's book on Handel and his dvd of Messiah, with Emma Kirkby, Simon Preston and the Academy of Ancient Music. But when we tried to play it, we got the dreaded Check Region Code.

It is wonderful to be able to watch it at last. The performances are excellent, though the sound quality does not seem to be quite as good as in the Australian version of Messiah with Anthony Walker, Cantillation and the Orchestra of the Antipodes, which was recorded over twenty years later.

This region coding is somewhat akin to websites which advertise free magazines or recordings, and get you all excited and then have a disclaimer at the bottom:
Only for USA residents.

Cleo and Jimmy

2009-01-06T13:29:00.004+11:00

Sometimes When We Touch is one of our favourite recordings, which we used to have on a gramophone record and today received on a CD. People often say LPs sounded better than CDs, but this CD makes the music sound much clearer and without the pops and crackles.

We bought it after our daughter Cathy taught her 3 year old son Jerome to sing Skylark, which is one of the beautiful tracks on this CD. It is one of Hoagy Carmichael's very best songs and Sir John Dankworth's arrangement for his wife Cleo Laine and flutist James Galway is superb.

We love every track and have just finished listening to it for the third time today.

I note that the CD [and I think the LP] have Henry Bishop's Lo, here the gentle lark misspelled as HEAR the gentle lark, but this is not correct if you read the original by Shakespeare:

Lo, here the gentle lark, weary of rest,
From his moist cabinet mounts up on high,
And wakes the morning, from whose silver breast
The sun ariseth in his majesty;
Who doth the world so gloriously behold
That cedar-tops and hills seem burnish'd gold.

Venus salutes him with this fair good-morrow:
'O thou clear god, and patron of all light,
From whom each lamp and shining star doth borrow
The beauteous influence that makes him bright,
There lives a son that suck'd an earthly mother,
May lend thee light, as thou dost lend to other.'

However, Cleo sings the first line several times at the end, and I think it is meant to be

Lo, hear the gentle lark

Now, was this a mistake of hers or her husband's, or was it deliberate?

The White Horse Inn

2009-01-06T08:05:00.004+11:00

Sometimes it is hard to find things by Googling, though you often eventually get there. When I was in 4th class primary school, 1962 to be precise, we had a great teacher called Mr Warburton. He played the piano after a fashion, and taught us some great songs, including Lazybones, I am the very model of a modern major general and Goodbye from The White Horse Inn.

It took a bit of doing to find the lyrics, because I thought the song was called The White Horse Inn, but I also got distracted with restaurants, hotels and also Michael Horton and Kim Reddlebarger's excellent website.

I eventually found the lyrics linked with Andre Rieu ... but guess I'm of the same vintage.

I see that this is one of those songs you aren't supposed to like. [You're not sposed to like Mr Rieu, either, are you!] But I love it. It is a great stirring song. Don't mind a bit of corn, now and again.

Being for the benefit of ...

2009-01-01T18:29:00.008+11:00

... Ian Anderson?

Benefit has to be my favourite Jethro Tull album, probably because it is the only one I've ever owned! I think my brother and I bought Benefit together. I know I have not had a copy for at least the past 30 years.

My son went through a Tull phase, and I did get to hear Aqualung and several other albums, but Benefit is the one I played over and over.

The remastered supercheap CD sounds great! Don't remember the LP sounding this good, but don't tell anybody, because us oldies are all suppsoed to say the records sounded better. Rubbish!

It is a great boon to have the lyrics accessible on the internet. I could never make them all out. [So that's what he sings in Son!]
Cup of Wonder has the lyrics and interesting annotations thereon.

Other great albums from that era include Elton John's eponymous album and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's Deja Vu.

Seeing The Messiah

2008-12-06T19:48:00.002+11:00

We're pleased we have scored tickets to see Graham Abbott's 65th Messiah, this time in Penrith tomorrow. Graham is conducting the Penrith Symphony Orchestra and Penrith City Choir, in the choir's 30th anniversary concert. Graham is a great Australian musician and was the original conductor of the Nepean Choral Society [as the choir was then known] in 1977. Not sure why this is the 30th anniversary concert, but maybe they started late in 1977.

What makes a great musician?

2008-10-18T17:44:00.002+11:00

I'm pondering what makes a person one of the greatest musicians. Who do you think is worthy of the title? What criteria do you use?

I'm musing over this in conjunction with running a 6 week course on Handel's music as part of Bathurst U3A.

Was Handel the greatest composer, as Beethoven said?

Andrew Peterson

2008-10-16T22:49:00.002+11:00

Justin Taylor has pointed out a great Christian music resource in Andrew Peterson.
If you take yourself to his site, you'll find you can listen online to his great new album Resurrection Letters Volume II. I also thoroughly enjoyed his Christmas album, Behold the Lamb of God.

Thanks Justin. Great music, and great lyrics.

Beethoven's last bagatelle?

2008-09-06T16:12:00.002+10:00

Interesting article from yesterday's Sydney Morning Herald

IS THIS Beethoven's last work for piano? The Sydney musicologist Peter McCallum believes it is.

The 32 bars of handwritten musical notation caught his eye when he was studying the composer's last sketchbook in Berlin a couple of years ago. But it has required some detective work to determine what the great composer - whose handwriting was famously chaotic - intended.

"I didn't know it was a piano piece until I actually sat down and tried to write it out," says McCallum. "Beethoven almost never used clefs or key signatures so you have to think about it … but once you do crack the code it's clear."

McCallum, who is associate professor in musicology at the University of Sydney and the Herald's classical music critic, believes the piece was written about October 1826, just a few months before the composer died in March 1827.

"Beethoven always jotted down ideas, it was almost compulsive," he says. "The amount of paper he covered in the last three years of his life was quite amazing. There are a lot of little ideas that crop up that don't go anywhere. But this was more than a little idea. It actually has a right hand and a left hand and it's got phrasing marks and staccato marks in a few places. So it's quite clear it was a complete piece."

Now the pianist Stephanie McCallum has used her husband's transcription to make the first recording of the piece. Bagatelle in F minor is just 54 seconds long and is the final piece on her CD Fur Elise, Bagatelles For Piano By Ludwig Van Beethoven.

Although most of Beethoven's sketchbooks have been studied in detail, the final sketchbook - housed in Berlin's State Library - has attracted little attention.

Although his later works are often seen as spiritual, the fragment has a different quality, says Peter McCallum. "It's slightly melancholy. But it's a pleasant little thing and it's quite easy to play. What I like about it is that a child could enjoy playing it. We could give Fur Elise a rest for a while."

You can listen to the work here

My love for God and neighbour

2008-08-26T08:22:00.001+10:00

Christopher Idle is an Anglican minister, hymn writer, and hymn book editor. He has some interesting things to say about trends in contemporary hymns in his blog for the British hymnbook Praise!

ALL YOU NEED IS...
The other day I looked it up again: ‘True hymnwriters have not sought primarily to write hymns, but to know God’. No doubt Margaret Clarkson had in mind the Westminster Catechisms as well as Jeremiah 9 and John 17. Who is she? I must tell you next time. But that opening quote is this month’s text. Someone else said, ‘It’s much easier to write hymns than to love God.’ The next step: it’s easier to sing ‘I love you, Lord’, than to do it.

Recently I tried to survey what we actually sing about loving God. It is after all the most important command of all. Please excuse me if you have already come across my findings. Without reprinting it all here, it seems that from Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley up to about 1970, we expressed that love in terms of wistful longing, conscious failure, lukewarmness, half-heartedness, and the desire to love him more. (As you may have noticed if you subscribe to Evangelicals Now, monthly, or the quarterly Bulletin of the Hymn Society. Anyway, up to then it was ‘my love for him, so faint and poor’.)

Soon after 1970, everything changed. We were now all telling God how very much we did love him, to the accompaniment of suitable or unsuitable but certainly repeated music. We did not always say why, but we did, apparently. There are exceptions to this broad summary, but the main trend and the seventies turnaround are unmistakable.
I draw no conclusions here. But a friend challenged me to do something similar with the command that Jesus insisted on adding: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ For two reasons, I haven’t yet succeeded.
One, it would be a needle-and-haystack job.
Two, that to pose the question is to know the answer. Even if we can trace the ‘Love of neighbour’ hymns through the indexes which your church’s hymn-book (music edition) will have, who among us could stand and sing with tremendous gusto or even Holy Spirit anointing, this new worship-song:
O how I love you, my dear, dear neighbour;
I just feel in my heart
the overflowing, ever-growing, never-going love that’s just for you!
You are so beautiful, you are quite wonderful, you’re simply adorable;
this love so free has just taken over me!

Have you come across that? Probably not because, to be fair, I have only just written it. It hasn’t even got any music yet, so come on, lads, give it a go. Which leads me to ask, If I can be so sure that I love God so much, why am I far too coy, reticent, humble or realistic to say I love my neighbour? Or my brother, sister or enemy? As we all know, anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.’

Ah well. As some Anglicans get as far as muttering through gritted teeth most Sunday mornings: ‘The peace of the Lord be with you’.
Chris Idle

Well, not exactly the Dance of the Blessed Spirits

2008-08-22T11:24:00.002+10:00

I forgot to say that the piece Ms Kolesova played was not exactly The Dance of the Blessed Spirits, but Sgambati's arrangement of a Melody from Orfeo, by Gluck.

Concert and after-concert

2008-08-22T10:52:00.002+10:00

Last night we went to the Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre to hear Tatiana Kolesova perform a magnificent program of Chopin, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Schubert, Haydn and Stravinsky.

Tatiana is 23 years of age and is the second-place winner in the 2008 Sydney International Piano Competition.

We especially loved the Pletnev version of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker, the stupendous virtuosic movements from Petrouchka and the Haydn Sonata in G minor.

But the three encores were also wonderful. Tatiana played a piece that sounded like it was Gershwin, but was actually a Kapustin Intermezzo. (I hope ABC Classic FM keeps the track onsite, so you can hear it!)

She then played Chopin's Revolutionary Etude in C Minor spectacularly, and ended with a piece we were all pondering. My wife, as usual, came up with the goods. Joan said it was Gluck's Dance of the Blessed Spirits, but this didn't ring true to me, because I was thinking of the opening, and had forgotten the middle of the work.

So when we got home, I Youtubed the Gluck and made a wonderful discovery, which wasn't only that Joan was right again ... You know what they say

Two rules to help you save time
1. Your wife is correct
2. If in doubt, refer to rule 1.

In Youtubing the piece, we found two terrific performers: Dominique and Valerie Kim, aged 12 and 10. We spent the next hour sampling .the 68 videos they have put up at Youtube. After that we looked at some other child prodigies, but found none to match these two musicians.

If you go hunting, you will find a five year old performing a Mozart piano concerto movement with a small ensemble, someone who is about 10 or 12 playing Ravel's Jeux d'Eau and other stuff. But Dominique and Valerie can not only play the notes, but make music out of them, too.

They are not flawless, but they are wonderfully musical.

Neta Maughan's 70th

2008-08-22T08:33:00.002+10:00

We attended a wonderful evening in Hunter's Hill [Sydney] on 9th August, 2008, which was a surprise party to celebrate Neta Maughan's 70th birthday. Neta has taught some amazing students over the past 40 years or so, even including us. [Not that we are amazing in any way.]

The concert featured sensational performances by Neta's daughter Tamara-Anna Cislowska, Simon Tedeschi, Reomi Mito, Kathryn Lambert and others and also featured a whimsical parody of Tea for Two by Stephen Healey, a friend of ours from our days at Newcastle Conservatorium, but whom we had not seen since. Thirty-four years ago.

What was special about Stephen's song was that it was all about Miss Maughan's weekly visits to Newcastle which most people at the celebration would not have known anything about. And when Stephen talked about students he remembered from back then, Joan got a mention.

It was fun talking with him during the mealbreak, and hearing him introduce Joan as "Joan Sims." She hadn't heard anyone do that in over 34 years! But I'm glad she shares my name and didn't stick with the old one.

Sneak Preview

2008-05-25T21:43:00.003+10:00

If you click on the link above, locate the hypertext word here, and right click on it, you can save and then listen to a track from Zoe Black and Daniel McKay's new violin and guitar duo cd, which will be shortly available from MOVE records. You can also read about it at the above location.

We think the released track is terrific, but we would say that, wouldn't we?

Wrong number

2008-05-16T20:15:00.002+10:00

I was trying to ring a friend to confirm a dinner date and accidentally rang the number of someone else I know, or more correctly, know of, completely randomly.

No, I won't tell you Andrew McKeich's mobile number, but I will tell you he has been a producer of some of Australia's most lovely recordings, including some terrific CDs of Tamara Anna Cislowska, Roger Woodward, Gareth Koch, Emma Matthews and others.

This is the first time I've stumbled on the phone number of someone I revere: it's usually just someone who lives round the corner.

You can purchase Tamara Anna's CDs at the ABC shop, repackaged and at an amazingly cheap price.

With his boots on

2008-05-03T11:13:00.002+10:00

I listened occasionally to John Cargher's Singers of Renown and enjoyed it every time I listened. Producing a program for 42 years continuously is a great effort. We have people in Bathurst who have produced programs for 30 years on 2MCE-FM, the station where Jacinta Tynan, Andrew Denton and several other distinguished Aussie broadcasters began, but I don't know of anyone else who has kept it up as long as John.

The one program I remember is one in which he passionately promoted Phantom of the Opera, the then new opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber. A ninety minute trip from Katoomba to Parramatta passed very quickly.

Luther's Tavern Songs

2008-04-08T07:37:00.002+10:00

In the interesting Briefing focussing on singing in church, Gordon Cheng cited the myth that Martin Luther appropriated drinking songs for Christian hymns. As far as can be known, Luther once used a secular tune for his hymn "From Heaven Above to Earth I Come" but later rejected it because of its worldly associations. But the origin of this very popular and persistent notion seems to be based on a misunderstanding of the musical form known as the "bar tune." Many Lutheran chorales are in the form AAB, which is called "bar form." It has nothing to do with taverns, but means the song has two sections using the same musical phrase, ending with a second tune. Richard Lammert, Concordia Theological Seminary librarian explains this in his article Did Luther Use A Drinking Song as the Basis for A Mighty Fortress is our God?

If anyone knows a way of dispelling this myth forever, do it, do it, do it!

Larry Norman at 60

2008-02-03T19:17:00.000+11:00

This article by Philip Cooney is well worth reading. If you have heard of Larry Norman, you have just confirmed my suspicions: you are a fellow oldie! If you haven't, reading Phil's article will whet your appetite for listening to his great songs, I hope.

I got my first Larry Norman LP on loan from Maxine McKew's second cousin, Laura, who was one of my guitar students in Brisbane. [Yes, I know I can hardly play the guitar, but I got away with it for a few years while eking out an existence at Kenmore Christian College i the late 70s.]

The remastered version of the LP is fabulous and includes quite a few extra tracks, all interesting.

Phil's article is in the online version of The Briefing called The Longing.

Ten Great Hymns Every Christian Should Know

2008-01-12T16:44:00.000+11:00

Here are ten great hymns I think every Christian should know:
He Who Would Valiant Be
Words: Dearmer, after John Bunyan, in The English Hymnal, 1906
Music: Monks Gate, arranged by Ralph Vaughan Williams
accessed from Australian Churches of Christ Hymn Book, 458

Jesus is All the World to Me
also known as
He's My Friend
Words and music by Will Thompson, 1904
accessed from A C C H B, 114

All People That On Earth do Dwell
Words ascribed to William Kethe
Tune: The Old Hundredth
Music: Louis Bourgeois
[from Four Score and Seven Psalms of David, published in Geneva, Switzerland, 1561, or 1551]
accessed from The New Church Hymnal, published by Lexicon, 1976, 277

I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say
Words: Horatius Bonar, 1846
Music: Vox Dilecti by John B Dykes, 1868
[wonderful tune, which changes mode from minor to major as we get to the second half of each verse, wonderfully creating a musical picture of the change Jesus makes when we come to him]
Alternative tune: Kingsfold, folksong collected and arranged by Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906

What A Friend We Have In Jesus
Words: Joseph M Scriven, 1855
Music: Charles C Converse, 1868
Alternative tune: Blaenwern by William P Rowlands, 1905
accessed from Churches of Christ Hymn Book, 429

Soldiers of Christ Arise
Words: Charles Wesley, 1741 [in Character of a Methodist]
Tune: From Strength to Strength, by E W Naylor
accessed from A C C H B, 444

My Song is Love Unknown
Words: Samuel Crossman in The Young Man' Meditation, 1664
Tune: Love Unknown, John Ireland, 1918
accessed from Together in Song, 341
alternative tune: Calkin [also known as St John] by John Calkin, 1887
accessed from A C C H B, 135

Jesus, Lover of my Soul
Words: Charles Wesley, 1740
Tune: Aberystwyth [also known as Parry], Joseph Parry, 1879
Words accessed from A C C H B, 315
Music accessed from Together in Song, 211

How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds
Words: John Newton, 1779 from Olney Hymns, which he co-authored with William Cowper [pronounced Cooper]
Music: St Peter [also known as Reinagle] by Alexander Reinagle, 1836
accessed from A C C H B,440

Be Thou My Vision
Words: Dallan Forgaill, 8th century AD in Ireland, translated by Mary Byrne, 1905 and versified by Eleanor Hull, 1912.
Tune: Slane, of Irish folk origin, harmonised by David Evans, 1927
accessed from Together in Song, 547

If you are able to read music, it is wonderful to be able to sing [and play, if you can] through some of the old hymns which have stood the test of time.
You can find more information about these hymns at Cyber Hymnal

Tobin Music System

2007-06-30T20:25:00.000+10:00

I've just finished watching an amazing video of Candida Tobin's Music System.

In this video you will see Julie Hall, an excellent primary school classroom music teacher revising the music theory knowledge of 8 year old children. The children from an ordinary class at Bird's Bush Primary School in England are reading simple music, understanding melody and chords and composing as well.

Downloading the video requires having fast broadband, as the video is 26 minutes long and 160 odd megs! It is professionally produced and is a pleasure to watch.

Dame Evelyn Glennie is one of many professional musicians who endorse the scheme.

I read about it at the International Piano Teachers Group, which produces a weekly interesting newsletter based on emails received from people all over the world who teach guess what? [Hint: it's the king of the instruments, and rude people make jokes about its similarity to a body part.]

Performance Workshop

2007-06-24T22:51:00.000+10:00

Today I did something I've never done before. I ran a performance workshop for my students in which a colleague kindly came and wrote comments about the performances, and then shared her observations with the students after they had all performed.

A few weeks before, I had attended a concert at our conservatorium which was organised by my colleague, recorder expert and teacher, Elizabeth Hassan. It was a terrific concert, which included Baroque and contemporary pieces for recorder, soprano, cello and harpsichord [though not always at the same time!]

Elizabeth had some helpful comments to make for each of the six students who played, and did this in a constructive and positive manner. She kindly drove over 50 kilometres [each way] to give her insights to my students.

And she had a great quote to share which I'd never heard before:

Amateurs practise until they get it right
Professionals keep practising until it can't go wrong

She told us she got that from her own teacher, many years ago.

Thanks, Elizabeth!

The Einstein Factor

2007-06-19T13:27:00.000+10:00

At last I can blog about my appearance on ABC TV's Einstein Factor. Coincidentally, the episode in which my special subject was The Music of J S Bach was recorded on 21st March, Bach's birthday.

It was not nearly as nerve-wracking as I'd thought it would be. All of the staff were pleasant and made us feel at ease, and the questions on my special subject were so easy, I didn't clam up while I was answering them. But I wasn't fast enough to get through all fifteen questions.

It was fun to win, of course, but the highlight was getting a free trip from Bathurst, in western New South Wales, Australia to Melbourne, capital city of Victoria and being able to see my son Daniel and his wife Louise. Since they moved further south, we have not seen them as much, and we had never been down to visit them.

If you would like to see my Bach jokes, a few clicks on the above link will get you there.

And if you have a broadband account, you may even wish to download the video of Episode 19 and watch the program. Please tell me if you do.

Chopin trumps Mozart?

2007-06-11T11:18:00.000+10:00

People always talk about Mozart as a great prodigy, composing and performing as he did from the age of 4 or 5.

But if you compare Chopin's earliest works, from about the age of 7, they are amazingly intricate and much harder than anything Mozart wrote as a lad. You can buy Alfred's publications of Chopin's earliest works and of his easiest works. The earliest are by no means easy, and many of the easier works are not the earliest works.

So far, I've not seen anything cleverer, written at such a young age from well known composers, but I'm happy to be corrected.

Tell me that you've heard every sound there is ...

2007-06-02T16:07:00.000+10:00

Neil, of One Salient Oversight, says he celebrated the fortieth anniversary of the release of Sgt Pepper by listening to Revolver.

Hi Neil.

I was a Beatles fan from 1964. I eagerly awaited the arrival of each single [didn't know a lot about the albums].

My friend, Paul invited me over to listen to Beatles For Sale. I met Paul at a Christian Endeavour sports day. We were the kids sitting eating lollies while the other kids were running around. We saw each otehr after that at Christian Endeavour youth rallies and Tahlee Bible College camps.

Beatles For Sale is a much-maligned album, but I loved it, and I must admit that part of this is because I listened to it with Paul. Even if you like Beatles For Sale, you are supposed to say "But I don't like Mr Moonlight". But I did. I thought that conga drum and John's raver vocals and the organ were terrific.

Dunno how, but I missed Revolver. I heard Eleanor Rigby and Yellow Submarine, but never knew that there was an album released in 1966 until 1968.

One day I saw a copy in a department store and wondered how I'd ever missed it.

Revolver is a superb album. Remember listening to it at Duncan's place in Belmont North.

But Greg's folks had a record player [3-in-one jobbie, I think] which had a big bass speaker, and when you heard the first notes of Taxman, after the little bit of studio chatter [added on later for effect], that low D boooomed.

I enjoyed every track on Revolver, but especially
Taxman - loved the crazy lyrics, and the way the PM and Leader of the Opposition were dragged into the song
I Want To Tell You - loved the weird harmony created by the persistent piano swung quavers
And Your Bird Can Sing - I was captivated by the 2 lead guitars playing that wonderful backing obbligato, as well as by the vocals
Good Day, Sunshine - it has lots of musically interesting features, including the great thumping piano accompaniment, the vocal harmony and modulation at the end of the song

Think I'll have to take up Neil's suggestion.

It was 40 years ago today

2007-06-01T22:40:00.000+10:00

I've just finished listening to Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, on the 40th anniversary of its release in the UK. My parents bought me a copy for my 15th birthday in 1967. Mum commented that I had told her it would cost $5.25, but it was actually $5.50, which she thought was a bit steep!

I still have the record [which is mono]: it is well worn and the cover has a few tears. Many people say the mono version is superior to the stereo version, but I enjoy listening to the CD and like hearing the bits and pieces coming from the different speakers.

It is still very enjoyable to listen to, after all these years. Don't play Beatles CDs much now: played my records and later the CDs to death and can now "play" them without putting them in a reproducing device!

Cheap Aural Delights

2007-04-18T10:53:00.000+10:00

Flute whizz, Philip Braithwaite put me onto an inexpensive way of hearing heaps of music for 19.99 per year, which you can pay in Euros or American dollars. [Much cheaper for us Aussies in USD, currently.]

Naxos lets you subscribe to their cattledog [thanks for that great word, Peter Smith] and play any track you like of the tens of thousands available distributed by Naxos or Marco Polo.

You have to listen on a track-by-track basis, and they do make you keep logging in, which is a little annoying, but if you are willing to fork out about 150 US dollars or Euros annually, you can set up whole programs of music to listen to without having to go back to the computer to select the next track. Wonder if you have to keep logging in, but?

The sound quality is superb and sounds about as good as my CDs sound through my modest system.

I've been following up interesting people I read about in Wikipedia and Grove [and I use that order intentionally] and at the moment have been listening to Amy Beach, an American composer who deserves to be better known. Might even buy a CD or two one day. Her Piano Concerto in C# Minor is well worth hearing, if you haven't already.

Easter Music

2007-04-08T22:29:00.000+10:00

I'm still studying Bach, on and off, for The Einstein Factor, and have enjoyed listening to Bach's mighty St John Passion, his Easter Oratorio, the early cantata BWV 4 Christ lay in the bonds of death and BWV 31 The Heavens laugh; the earth rejoices, all of which were written for Easter Sunday.

Although I'm trying to be an expert on Bach, as best I can, I have only listened to each of the more than 200 cantatas once, except for the really well-known ones. I appreciate having the Teldec Bach 2000 set [purchased in 2001], but there are certainly some better performances than in that set. The worst aspect is the boy sopranos, and the worst aspect of that is the out-of-tune boy sopranos.

Still musing about John Eliot Gardiner's Pilgrimage set. The recordings you hear from the Monteverdi Choir website sound terrific, as do the 3 cantatas on the Pilgrimage DVD.

If you would like to view my efforts in my episode on The Einstein Factor, it is supposed to be on ABC TV on Sunday, 17th June at 6.30 PM.

Quotes about Composers

2007-03-27T13:45:00.000+10:00

These quotes are sourced from the top of each page in Wendy Thompson's The Great Composers.

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
The art of music above all other arts is the expression of the soul of a nation.

Felix Mendelssohn, speaking about Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
I have not seen any musician in whom musical feeling ran, as in Liszt, into the very tips of the fingers and there streamed out immediately.

Pablo Casals (1876-1973) on Felix Mendelssohn
A romantic who felt at ease within the mould of classicism.

Robert Schumann (1810-1856) on Niccolo Paganini (1782-1840)
Paganini is the turning-point in the history of virtousity.

Guiseppe Verdi (1813-1901) on Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835)
Long, long melodies such as no one has ever written before.

Franz Von Schober (1798-1882) on Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
If you go to see him during the day, he says "Hello, how are you? -- Good!" and goes on working, whereupon you go away.

Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904) on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Mozart is sunshine.

Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)
The expression of thought, of sentiment, of the passions, must be the true aim of music.

Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757)
Scarlatti frequnetly told M. L'Augier that he was sensible he had broke through all the rules of composition.
(from Charles Burney's General History of Music

Mozart on George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Handel understands effect better than any of us -- when he chooses, he strikes like a thunderbolt.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
I should place an organist who is master of his instrument at the very head of all virtuosi.

Franz Schubert on Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Johann Sebastian Bach has done everything completely; he was a man through and through.

Martin Luther (1483-1546)on Josquin des Prez (c.1440-1521)
Josquin is master of the notes; others are mastered by them.

Anonymous (from the preface to Parthenia)1613 tribute to William Byrd (c.1543-1623)
How daintily this Byrd his notes doth vary, As if he were the Nightingale's own brother.

Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951)
Dissonances are only the more remote consonances.

Yehudi Menuhin (1916-1999) on Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
If wind and water could write music, it would sound like Ben's.

Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)
Tonality is a natural force, like gravity.

Ernest Newman (1868-1959), reviewing Facade by William Walton (1902-1983)
As a musical joker he is a jewel of the first water.

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)
I abhor imitation and I abhor the familiar.

Prokofiev on Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
Bach on the wrong notes.

Samuel Barber (1910-1981)
As to what happens when I compose music, I really haven't the faintest idea.

Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) on George Gershwin (1898-1937)
I don't think there has been such an inspired melodist on this earth since Tchaikovsky ... but if you want to speak of a composer, that's another matter.

Aaron Copland (1900-1990)
Music that is born complex is not inherently better or worse than music that is born simple.

Pachelbel Rant

2007-03-24T21:15:00.000+11:00

Rob Paravonian's amusing whinge about the Pachelbel Canon [and especially about the boring 8 note repetitive cello part] is great fun. However, if you are one of those people who don't swallow everything they're told, if you check out some of the songs he claims are really just Pachelbel Redivivus, you'll find it isn't quite true: Let It Be is a case in point. The chords begin like the canon, but McCartney's 4th chord is not Pachelbel's.

Boning Up on Bach

2007-03-18T17:25:00.000+11:00

I've spent the past month investigating J S Bach, having been selected to appear on the Australian television program, The Einstein Factor with The Music of J S Bach as my topic.

When Rachmaninov said that

Music is enough for a lifetime
But a lifetime is not enough for Music

he could have been speaking about the music of Bach. What a massive topic!

There are some excellent resources on the internet, including the Wikipedia article, The J S Bach Home Page, helpful biographical and other information at the Baroque Composers and Musicians Homepage, Tim Smith's wonderful Shockwave animations of the fugues from The Well-Tempered Clavier and the superb Bach Cantatas Website.

I'm enjoying investigating this fascinating topic, but I wish I knew what kind of questions will be asked! I promise not to give out any information about the program, to be recorded on Bach's birthday, until after the broadcast.

The Band That Money Couldn't Buy

2007-03-13T22:44:00.000+11:00

I've always loved these crazy and often appropriately silly names for musicians.

It will help if you read them out loud, and with some, re-read them.

Here are some of my favourites:

Band manager: Robin Gitt

Singers: Barbie Hynde, Mimi Mee

Trombone: Hugh Jarms

Cor anglais: Diane Duck

Tenor Trombone: Oliver Guinnness

Classical Guitar: Segovia Carpet

Guitar: Ron Chords

Bass guitar: Ian Gee

Drums: Owen Transport

Miss Potter

2007-01-26T15:46:00.000+11:00

We have just returned from seeing Miss Potter. Some of the professional critics were not particularly enthusiastic, but I loved it. I'm a sucker for terrific scenery [especially in Great Britain] and loved the story. I thought Renee Zellweger was brilliant and completely disagree that someone else would have done a better job.

I'm intrigued that the film has 2 composers and am wondering why: did Nigel Westlake feel he needed Rachel Portman for certain styles, or did the producers think he wasn't up to it?

I love Nigel's music, including his arrangements of Saint-Saens for Babe (also directed by Christ Noonan)and his own music, used so effectively in the IMAX Antarctica film. In fact, a couple of days ago, I purchased a score of his percussion ensemble that features in the part of the film called Penguin Circus.

I haven't found a student yet who is not captivated by this short, fun piece.

Rachel Portman's music in Chocolat is perfect. I'm still wondering if Satie's Gnossienne is really in the film, or if rather Ms Portman has captured the style of that work.

How to get your child to practise ... without resorting to violence!

2007-01-19T12:46:00.000+11:00

I read most of this book at my sister-in-law's place: she is also a piano teacher. The author, Cynthia Richards, has several children of her own, and managed to help most of them to learn to play various instruments, as well as conducting a busy piano studio.

Ken Foster has excerpts from this great book here. Now I'm wishing I had my own copy!

She makes some great points in her book, and while I will give you a few of her hints here, you will find it well worth your while to read the whole shebang. And it's as cheap as chips!

Mrs Richards alerts her readers to these stumbling blocks:
1 Indifferent home environment
2 Faulty teacher-child relationship
3 Lack of maturity and commitment in the child
4 The wrong instrument
5 Unfavourable practice conditions
6 Bad memories
7 Peer pressure not to practise
8 Not proficient enough to be competitive
9 Too many conflicting interests
10 Sibling rivalry
11 Competitive feelings with a parent
12 Communications

She also suggests some ways to overcome these problems:
1 Start early
2 Practise with your child every day
3 Set up family rules for practising
4 Use incentives when needed
5 Handle conflicts by
a avoiding emotional involvement
b being friendly
c being matter of fact
d not giving in
6 Enjoy your children's music
7 Praise them for their successes
8 Look for stumbling blocks and do your best to remove them
9 Focus your efforts on getting your child hooked on music

I highly recommend this book. If you follow the advice of a successful mother and music teacher, your child may not become a little Mozart; but you will be a better parent, your child will be a happier child and together you will enjoy some great musical experiences.

Stephen Fisher-King

2007-01-14T17:12:00.000+11:00

My wife, Joan rarely buys CDs, but when she does she always buys beauties. Several years ago, Joan bought 2 CDs in the one day at 2 different stores. I don't think this has happened before or since, but when she got home, we discovered that the 2 CDs were both recorded in the same studio: now I wonder how often that happens!

What was the studio? It was Shandar Media Studio, which I think is in the Southern Highlands.

What were the CDs?

Stephen Fisher-King's Where Do I Begin? and
Valerie Forbes-Mavridis' Piano Gold.

I'm sorry that I can't find out anything about Ms Mavridis, and don't think it would be easy to track down her CD. But, if you do, you will enjoy terrific performances of

Rachmaninov's famous Prelude in C# Minor
Debussy's Clair de Lune
Zez Confrey's delightful Dizzy Fingers
Fats Waller's Alligator Crawl
Grieg's Wedding Day at Troldhaugen
and
Gershwin's set of 3 jazz preludes.

But Stephen's CD is equally wonderful and includes great performances of songs such as

Jealousy
Night and Day
They Call The Wind Mariah
and The Rhythm of Life

Stephen has won many national awards for his performances, and it was a great privilege to accompany him at church one Sunday, and in a concert he gave. Stephen is a great singer, and demanding on his accompanist: he won't let up until he gets the performance he wants, which is the sign of a professional performer.

We used to live around the corner from Stephen and it is good to see he is still winning awards and performing a lot.

A Musical Banquet

2007-01-10T18:07:00.000+11:00

We are enjoying Marshall McGuire's delightful Musical Banquet CD. It is terrific that the ABC has reissued some of the superb recordings from Andrew McKeich's sadly-defunct Artworks label.

This recording has just the right combination of very well known pieces, such as the Pezold Minuets [formerly attributed to J S Bach], Purcell's Fairest Isle and Handel's Largo, and lesser known but beautiful works.

And, at the moment, the CD is on special for $19.95.

We were pleased to be able to say a brief Hello to Marshall a few years ago, when our son, Daniel's band, Guitar Trek, played at the Sydney Art Gallery at a concert Marshall had organised. Of course, we think he has great taste in choosing to feature such a great band in that short concert series.

Choir of Hard Knocks

2006-12-30T21:00:00.000+11:00

Did you see the terrific performance of Silent Night by The Choir of Hard Knocks that was broadcast by ABC TV a few times over the Christmas period? I reckon it was the best thing on TV. The performance was earthy, real, and sincere. Musical, too!

Favourite Music Quotes

2006-12-09T13:11:00.000+11:00

Jerry Rosen, former Boston Symphony Orchestra violinist
Listening to music on records is like getting kissed over the telephone.

Musica laetitiae comes medicina dolorum.
Music is the companion of joy and the medicine of sorrow.

Song title:
You don’t have to join the Ku Klux Klan to be a wizard under the sheets!

Album Title:
Songs I Learnt At My Mother's Knee (and some other low joints)

W. H. Auden (1907-73)
Music,
which can be made anywhere,
Is invisible and does not smell

J.S. Bach (1685-1750)
The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul. If heed is not paid to this, it is not true music but a diabolical bawling and twanging.

You just have to press the right keys and the right pedals at the right time and the music plays itself.

Aaron Copland (1900-90)
The whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking, 'Is there a meaning to music?' My answer would be, 'Yes.' And "Can you state in so many words what the meaning is?' My answer to that would be 'No.'

Heraclitus (c. 540-480 BC)
The fairest harmony springs from discord.

Sir Paul McCartney (1942- )
There are two things John and I always do when we're going to sit down and write a song. First of all we sit down. Then we think about writing a song.

Australian jazz musician, James Morrison [on his song Ease On In]
It’s kind of like a funky sort of Afro-Cuban swinging jazz-rock sort of Classical punk waltz reggae calypso sort of Scottish feel.
James and his family lived across the road from my Uncle Dave and Aunty Win. Aunty Win says they were very nice but very quiet, and only occasionally would you hear music coming from the house

Elvis Presley
I don't know anything about music. In my line you don't have to.

Sid Vicious
You just pick a chord, go twang, and you've got music!

Frank Zappa

I write the music I like. If other people like it, fine, they can go buy the albums. And if they don't like it, there's always Michael Jackson for them to listen to.

Rock journalism is people who can’t write interviewing people who can’t talk for people who can’t read.

When too much music is barely enough ...

2006-11-12T18:20:00.002+11:00

Joan and I attended the excellent performance of Mozart's Requiem on Saturday night at All Saints Cathedral, which was performed by combined choirs of Bathurst and Orange and the Bathurst Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Ann Hosking. This was a very good performance and the cathedral was packed again.

I mused to myself that if the best voices and instrumentalists in Australia had been performing for us, it would have been better, but not much better, because the standard was pretty high.

It was great to hear Gabriel Bieniek singing the soprano arias, sounding as terrific as ever. Will this be her last performance in Bathurst? We are very sorry to be losing her and her composer/pianist husband Matthew, but we imagine the Queensland part of her family will be over the moon that their daughter will be close by, especially after the birth of her baby.

Then, on Sunday afternoon we enjoyed some really beautiful music from Enchanted Winds, which features music by Kristopher Spike performed by Spike on piano, Leah Lock on flute and Deborah de Graaf on clarinet. Spike is a most interesting composer, and I am hopeful that it will not be too long before he is an Australian Music Centre represented composer, because he certainly deserves to be.

They were joined by mezzo soprano Sally-Anne Russell for 3 or 4 of the pieces they played.