This year I’ve been pretty quiet on the blog front but I’ve been totally absorbed with playing, arranging for choirs , singing, designing artwork, managing choirs and….teaching piano to a growing number of students.
This has involved creating a business name, business cards, signage, setting up a website, a marketing plan and embarking on teaching …at the weekends, on top of that my day job which keeps me on my toes!
I made the decision to return to teaching as part of reviewing my music making and accompanying and have stepped back a little from one of my choirs. The choir “family” I work with continues to grow and with 3 of them now it was the right thing to do. We are working with a talented young pianist who is doing well. I play for the Hutt Valley Singers from time to time so am not completely without them and I also sing Sop 2 with them most Monday nights at rehearsal.
After a bit of a gap from teaching, I am absolutely loving it and I really look forward to my Saturdays. My student numbers are growing more than I imagined.
I am planning for 2018 and setting personal goals…. as are my students.
My students are aged 6- middle aged (like me). All but one are beginners and I am fascinated by their determination and the amount of work they put in at home.
I love the door in the room that I teach which has a poster for the younger students “Whats New in My Musical Mind”. It is a treasure of their learning and highlights approx week to week and they love seeing what the other students write. It’s become quite competitive in a supportive way and they love knowing the names of the other students even if they don’t meet them at their own lessons.
bmd
Two of my students are sisters who have back to back lessons and the older of the two wanted to learn after she heard her sister playing and had done music at school. She’s a natural. I’ve taken a different approach to her tutor books than her younger sibling.
One of my students aged 11 had no teacher for 18 months and has motivated herself to play all this time. She is hungry for music and knowledge. This month she is singing Adele’s “Someone Like You” and accompanying herself on piano at her school talent quest. She had been working on it for weeks before she showed me and she is doing very well. She performed this in front of an older student this week who was amazed at how well she did. Her goal is to read the dots, and she is really putting in the work.
Music theory teaching is fascinating. Some of my students aren’t so keen but it is the sign posting for their playing and I am experimenting with different ways of teaching it- flash-cards, internet games, workbooks, music analysis. The internet is becoming really popular with the younger pupils.
I am super lucky to be able to share my love for music and the piano with others and to see how inspired they are to play.
Can’t wait for 2018!
One of my adults is going to sit exams and there could be more. Am also considering planning a Soiree with another local music teacher.
Mrs C my piano teacher and mentor- taught without all the technology we have available now and turned out some amazingly skilled musicians. That would be my dream to do the same.
To see my pupils enjoying their instrument and the music they are creating is a real privilege and a challenge to teach them well.
A light hearted reflection on a kids community choir rehearsal…
No2.
Kids sitting in a circle. We split into 2 groups, our Musical Director takes one group through to the dance room with keyboard, my group are left with me on piano ….and here they are….. over 12 of them sitting with their folders open with their backs to me. Doh!
Says me to the cast of thousands…..
” Do you think it would be okay to turn around and face me in the corner?”.
In the song “Anything you can do I can do better” there is a lyric part way through that says… “I can jump a hurdle, even with my girdle” and one of the kids asks
“What is a girdle?…….(nice work and so innocently done).
Giggles from around the room..(great job choir parents….leave me hanging…!!)
So here I am, in the middle of teaching a song to kids aged 5-10 (that they are totally digging) talking about, and demonstrating, articles of clothing that suck in tummies for ladies instead of them doing it by themselves…..
(and me sitting at my piano carrying a bit of extra weight!)
Being able to recognize a pitch without an external reference is called absolute pitch, commonly referred to as perfect pitch. This is a rare trait. Studies show around one in ten thousand people have perfect pitch however many never discover they have it.
It’s also been said that having Perfect Pitch is “like seeing in colour”
Is perfect pitch Genetic?
According to a study conducted by University of California professor Diana Deutsch, genes play a large role in obtaining perfect, or absolute, pitch. Past research identified early exposure to musical training as a factor that contributes to the development of perfect pitch. This has been particularly true for speakers of tonal languages, like Mandarin, who have traditionally been far more likely to develop a trained ear after early and extensive music lessons than speakers of non-tonal languages, like English.
In order to explore the idea, the researchers conducted a study involving 27 English speaking adults, all of whom had been exposed to musical training before the age of six; however, only seven out of 27 had perfect pitch. They tested all 27 of the subjects’ memory abilities using a technique known as digital span, which measures how many digits a person can remember and immediately recall in the correct order. In the test, the digits are presented in two ways: visually and auditorily. The visual test presents the digits on a computer screen and the auditory test sounds off the digits through a set of headphones.
Deutsch’s digit span test showed that the seven subjects with perfect pitch outperformed all other subjects in the audio portion. But in the visual test, the two groups displayed the similar aptitudes. What does this mean, you ask? Deutsch and Dooley point out that auditory digit span has previously been identified as a genetic component, drawing the conclusion that memory abilities passed on through genes could explain why only some of the children exposed to musical training actually develop a gift for identifying tones.
“Our finding therefore shows that perfect pitch is associated with an unusually large memory span for speech sounds,” said Deutsch in a statement released by ASA, “which in turn could facilitate the development of associations between pitches and their spoken languages early in life.”
Their analysis: Budding piano prodigies take note, because thousands of hours of practice might not be enough. You may also need those pesky memory genes to obtain the flawless intonation we all seek.
Famous Musicians with Perfect Pitch
This list is debatable in many ways as perfect pitch sometimes gets muddled with tuning.
Michael Jackson
Mariah Carey
Ella Fitzgerald. The First Lady of Song was so dead on that her band would warm up to her voice.
Bing Crosby
Mozart
Beethoven we think. Experts just assume he had it since he was able to compose such perfect music without hearing it.
Jimi Hendrix.
Occurrence of Perfect Pitch
Perfect pitch is more common in the special needs community, particularly among people with Williams Syndrome and individuals with other “midline defects.” Science is yet to understand why this is the case. Most — if not all — prodigious musical savants have a high degree of perfect pitch. Interesting.
Henry Kupferstein and Susan Rancher have written a book Perfect Pitch in the key of Autism. Autistic people and musical individuals often have perfect pitch, a gift they were born with. The musical gift may be accompanied with learning differences such as reading comprehension problems, trouble with mathematics, and significant difficulties in learning how to read music. This book was written by a music therapist and an autistic researcher, and is endorsed by leading experts in the field of autism and special-needs education. The Rancer Method addresses perfect pitch, giftedness, autism and sensory issues in music education.from the back cover “By focusing on the abilities rather than the deficits of people with learning, perceptual, motor, and other differences, Kupferstein and Rancer have developed a revolutionary piano pedagogy that will empower individuals with autism and other differences by unleashing the power of what can be done.”
Is perfect pitch a blessing or a curse?
There are some interesting blogs I’ve found on living with Perfect Pitch by musicians.
There is a long forum post on ABRSM started by a string player trying to play with an out of tune piano where the string player “untunes” and then can’t play an untuned instrument. http://www.abrsm.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=30518
So why am I writing about this?
Recently a man came to check out a choir rehearsal- this man introduced himself and advised that he had a perfect ear.
Here’s what happened:
After warm ups we moved onto a song being learnt without music “I Believe I can Fly” in the key of F major.
The next song we moved to was “Down By the Riverside” arranged by Moses Hogan in A Flat major, with music. We had only started working on this piece the week before so got part way through.
The Man with the Perfect Ear challenged our musical director and me indicating I was playing in F major not D flat major. (I was playing the score as written in A flat major).
During the break, midway through rehearsal, The Man with the Perfect Ear approached our Musical Director and I concerned that something wasn’t right, the key we were working on that piece wasn’t correct and mentioning the piano was out of tune by half a semi tone.
Being a community choir, we rehearse in a church hall . There is no air conditioning at the venue and we get temperatures ranging from -3 or -4 to late 20 degrees Celsius- and humidity 70 – 97% during the year. The piano, being a string instrument,will of course be move in tuning- that’s to be expected. Me more than anyone is aware of that but A440 is close enough for me and I have certainly played on worse pianos locally.
The Man with the Perfect Ear was convinced the tuning was out significantly- asking me to play notes, he got quite frustrated during this process, blaming the piano’s tuning for what was occurring.
After some other questions he decided that he couldn’t sing with our choir .
This must have been very frustrating for him.
Having played for choirs off and on for 30 years I’ve not had an experience like this one and it led me to thinking how to those with perfect pitch find making music a pleasure, what kind of instruments do they take up? How do they strategise and cope with this thing that they have that most of us don’t, how could music making even be fun?
I do hope The Man with the Perfect Ear finds an outlet for his musical creativity and can enjoy it.
Me – well I’ll continue to play on that out of tune piano on Monday’s at rehearsal and be grateful that I don’t have the perfect ear.
The winner of The Voice Upper Hutt is a chorister who joined The Major Minors Children’s Choir in 2012 when we formed it as a one off for a special programme with The Hutt Valley Singers. Jessica is the only remaining original chorister and she started at age 8. She hasn’t stopped singing since.
So pleased for her and my musical bestie who teaches her singing and piano! Way to go Jessica and Joanne.
Her winning song was penned a couple of years ago when her Dad went off to Afghanistan in 2012/13.
I am extremely honoured to perform at a Trinity College Memorial Concert for my piano teacher, Rewa Crawley, in Blenheim, New Zealand on 2 April 2016. The concert is at 2.00pm at the Wesley Centre.
I have chosen to play “Frost” for solo piano 2016, by English Composer, Jenni Pinnock. This piece while not a flamboyant, flashy/showy piano piece is challenging in many other ways. This piece makes the performer work the sound of the piano rather than the number of notes.
I have enjoyed working with Jenni discussing interpretation.
To quote Jenni
“Serene, beautiful and striking. Frost was inspired by the beautiful carpet of ice crystals left across the landscape. Although it may be a danger, it makes the world sparkle in a magical way, leaving glinting frosty spiders webs and icy plants for us to admire”.
Frost is approximately 3 minutes in length and was composed in late 2015 and early 2016.
The piece is a fitting choice for a memorial concert for an amazing woman who was ahead of her time studying composition at the University of Canterbury, NZ . She had an amazing way to see the creative process of writing, and to inspire her pupils.
Born in 1924, it must have been in the 1940’s that Rewa was studying at Uni.
This wonderful woman encouraged me to learn piano, study theory and composition, touch on vocal arranging and to begin accompanying from the piano. This led to me studying for a Bachelor of Music at the same University she studied at.
Mrs C, (as I called her), taught my brother and my Mum for a while, and my Dad pruned/sprayed and tended to her roses too.
Mrs C, was an early riser and took the opportunity for many early morning walks with her dog Ben, and later alone, in the fresh Blenheim air- on a cold (or hot morning)- so again the reference to Frost is another reason to play this piece.
Plenty of winter mornings in Blenheim (for me before attending Marlborough Girls’ College ) were shared by the Boyce family with this wonderful woman.
I owe so much of my musical experience to this woman who introduced me to accompanying singers in my teens- something I still do today 30 years later. (And to playing violin too). I still remember playing “The Rainbow Connection” playing for Timothy Wilson, my first ever experience at singing accompaniment as a pianist. Thanks Tim!
To be able to perform a piano solo, to have the opportunity say thank you, in a musical way, in my hometown is special (and I have to admit very emotional).
I am also pleased to hear that this concert will benefit a charity close to her. The concert is a donation/Koha and takings will support the Heart Foundation. Mrs C lost her husband young, due to heart disease, I remember that. She was dealing with that, and still (through grief) found the inner strength to coach her pupils and inspire them. That is a test in character, skill and love itself.
Many thanks to Wendy Glover for organising this tribute concert , and a huge thank you to Mrs C, the woman I wouldn’t be where I am musically (or as a person today) without your influence.
Thanks for your coaching and inspiration, care and love Mrs C.
Each year on Anzac Day, New Zealanders (and Australians) mark the anniversary of the Gallipoli landings of 25 April 1915. On that day, thousands of young men, far from their homes, stormed the beaches on the Gallipoli Peninsula in what is now Turkey.
For eight long months, New Zealand troops, alongside those from Australia, Great Britain and Ireland, France, India, and Newfoundland battled harsh conditions and Ottoman forces desperately fighting to protect their homeland.
By the time the campaign ended, more than 130,000 men had died: at least 87,000 Ottoman soldiers and 44,000 Allied soldiers, including more than 8700 Australians. Among the dead were 2,779 New Zealanders, about a fifth of all those who had landed on the peninsula.
In the wider story of the First World War, the Gallipoli campaign made no large mark. The number of dead, although horrific, pales in comparison with the death toll in France and Belgium during the war. However, for New Zealand, along with Australia and Turkey, the Gallipoli campaign is often claimed to have played an important part in fostering a sense of national identity.
Two of New Zealand’s most long-standing community groups, the Upper Hutt Brass Band and the Hutt Valley Singers, with guests the Wainuiomata Choir, will be taking the stage at Expressions on 26 April to perform this popular and powerful work by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins.
A concert to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of Anzac Day. The Armed Man takes us through the stages of war from the army’s entrance, preparation, the inevitable war, the acknowledgement that one death is one too many through to the healing and desire for peace. A strong, beautiful and poignant piece of work that will set the stage of remembrance for our soldiers past and present.
With over 100 performers on stage including 70 voices in the choir and augmented brass band, the performance will be directed by Clynton Payne, Musical Director for the Brass Band, who has also arranged the orchestra setting for the band. About this work Clynton says ‘Since first hearing this Mass performed shortly after its premiere I was completely captivated by it. It has been one of my favourite contemporary works for years and I have always wanted to perform it. The individual movements that this work comprises are all beautiful in their own right, but to perform the entire mass as a whole is something very special.
The Armed Man has established itself as the most frequently programmed new work for choir and orchestra of recent decades, with over 1200 performances to date since its premiere in 2000, equating to an average of 100 per year.
Performances will be at Expressions, Upper Hutt, New Zealand 3pm and 7pm on Sunday 26th April 2015. Adults $20, Unwaged/Student $15 and Children $10. Tickets can be bought at Expressions or visit their website http://www.expressions.org.nz
My job as rehearsal pianist is almost done, I am deciding if I will sing (2nd sop) or join the audience to listen to this beautiful work.
I think I’ve started a new project that is going to keep me learning new musical skills for a long time…..
I love working on choral arrangements, however the more I do and the more I think about them, the more I actually learn. I am extremely lucky to have a choir to try these arrangements out on. The Hutt Valley Singers and Musical Director Joanne Roelofs are so supportive of my work. They put in a lot of effort trying to learn the songs I arrange and to sing them well. Many of the choir members aren’t familiar with the songs I have chosen to work on.
I have a couple of songs being performed next month as part of a broadway concert. Don’t Rain on My Parade from Funny Girl arranged for SATB with flute and piano and the other is a Gershwin favourite Someone to Watch Over Me arranged for SATB with improvised piano.
Things I’ve learnt with these two arrangements are:
Writing for tenor is the part I struggle with the most
Writing for piano isn’t easy despite being a pianist first and foremost!
I need to get better at using Sibelius so my scores look better each time. Hairpins and slur uniformity is something I need to get better at
Major 2nds are a mental challenge for a chorister
Planning the piece and how to arrange it is a huge part in the process.
It’s difficult to know when the piece is finished and when to stop tweaking it. If the choir were to buy a score that would be complete (and edited!).
Having feedback from the Musical Director and Choristers is wonderful. Learning first hand what works, what needs adjusting and what they like is invaluable.
So with all these aha moments I have decided to purchase a couple of arranging texts which should become great resources and companions for me.
Choral Arranging (expanded editioin) by Hawley Ades published by Shawnee Press published in 1966.
It’s still in available so that’s a good sign. It is described as aunique book that authoritatively discusses how to create effective vocal arrangements and techniques in virtually every major kind of vocal ensemble; sacred, secular and Baroque to jazz. Contains more than 270 illustrated examples, plus an index, study suggestions and a comprehensive bibliography. Hawley Ades had many years experience arranging for choral groups and is particularly known as the long-time arranger for Fred Waring and his Pennslyvanians. As a standard text in the field, Choral Arranging is a must for home or class study and a valued reference source for every music library.
A Capella Arranging by Deke Sharon and Dylan Bell. Hal Leonard Books; Pap/Com edition (November 1, 2012).
Deke Sharon is known colloquially as “the father of contemporary a cappella.” Arguably one of the best-known and most prolific a cappella arrangers in the world, with over 2,000 arrangements to his credit, Sharon founded the Contemporary A Cappella Society of America. He is also the arranger and producer of NBC’s The Sing-Off, was the music director on Pitch Perfect, and has arranged music for The Social Network. Dylan Bell is a world-renowned vocal arranger, performer, producer, and instructor. His award-winning arrangements have been sung around the world by vocal groups from Ann Arbor to Zurich. Bell has written for some of the finest a cappella groups in the world, including the Nylons and the Swingle Singers. He also regularly contributes articles to the Contemporary A Cappella Society of America.
It was all very simple to purchase these books from the other side of the world however….the downside of living in New Zealand is paying for freight and being patient while they are shipped. Can’t wait to read them and learn new skills!
In the meantime my next project is Fields of Gold by Sting for a concert to be performed in August. I’ll let you know how that goes!
Mr (6) has been learning piano for about three months.
On a visit to Wellington,he was very excited to have the chance to play for me and more importantly show me what he could do!!
Feet ran down the hall – he just wanted to get those fingers on the keys, he flicked open his book, flattened it in a hurry (after showing me some colouring on it) and away we went!
He showed me he was up to do, re, mi, fa, sol and could find those notes all over the piano. He was so excited he hadn’t even sat down and was happy playing anywhere on the keyboard.
He pointed out the notes and rests and played me Snow Flake and Frog among other pieces. He played separate hands and then hands together “you’d find this really hard” hard he said. He asked for some help …do do do shush (rest),each shush was executed with a nod of the head- he knew his stuff!
We spent ages going through his book and he was enjoying telling me all the things he knew. I showed him my piano book (a piece I am playing in a concert in 2 weeks) and he asked about the notation in the bass- where to find it on the piano.
With his playing, the enthusiasm was fantastic- fingers sometimes got mixed up and crossed over each other and sometimes the notes weren’t 100% but he was into it and loving those bars with the rests to make it tricky.
I asked him if he wanted to see how a piano worked- best question ever !!
He jumped off the piano stool and couldn’t wait. I lifted the lid and sat down myself. Here he was on tiptoes as close as he could fit holding on looking in. We talked about the hammers, and what happened inside when I played a note , then lots of notes really fast (white notes) and then black and then black and white.
Next we talked about the sustaining pedal and it was like a light went on. Questions were being fired at me , “do it again, do it again” he said. Then came lots of questions about the other pedal- he was so little he couldn’t really see what was happening inside but he could hear it.
“Now me try” followed next with an avante garde performance of notes all over the keyboard and total concentration on the sound that was being made.
He had to get his parents in so they could see how good he was too! He was loving it.
He even wanted to know about the lid that I put down over the keys and what that did and why (when we finished).
Later on in the evening he asked if he could play the piano again and spent quite a while by himself tinkering away – singing do do do shush with pedal on and off and having a ball.
This is how he left the piano complete with finger marks and a (sort of ) closed lid (good attempt Mr (6))
So what did Mr (6) teach me?
I really want to be treaching piano again, and when I do… I am going to build in a session on how the piano works for each pupil
Sometimes the benefits of using one’s ears instead of performing in a concert can be invaluable!
On Friday 1 November, I went to hear a concert that I was invited to perform in (but could not make all performances due to other musical commitments ). 😦
The concert was called Cloudburst and featured two local community choirs based in Wellington, NZ. Those Choirs were the Festival Singers & Cantoris. Each sang their own works as well as Tutti pieces, including a couple of pieces by Eric Whitacre.
All pieces were performed with elloquence and clarity under Musical Director, Brian O’Regan.
I haven’t had the chance to hear adult choirs perform for a very long time as usually I am involved in helping them learn their pieces or playing piano accompaniment for them. I loved this concert…the programme was wonderful and exposed some new music too. I especially liked the blending of the parts , the sound quality and dynamic contrasts. I also liked the fact that there was a tremendous amount of a capella work for the choirs -they did an amazing job on those pieces. Believe me that’s not easy!
The chance to see two choirs perform with my friend, Brian, the Musical Director, was great. Some of the work really challenged the singers. I could see/hear the love they had for creating music, and working on their parts as well as doing their best. It was also obvious they loved the works they were performing and thrived on the direction that Brian provided.
My favourite pieces were Chris Artley’s O Magnum Mysterium , Morten Lauridsen’s Sure on this Shining Night (both performed by Festival Singers), R Thompson’s Stopping by Woods on a snowy evening (men only- this was super lovely) and Brahms’ Wie Lieblich sind deine Wohnungen (Tutti).
Having not heard any of Eric Whitacre’s pieces live before, I was really looking forward to it- and wasn’t disappointed- adored both pieces but my personal favourte of the two Whitacre pieces would have to be the Alleluia. It was beautifully performed and I didn’t want it to end. The soft passages were gorgeous.
The choirs I work with at the moment have some wonderful voices, but some choir members don’t yet understand the concept of blending. It was noticeable how different those two choirs sound to my own. Right through the whole concert, I loved the contrasts between louds and softs. I particularly liked the blending of the sops , basses and tenor parts. There were few instances where one voice within each section didn’t sound more prominant than the others and I hope we will reach this stage with our own choir one day. We’re working on it though and improving every week!
Congratulations Festival Singers, Cantoris and Brian O’Regan.
Last weekend I attended a workshop for leaders of children’s choirs in Blenheim, New Zealand. The workshop was lead by Meghan Flint and put on by NZ Choral Federation.
There were nine participants and it was a real eye opener for me. I was the only one working with a children’s choir that wasn’t a school teacher. I heard stories about teachers trying to cram in singing when all the children wanted to do was eat their lunch, or sing something “cool”. There were teachers thrown into the role who had very little musical knowledge or experience and out of the group, only 3 played piano to any level.
Hearing how these teachers work was fascinating and so admirable. Backing tracks were their main tool- something I’ve never had to use being a pianist. Some of them knew how to transpose the backing tracks to make it easier to sing to- those that didn’t were keen to learn the tools to be able to do that.
The teachers from Blenheim were preparing for a music festival that happens late September. They had 18 songs to teach their choirs and the concerts are being held over 3 nights in the local theatre. All schools had the same songs, and backing tracks and there wasn’t going to be a pianist for the live concerts. The teachers have been working all year on these songs with a couple of combined rehearsals before the big night.
I have the utmost repect for these teachers and it has made me realise what a wonderful job they do with limited resource and skill. I also know how lucky I am to work with another musician and to have had the opportunity to start a choir from scratch.
The Stairwell Carollers Choir Blog
The Stairwell Carollers are a charitable a cappella Ottawa choir, who sing sacred and secular renaissance music, as well as settings of traditional and contemporary Christmas carols.
KBeez Musings 