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Okay- so I’ve been a bit slack about blogging lately.  Not that I have been idol- there is so much to blog about but 24 hours in a day, a full time job, and more music than I can ever learn to play means there  isn’t enough time! In the last month I’ve been taking rehearsals from the keyboard as our Musical Director for The Major Minors Children’s Choir and The Hutt Valley Singers have both been away. Talk about a learning curve! I’ve learnt that preparing a rehearsal is so important, and so is thinking about the unplanned things that happen in a rehearsal too. Sometimes the choir grasp concepts better than I imagined they would and sometimes the opposite can be said.

With The Major Minors Children’s Choir (aged 4-12) we’re teaching them to sing harmonies and to sing in rounds and they are responding well. Being their regular pianist, it has been lovely to be in front of them helping them and singing with them. They have done brilliantly and I was so thrilled when we broke a song into 2 parts and the next week got through a round in 3 parts.  The children loved it too.

I have learnt that taking a rehearsal from a keyboard is a lot more interactive than from an upright piano. The upright part of the instrument of the piano was a barrier and while my keyboard doesn’t sound as wonderful as a real piano it was the best tool I could have had.

I’ve also learnt that while I don’t get to sing in choirs anymore and aren’t skilled in vocal technique, that singing with the choir is such a great tool and reinforces the connection and involvement I have with them.

For the first time ever in my whole music career I took a 4 part adult community choir rehearsal alone. I had diligently prepared warmups- some different to what the current Musical Director does, and I worked specifically with the choir on pitching intervals. The reaction was interesting- some wanted more, some were confused and some were stimulated, realising I’m not just the pianist in the corner who bashes the notes while they learn! The choir were amazingly supportive. 

In the 4 years I’ve worked with them it’s always been me on piano with a Musical Director leading the practice so this was a new concept for them too. The most valuable lessons I learnt were.. 1. The person at the front waving their hands about is invaluable. My lovely choir tried so hard ..but keeping in time was a big challenge. In the end I was like an octopus (only less graceful) ,flailing around playing notes for a full score, singing what I could and stamping my feet to keep in time! What a sight I must have looked!! 2. I learnt the choir respect me as a musician and as they grow to learn more about me, they value the contribution I make each week. 3. That community choirs are hungry to learn about technique– yes they love to gather together and to sing but to learn the how to do it well is also important them too. One of my fears was that the choir has had a huge year with so many different people leading them at rehearsal- I didn’t want to let them down. I cannot thank them enough for the respect and encouraging feedback they gave me  and I hope they took something from the rehearsal.

My role is pretty defined as their pianist, but if I can learn to upskill and help them when others are away I will.  Because of that I am now enroled in a Primary Gestures Workshop taken by the NZ Choral Federation in September to learn some fundamentals about children’s vocal development and leadership skills. Next year I think I might do the same with adults. Who knows where this will lead to- it’s very exciting! I’d love to know how regular Musical Directors manage to put the whole thing together alone and hire a pianist for a concert -they must be amazing musicians! KB

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It’s pretty amazing how we pigeon-hole people’s talents and skills.  All of us do it… most of the time unknowingly.

Our new temporary Musical Director, for the adults Choir I play piano for, has some amazing warm ups and he loves taking the choir through them. Sometimes it takes 15-20 minutes to warm their voices up properl. He sits at the piano, makes eye contact with each member of the choir and really works them hard. Bless him.

As the other part of the musical team, I’d look a bit strange if I sat on a chair at one end of the hall and disn’t participate but conversely, if I warm my voice up, it’s not exactly going to be used (unless I am making a joke because I missed a cue or make a comment to encourage the choir).

So lately, I have been joining in the warm-ups.

Being a Mezzo-Soprano, I’ve got the kind of voice that means if I sing with the altos,  most of the time I’m okay and, if I sing with the sopranos apart from the top end of the spectrum I’m mostly okay too. So I generally stand with the troops near where the piano is so I can run to it when it’s time for the notes and part learning portion of the rehearsal. In the meantime I give it heaps and learn technique about warming up.

Our Musical Director swapped the choir chairs around a few weeks ago – he  likes the tenors and sopranos on his right and that’s also where the piano is. Of all the choirs I’ve accompanied, this will be the first time the Sopranos have stood to the right of the Musical Director. So lately I’ve been hanging with my sisters in the Sopranos and getting hugs, smiles, encouragement and comments like “even Karen’s joining in”… it seems to amuse them. It’s also been great to hear the Tenors singing behind me.

What the choir doesn’t know is that being a choral pianist (all be it amateur), means over the years I’ve had some experience in singing in the past. My ear gets pretty trained working with two choirs and two Musical Directors a week, working with the scores at home and listening to the works. I’ve learnt a little singing technique, about breathing, and understandably. I hear pitch constantly… they aren’t just notes I play after all. The adults also don’t know that as a teen I participated in auditioned choirs- at secondary school and a choir, now defunct, called The Celebration Singers that also toured. Yes, it’s been a while but I earnt my stripes back then. (That’s me from the left in the pink in the front row…the short one!)

Celebration Singers, performing in Queenstown 1988.

It’s actually quite nice to stand with the choir at times- to not have a keyboard and the rest of the piano separating me from them and to hear some of the voices that I am playing notes for.

When I work with the children’s choir, I sing much more often- they expect me to be involved with them and to help them, to show them when I am explaining and they don’t mind if my voice isn’t perfect. They listen intently to get the hang of what I’m saying when I work with them in small groups.

Our Musical Director is a true Alto so sometimes it comes in handy being able to sing a little bit higher to help with pitch when they are learning songs.

So why is sometimes, unknowlingly, we make the assumption that our pianists don’t really know much about singing yet we assume a Musical Director can play piano?

Not sure.

I’d love to be able to call myself a collaborative pianist  because there is so much more than just banging out notes and counting rhythms. It takes a great deal of understanding of the music, vocal technique , ability to work with different Musical Directors, orchestras, soloists and choirs to do a good job of that role behind the keys.

There are instructions on a score but a lot of the cues are verbal and pitch based and down to individual interpretation as well as supporting and encouraging from the keys. It’s a very special relationship choirs have with their pianist.

I’d love to know how many choirs really know the background and skills their pianist has to offer and what other roles and skills he/she contributes to putting together  a programme. You never know… it might surprise you!!

The adult choir I work with are getting to know more about me musically as the years go on and it’s lovely.

KB

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Learning any instrument isn’t just a matter of sitting down with it once for 10 minutes and  you’ve mastered a song or a tune.

In fact it’s been said it take 10,000 hours to master a musical instrument and does anyone you know have 10,000 hours to spare?

http://www.coachmag.org.nz/2012/12/18/talkin-about-the-10000-hours/

How many days is that – it’s 10,000 if you actually spend 1 hour a day every day working on the skill of mastering that instrument…. That works out to roughly 27 years of playing an hour a day every day with no day offs or breaks!  Doesn’t seem likely huh? …Sometimes life gets in the way and that’s what happened to me.

As a teenager I changed piano teachers to become a pupil of Mrs Crawley one of  the most amazing woman I have ever met. Mrs C opened up my eyes to the world of music performing, accompanying and how music was put together academically.

Her ability to teach, compassion, wisdom and love for her craft make me still, after all these years, want to be like her. She took me from the freckly kid pianist with basic skills, to a musician that is now grown up and involved in helping others make music in the community today.

So what did she do to plant that seed? She educated and encouraged me with a thorough grounding on music theory, harmony and performing at least every 10-12 weeks. I did exams in theory and practical piano playing through Trinity College of Music . I had the opportunity to play in competitions and at Music Circle. Music Circle met once a month on Fridays and was a chance for all child musicians to learn to perform in front of an audience in a  supportive environment. To learn to stumble and how to handle it, to learn to announce  a piece and take a bow.  Even if I didn’t have a piece ready I was encouraged to go and support the other musicians too.

When I got to secondary school (you might call it High School), I had the opportunity to learn other instruments that the school hired out. After discussion with Mrs C  I picked up the violin and then the bassoon a year later. I began to sing in choirs and as those years went on auditioned for the advanced choir and as well as that, eventually led the orchestra.  Mrs C  had me playing piano duets, piano trios (stuck in the middle between two smelly pimply boys!) , composing, trying out arranging and playing the classical composers through to jazz and pop… a very wide selection including atonal works. She also had me teaching piano to some of her juniors with her guidance – something  very special and memorable.

At 16, I had the first opportunity to accompany a singer and this was an experience I thoroughly loved. Okay he was a guy a couple of years older than me and I thought that was very cool but aside from that, learning to work with a soloist and how to support them from the piano was amazing. I then began to accompany more solo singers and choirs and put together medleys. Our graduation from Marlborough Girls College in 1987 was a medley I penned the bridges on, and the girls seemed to enjoy singing.

Marlborough Girls College Graduation song Rehearsal

In my final year at secondary school, I fell while roller skating with a bunch of friends and broke my left arm. That significantly impacted my ability to play for several weeks and in fact, I was in pain for more than 12 months after that. I did manage to sit my Grade 8 Trinity College piano exam and failed by 3 marks. It was a huge disappointment to me at the time and I had worked so hard.  I had already enrolled to study for a Bachelor of Music the next year (majoring in composition at the University of Canterbury) so that’s what I went off to do.

My beloved Mrs Crawley  kept in touch with me often, especially at Christmas, apart from the last two. She’s well into her eighties now and after a 70 year piano teaching career had to retire due to ill-health. Sadly, I’ve lost touch with her as she moved to another city to be with her daughter and I have no address details.

http://fairfaxmedia.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/showlink.aspx?bookmarkid=P0M1RBUK2061&linkid=fc7714dd-534e-4b1b-af43-fc8f4b06f2c0&pdaffid=LT6L0FIyzgoUOCBMx9zlOg%3d%3d

I owe a lot to this very special woman for her encouragement, the joy of being able to play music alone and with others. What an amazing mentor and more importantly what a music career to have had. The last letter I had from her was in reply to mine telling her I had got back into playing again and that the music I was working on for the choir was really challenging. She was delighted for me especially about the challenge. And a challenge it is…more about that in blogs to come.

I haven’t done my 10,000 hours even now, and have no where near mastered my instrument or any specific genre of music but  thanks to this wonderful woman, I can generally hold my own with most musicians and have a special ability to be able to work as an accompanist. I might not have the highest grades behind me but I have passion, an understanding of how the music is weaved together and an ability to create music that lets others shine and very gently can bring the best out in them.

Thanks Mrs C  -who I love and miss lots.

KB

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How often as a pianist do you find yourself being questioned…why you play piano, and what you do with that skill?

For me, learning the piano was a thing done on my mother’s side..my grandmother and mother played piano and there were pianos in the homes of my great aunts. My Godmother still plays piano at church.

It was never anything I questioned. Music was around me all the time and hearing someone play piano was familiar, comforting , the right thing to do and… it was lovely. Hearing pianists on records and an orchestra at my Gran’s house was a world that was comforting and inspiring.

I started learning at age 9 from Dorothy Payne who used to teach my Mum. My Gran gave us her piano and it sat with pride in place in our Lounge. It was a Mahagony piano- an English cottage upright piano by Eavestaff. And as I write now, that very same instrument sits in the same room as my computer. It has marks and scratches from moving from one Island to another, but it’s still a beautiful instrument and there is something so familiar about it when I sit at those keys, on the stool that I have spent so many hours at, and begin to “work”.

I remember learning from Mrs Payne, from the John Thompson’s “Modern Piano Course” Teaching Little Fingers to play series ,and then moving to the Leila Fletcher series of books. The third book was Orange and seemed very advanced! My Great Aunt’s last name was Fletcher so I thought that was cool.

I used to bike to Mrs Payne’s place after school, she’d pour me a glass of orange drink and give me a little round malt biscuit before my lessons. She taught me where to place my fingers, how to sit at the piano and lots and lots of theory! She had a lovely Kawai piano, and she always had a NZ sheepskin on her seat,  in the front room of her house.

As I got a little older,  my father, who was an electricity meter reader, discovered this piano teacher in our street. Her name was Mrs Crawley. My brother started there and was doing brilliantly.

I remember the difficult decision my Mum and Grandmother made to change teachers for me. I  remember it to this day -changing teachers from my much loved Mrs Payne to Mrs Crawley and not really understanding it, apart from the fact it was closer to home. But it was the best thing I ever did and I thank those that made that decision for me..more about that in later blogs.

Mrs Payne was a wonderful figure in my life and will always remain so. She recognised that I had some potential, respected the decision that was made and lovingly followed my development with Mrs Crawley, with support and encouragment. She used to come for afternoon tea to our house after I changed teachers, and I loved her company, her wisdom and encouragement.

I still have the book on theory my parents bought me because she rated it.  It’s called “Rudiments of Music” by Stewart Macpherson 1865-1941. It’s a new edition 1970. It has her writing in it naming the book as mine, and her hints for saying words such as Adagissimo written out Ar-Dar-Giss-e-mo and hints for counting different time signatures.

It has dates all over it from my lessons in 1980 and 1981, as I must have learnt the Italian meaning to things, ornaments and time signatures. Some of them I’ve rubbed out as I’ve got “more educated” but now I wish I’d have left her markings there as she’s no longer with us.

I open that book first, when I need to check a meaning on a score as it’s familiar and safe and I don’t need the index anymore because I’ve used it so much. That book with the red cover is an invaluable piece of kit in my music collection. It also has the price $3.95 in the inside front cover…Nowadays I couldn’t even buy an icrecream for that. It’s got tape all through it, the spine is weak and there is tape on the front cover but it’s still readable and in my mind as good as new! I’ve always wondered about the chapter from Anthony Payne who I bet was no relation either!

When I start a new piano pupil, I often still use the same tutor book by John Thompson- and fondly remember it. It’s becoming harder to get these days but it’s one that will always be in my teaching resources. I haven’t tried to source another copy of Stuart Machperson’s Rudiments of Music – mine will forever be the best and only copy I use. It’s probably out of print now but will always be special.

I wish Mrs Payne was still here, so I could talk to her, share my day, play a piece or a run and discuss fingering and technique with her. She’s on a cloud nowadays and must have influenced many a pupil from different generations..even if she did drive a mustard coloured Austin Allegro, (how appropriate is that!) she’s cool in my books.

And I still teach out of hers when I have the opportunity …at age almost 44.

KB

Kb

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Why would anyone bother to join a choir?

Why would somebody ever want to do that?

Most of us will remember some experience singing at school- be it good or bad- the national anthem, some song for a concert or a play with a song, a teacher strumming a guitar or dare I say it an opportunity to have time away from the classroom and join the Choir!

We’ll also remember music with events- such as a game of sport, a funeral, a wedding, a first love. It’s a feeling hard to describe but simply put , we have a connection to music, it hits you deep within, to our soul and triggers emotions.  Because of that, some of us want to create music using our own voice.

Whatever the reason, there is more to it than that- if you join a choir you get to sing somewhere that isn’t in the bathroom or in the car. Joining a choir enables you to experiment with your voice and put the cares of the day or life on hold for a while- to focus on something specific. Choir members get to socialise with others, they get to experience all sorts of types of music, sometimes in different langauges, in different genres (classical to country and rock) and to create sound with other people while  having fun, being challenged and performing for family friends and strangers.

Joining a Choir is very much a communal music making thing- it’s not necessarily about singing to be the soloist/star it’s about collectively making a wonderful sound and most of all enjoying doing that. You don’t even have to have a wonderful voice- just an attiitude to enjoying making a sound with your voice and making that sound into something beautiful with others. It’s certainly team work!

There’s often not even auditions to join community choirs. Choirs come in all shapes and sizes and that doesn’t matter. It’s not about what you look like, it’s about what you can contribute and enjoy doing. Some choirs are very tiny and others huge but every voice contributes no matter what.

Yes, there are some things to come to grips with when singing in a group- like when to sing, and ….when to be silent! When to let rip and sing at the top of your voice really loudly and conversely when it’s meant to be slow and gentle but that’s what a Musical Director or Conductor’s job is- to unite those individual voices.

You should try it sometime!

KB

KB

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Three Friday nights ago, I decided the twittersphere didn’t seem to give me enough characters at a time and that maybe a blog would be the best thing to set up. So I searched and spent ages writing my very first blog on blog.co.nz to tweet the link to it and discover….the very next day there were server errors and my much thought about and reworded blog was never to be found again!

I’ve therefore done some more research and decided to try WordPress… So here’s a little about me and my passions.

I’m a Kiwi – yes from NZ- the end of the Earth and love being here. The photo on my homepage is an aerial view taken by me on a plane and it’s of the Marlborough Sounds. I’m an ex-Blenheim local who spent a lot of time in ” the sounds”. I work full-time in advertising for the Dominion Post newspaper and website in Wellington but have lots of other passions including- my love for the furry friends we call cats ( I have a Zith tabby cat and a stray called Smudge- more about them later).

I play piano most days as I am the rehearsal pianist for The Hutt Valley Singers (choir) and a children’s choir aged 4-12 called The Major Minors Children’s Choir, My learnings from these groups are amusing and huge!

I like to garden, dream about renovating our 1950’s weatherboard home and love a glass of wine! Life is busy, especially the hours in and outside the office…. As well as spending time on the computer I spend it at the piano and creating comms/marketing the choirs. I’m also a person who has had type one diabetes since 1984 and am trying to work my busy schedule around multiple daily injections,blood tests, doctors visits, carb counting and those that think every diabetic caused it by bad eating habbits…I’ve got news for you the “food police” guys!

Yes, life is complicated and almost  overwhelming at times, it’s busy and there are lots of curve balls but it’s great. I share this wonderful Life with my OH mrboyce1boyce- he’s a great guy and I’m sure you’ll hear me refer to him lots.

I”m looking to blog about choirs, being an amateur  muso, the demands of an accompanist, the things I love about working with and for a Community Choir, gardening, cats, cooking etc and am looking forward to connecting with you

KB