Monthly Archives: March 2015

What’s better than one piano? Eight of them at University of Akron MonsterPianos! concert – Local – Ohio

Posted by MaryO on

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One piano is grand.

Eight being played in unison?

Well, that’s much, much grander.

The University of Akron School of Music hosted its sixth MonsterPianos! concert Sunday at E.J. Thomas Hall.

The special show featured eight grand pianos arranged in a semicircle, 39 pianists dressed in tuxedos and black gowns — not all playing at the same time, mind you — a conductor, and a giant video screen broadcasting all the action.

“It’s an adventure,” admitted conductor Galen Karriker, UA director of bands and associate professor of music.

It’s also immensely popular in the community, as evidenced by the audience of nearly 1,300 people.

UA music professor Philip Thomson founded MonsterPianos! in 2006, borrowing the concept from the late pianist Eugene List.

The concert, organized by Thomson and fellow faculty member Mayumi Kikuchi, is a treat for the musicians as well as the audience, because it’s rare to have so many pianists playing together at the same time.

The piano is typically a solo instrument, after all, and pianists aren’t used to watching a conductor for direction.

The concert poses several challenges for the musicians.

One of the biggest is just the fact that they aren’t used to playing together as a group. They had practiced only six times before the final dress rehearsal Sunday.

Another challenge is that pianists are familiar with hearing themselves play. With so many other pianos, the sound blends together — of course, it’d be weird if it didn’t.

“You have to trust your eyes and not your ears,” said Ann Usher, UA professor of music and director of the School of Music, who performed at the event.

The concert, which lasted about an hour and a half, included Valse Brilliante by Moritz Moszkowski, Rondo a capriccio by Ludwig van Beethoven and the Battle Hymn of the Republic.

There also were some moments of levity such as when Zippy, the UA kangaroo mascot, led a piano-arrangement of the school fight song Win For Akron.

The concert featured faculty, students, alumni and invited guests. Some of those folks traveled from as far away as Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York and Texas just to perform.

One of the guests was Juliette Streeter, 14, of Akron, a student at the Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts.

She was excited to be chosen to participate.

“It’s not what I’m used to,” Streeter said. “It’s very fun getting used to all the different people and different styles and the ways they play.”

Karriker, who has conducted all six of the MonsterPianos!, said the concert sets UA apart.

“It truly makes us distinctive as far as a School of Music to have this kind of event,” he said. “There’s a lot of folks who love piano music in this community and they are fascinated by seeing that many pianos on stage and hearing what it sounds like.”

via What’s better than one piano? Eight of them at University of Akron MonsterPianos! concert – Local – Ohio.

March 16 ~ Today in Music History

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. 1736 ~ Giovanni Battista Pergolesi died.  He was an Italian composer, violinist and organist.

. 1905 ~ Nadia Boulanger made her public concert debut at the piano.

. 1924 ~ Christa Ludwig, German mezzo-soprano

. 1935 ~ Theresa Berganza, Spanish mezzo-soprano

. 1937 ~ David Del Tredici, American composer

. 1942 ~ Fats Waller recorded The Jitterbug Waltz in New York for Bluebird Records.  The Jitterbug Waltz was inspired by some piano exercises that Waller’s son Maurice had been practicing on the piano.

. 1955 ~ The Ballad of Davy Crockett, by Bill Hayes, reached the number one spot on the pop music charts and stayed for five weeks beginning this day. The smash hit song sold more than 7,000,000 records on more than 20 different labels. Everyone seemed to be singing the song that saluted the frontier hero who was “Born on a mountain top in Tennessee…” Coonskin caps were seen everywhere as the Crockett craze spread like a frontier fire.

. 1963 ~ Peter, Paul and Mary released the single, Puff The Magic Dragon.

. 1971 ~ Simon & Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water LP and single won six Grammys including Record, Song and Album of the Year. Aretha Franklin won the Best Female R&B Performance Grammy for Don’t Play That Song. B.B. King won the Best Male R&B Vocal Performance Grammy for The Thrill Is Gone.

. 1983 ~ Arthur Godfrey passed away

. 1985 ~ A Chorus Line played performance number 4,000 this night at New York’s famed Shubert Theatre. The show originally opened in July, 1975, and became the longest-running show to light up the Great White Way in September, 1983.

. 1999 ~ Honoring a roster of music artists that range from The Beatles to the Backstreet Boys, the Recording Industry Association of America presented the first Diamond Awards, given in recognition of albums and singles that have sold a million copies or more.

. 1999 ~ Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown and the late Roosevelt Sykes were inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame.

March 15 ~ Today in Music History

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.1897 ~ First performance of Ludwig van Beethoven‘s Symphony No. 4 in B-flat major, Op. 60.  It is a symphony in four movements.

. 1835 ~ Eduard Strauss, Austrian composer who, together with brothers Johann Strauss II and Josef Strauss made up the Strauss musical dynasty. He was the son of Johann Strauss I and Maria Anna Streim.

. 1873 ~ Lee Shubert, Broadway producer. Theaters in NY and LA named after him. He died in 1953

. 1907 ~ Jimmy McPartland, Jazz musician: cornetist; played for the Wolverine Orchestra, Embassy Four; bandleader; played at Newport Jazz Festival with wife, Marian

. 1916 ~ Harry James, American jazz trumpeter and bandleader, married to Betty Grable (second of four wives)

. 1933 ~ Cecil Taylor, American jazz pianist and composer

. 1944 ~ Sly Stone, American soul-rock singer and instrumentalist

. 1959 ~ The musical, No Strings, opened on Broadway at the 54th Street Theatre. Richard Kiley and Diahann Carroll starred in the show. Also featured was the show’s composer in an acting role, singing his own lyrics. The composer was Richard Rodgers.

. 1968 ~ LIFE magazine called Jimi Hendrix, “the most spectacular guitarist in the world.”

. 1987 ~ Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Starlight Express” opened on Broadway. This was the first ever roller-skating musical.

. 1964 ~ My Fair Lady, by Lerner and Loewe, opened on Broadway. It ran for 6-1/2 years before 2,717 audiences. It became, thanks to Rex Harrison and an outstanding cast, the longest-running musical to that time.

. 1970 ~ The musical, Purlie, opened a run of 680 continuous performances on Broadway.

. 2001 ~ Ann Sothern died at the age of 92. She was an actress who starred as the saucy, liberated showgirl in MGM’s “Masie” movies during the 1940s and played single working women on TV in “Private Secretary” and “The Ann Southern Show.”

March 14 ~ Today in Music History

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. 1681 ~ Georg Philipp Telemann, German composer. One of the leading composers of the German Baroque, Georg Philipp Telemann was immensely prolific and highly influential. He wrote an opera at age 12, produced it at school, and sang the lead. His mother put all his instruments away and forbade further music. However, he continued to study and write in secret. He led a remarkably busy life in Hamburg, teaching, composing two cantatas for each Sunday, leading a collegium, and writing immense amounts of additional music. For two centuries musical scholars tended to look down on him by comparison with Bach, but from the midpoint of the twentieth century his reputation soared as musicologists began cataloging his immense output, uncovering masterpiece after masterpiece.
More information about Telemann

. 1727 ~ Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, German virtuoso harpsichordist, organist, and composer of the late Baroque and early Classical period

. 1804 ~ Johann Strauss, Sr., Austrian composer; “The Father of the Waltz”
Read quotes by and about Strauss
More information about Strauss

. 1864 ~ (John Luther) Casey Jones, railroad engineer, subject of The Ballad of Casey Jones, killed in train crash Apr 30, 1900

. 1879 ~ Albert Einstein, Mathematician and enthusiastic amateur violinist
Read quotes by and about Einstein

. 1885 ~ “The Mikado,’ the comic operetta by Gilbert and Sullivan, premiered at the Savoy Theater, London.

. 1912 ~ Les Brown, Bandleader, Les Brown and His Band of Renown

. 1922 ~ Les Baxter, Bandleader

. 1931 ~ Phil Phillips (Baptiste), Singer

. 1933 ~ Quincy Delight Jones, Jr., American jazz composer, trumpeter, band leader and pianist. He composed film scores, TV show themes; record producer; arranger; 25 Grammys, Grammy’s Trustees Award in 1989, Grammy’s Legends Award in 1990; Musical Director for Mercury Records, then VP; established Qwest Records

. 1934 ~ Shirley Scott, Swinging, blues-oriented organist, recorded mostly with former husband Stanley Turrentine

. 1941 ~ Years before Desi Arnaz would make the song Babalu popular on the I Love Lucy TV show, Xavier Cugat and his orchestra recorded it with Miguelito Valdes doing the vocal. The song was on Columbia Records, as was the Arnaz version years later.

. 1945 ~ Walter Parazaider, Reeds with Chicago

. 1955 ~ Boon Gould, Guitarist with Level 42

. 1958 ~ The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified the first gold record. It was Perry Como’s Catch A Falling Star on RCA Victor Records. The tune became the first to win million-seller certification, though other songs dating as far back as the 1920s may have sold a million records or more. Due to lack of a certification organization like the RIAA, they weren’t awarded the golden platter. The next three gold records that were certified after Perry Como’s million seller were the 45 rpm recordings of He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands by Laurie London, Patricia, an instrumental by the ‘Mambo King’, Perez Prado and Hard Headed Woman by Elvis Presley. The first gold-album certification went to the soundtrack of the motion picture, Oklahoma!, featuring Gordon MacRae. Is there really a gold record inside the wooden frame presented to winners? Those who know say, “No.” Its a gold-leaf veneer of maybe 18 kt. gold and/or it is a record painted gold. Yes, the song earning the award is supposed to be the one making up the gold record, but this is not always the case, according to several artists who have tried to play theirs.

. 1959 ~ Elvis Presley made the album charts, but no one would have known by the title of the disk. For LP Fans Only was the first LP ever issued without the artist’s name to be found anywhere on the cover — front or back.

. 1976 ~ Busby Berkeley, U.S. director and choreographer, died. He was best known for his lavish mass choreography in the films “42nd Street,” “Gold Diggers of 1933” and “Roman Scandals.”

. 1985 ~ Bill Cosby captured four People’s Choice Awards for The Cosby Show. The awards were earned from results of a nationwide Gallup Poll. Barbara Mandrell stunned the audience by announcing that she was pregnant while accepting her second award on the show. Bob Hope won the award as All-Time Entertainer beating Clint Eastwood and Frank Sinatra for the honor.

Happy Pi Day!

Posted by MaryO on

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Pi Symphony: The Ruse Performance Movement I.

Pi Symphony orchestral performance in Ruse, Bulgaria, Nov. 19th, 2010

The melodies and rhythms are based on the numbers of π (3.14159…etc), which describes the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter.

To read more about how this came to be written, see http://www.pisymphony.com/gpage.html

There is also another work based on π called What pi sounds like

Today is pi day, and to celebrate, we bring you a musical representation of π, to 31 decimal places, at 157 beats per minute (which, incidentally, is 314 divided by two).

For more information about this work, please see A musical interpretation of pi

Finally, 18 Wheels on a Big Rig, includes a  verse in which they divide the wheels by π.

 

Enjoy your Pi Day! pi-day-pie

 

Minot piano teacher prizes more than 50 years with students

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Someone once said that music can change the world because it can change people.

Arnola Leverson, longtime piano teacher and accompanist for countless students and groups in Minot, is living proof of this simple quote.

Leverson began taking piano lessons when she was just 7 years old and has since taught lessons to more than 250 students and accompanied thousands.

As a child, Leverson would trek across the street to her piano teacher’s house, schoolbooks in hand. Having grown up in a musical family, Leverson said she and all four siblings were encouraged to take piano lessons. Her mother did not play piano herself but loved music and wanted her children to grow up experiencing it. While Leverson also played the flute and auxiliary percussion in her lifetime, piano was always her favorite.

In eighth grade, Leverson began taking lessons from Doris Schroder, a piano teacher who would greatly impact her life. While Schroder was an avid piano player in her youth, she had developed arthritis and couldn’t play anymore. Because of this, she could teach her students but could not demonstrate by playing any songs.

Leverson said Schroder was the first person who encouraged her to begin accompanying groups, which she quickly grew to love, and was eye-opening in the delight of being able to demonstrate. Now, Leverson demonstrates songs as much as possible for her students “because I can.”

The very first group Leverson accompanied was the boy’s chorus in Mohall when she was only in ninth grade. In the years following, Leverson has accompanied or still accompanies the Erik Ramstad Jr. High choir, Magic City groups and singers, Central Campus, Jim Hill Jr. High and many festivals in towns nearby. She also plays the piano for her church, First Lutheran, and has been involved in the production of “Messiah” for more than 50 years.

In addition, Leverson is president of the Minot Piano Teachers group, has been a member of the Minot Symphony Orchestra and has been chairman of the Gold Cup Piano Festival for 38 years.

“There are so many great piano players in the city of Minot but so many of them are not available to do what I have made myself available to do,” said Leverson, who dedicated her life to piano after receiving her bachelor’s degree from Minot State in elementary education and music.

Along with accompanying and being a member of the aforementioned groups, Leverson has been teaching piano lessons to students for 52 years, beginning at the impressive age of 16.

And still, Leverson’s love for piano is just as strong as it was more than half a century ago. “There’s not a day that goes by that I’m not happy to play piano,” she said.

Even Leverson’s grandchildren are learning to play. “The plan was always that they would take lessons from grandma,” she said with a smile.

Leverson said that because being able to play the piano is the basis of many other instruments, it teaches kids rhythm, names of notes and the discipline of being with a teacher. “It is also such a great way to communicate,” she said. “For me, piano playing has always been an outlet for my mood, and I encourage students to use piano for this as well.”

Because the lives of students are usually busy, Leverson said that she never wants a student to have to choose between piano and a sport. Though she usually teaches lessons during the weekdays, she said that she is flexible and will teach on the weekends if that is the only time a student can meet. She said that if seniors in high school, for example, have stayed in piano for as long as they have regardless of busy lives, she will work with their schedules as much as she can.

“The most important thing is the student,” Leverson said, beaming as she told many stories of students who came in to her class shy and nervous and left with excitement and “their true selves shining through.”

At 68 years old, Leverson said she would not change her dedication to piano for the world.

“It has given me a really interesting life,” she said. “It is something I’ve found great pleasure in doing, and through it I have met so many great musicians, had the chance to work with wonderful people and it has even given me the opportunity to travel. My life would not be what it is today without it.”

via Minot piano teacher prizes more than 50 years with students.

March 13 ~ Today in Music History

Posted by MaryO on

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. 1860 ~ Hugo Wolf, Austrian composer
Read quotes by and about Wolf
More information about Wolf

. 1890 ~ Fritz Busch, German composer

. 1910 ~ Sammy Kaye, Bandleader, Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye

. 1914 ~ Bobby Haggart, Bass with these groups: Bob Cats; Peanuts Hucko’s Pied Piper Quintet, Lawson-Haggart Jazz Band, composer

. 1915 ~ Percy Grainger makes his debut as a pianist with the New York Philharmonic playing Grieg’s Piano Concerto

. 1916 ~ Ina Ray Hutton (Odessa Cowan), Tap dancer in the Ziegfeld Follies, pianist, bandleader, singer and actress

. 1918 ~ Tessie O’Shea, Singer, actress

. 1923 ~ Red Garland, Jazz musician, reeds, pianist

. 1926 ~ Roy Haynes, Modern jazz drummer, bandleader

. 1930 ~ Liz Anderson (Haaby), Country singer, songwriter, mother of country/pop singer Lynn Anderson

. 1932 ~ Jan Howard, Country singer, toured with Carter sisters

. 1933 ~ Mike Stoller, Record producer, songwriter with Jerry Leiber

. 1934 ~ Dick Katz, Pianist, composer with the Tony Scott Quartet, J.J. Johnson & Kai Winding groups

. 1939 ~ Neil Sedaka, American songwriter and singer of popular music

. 1942 ~ Bing Crosby and Mary Martin were heard having a bit of fun as they joined together to record Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie for Decca Records.
More about Mary Martin

. 1946 ~ Thomas Frederick Dunhill passed away.  He was an English composer and writer on musical subjects.

. 1947 ~ The musical “Brigadoon” opened at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City. The show ran for 581 performances and was later staged in London (1949). Memorable melodies from “Brigadoon” include I’ll Go Home with Bonnie Jean, The Heather on the Hill, Come to Me, Bend to Me, Almost Like Being in Love and There but for You Go I.

. 1949 ~ Donald York, Singer with Sha Na Na

. 1960 ~ Adam Clayton, Musician with U2

. 1968 ~ The Byrds received a gold record for the album, “Greatest Hits”, which featured Turn! Turn! Turn!, written by Pete Seeger (excerpted from the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible). The Byrds were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.

. 1972 ~ The Merv Griffin Show, starring perennial game show and late-night TV host, singer and pianist, Merv Griffin, debuted in syndication for Metromedia Television. Joining Merv were sidekick, Arthur Treacher and Mort Lindsey and his orchestra. Griffin had a number one song with the Freddy Martin Orchestra in the 1940s. I’ve Got a Lovely Bunch of Cocoanuts launched him to fame and fortune.

. 1976 ~ The Four Seasons, featuring the falsetto voice of Frankie Valli, returned to the pop charts after a 10-year absence. The group scored with December, 1963 (Oh, What A Night), which became the top song in the country. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.

It takes dedication to master piano keys | The Andalusia Star-News

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My piano teacher friend, Michelle, posted pictures of her students the other day. Apparently, they participated in some type of competition/recital, and with pride their teacher shared the results.

They stood smiling into the camera each holding a certificate that announced his or her status in the competition. Seeing them brought back my own memories of piano lessons and recitals. I smiled as I looked into the bright faces of those talented young people.

When I was a kid I wanted nothing more than to learn to play the piano. I had a favorite aunt who played so well and my daddy played by ear better than some folks who read music.

Oh yes, I imagined myself sitting at the keyboard, fingers flying while the family sang along to some favorite hymn or Christmas carol. Daddy would grin with pride and maybe join in playing his harmonica.

It was lovely dream. There was only one little glitch in this plan. I needed lessons in order to make it come true.

So, my parents signed me up with Mrs. Simmons who lived across the street. She was one of the best piano teachers in town and lucky me, all I had to do was cross the street for my lessons.

I’m not sure what I expected, but it was with great disappointment I realized I was not going to produce a beautiful song after only one lesson. Heck, I wasn’t going to produce much more than a repetitive playing of the scales after several lessons.

I recited, Every — Good — Boy — Does — Fine, All — Cars — Eat — Gas, FACE, GBDFA to help me remember the treble and clef lines and spaces. And I played the notes over and over until the sand in the hourglass timer told me it was time to stop. (I’m pretty sure Mother was overjoyed when that last piece of sand fell through the hole.)

When I finally got to the point of making a noise that sounded like something musical, it was, if I remember correctly, a little ditty about a frog — not exactly the moving hymn I imagined playing.

Eventually, I progressed to playing an entire piece of music. That meant I was ready to take part in the annual piano recital. I’d love to say I was excited at the prospect of publicly showing the great strides I’d made in piano playing. In truth, I was more excited about getting to wear an evening gown and lipstick.

For three years, I stuck with the lessons and with the practicing. For three years, I showed up for the recital and played the piece my teacher assigned. I have a picture of myself seated at the piano in my parents’ living room on the night of one of those recitals.

My hair is a perfect flip and I’m wearing a white gown that I imagined made me look like a cross between an angel and a fairy. I have my hands resting on the keys and I’m smiling into the camera like some diva about to launch into a classical masterpiece.

At some point, (probably had something to do with being a teenager and boys) I let go of my dreams of tickling the ivories. I did learn one Christmas carol, which my family heard until they were pretty much sick of it.

As I looked at Michelle’s students holding their certificates, I thought about the dedication it took for them to play so well. I also thought about all those teachers, like my friend and like Mrs. Simmons, who have the calling and the incredible patience it takes to try to teach another human to play a piano, especially when the student is not realistic about what it takes to master the instrument and more interested in evening gowns.

via It takes dedication to master piano keys | The Andalusia Star-News.

March 12 ~ Today in Music History

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. 1710 ~ Thomas Arne, English composer
More information about Arne

. 1890 ~ Vaslav Nijinsky, Ukrainian ballet dancer

. 1891 ~ Clara Schumann gave her final piano performance.

. 1921 ~ Gordon MacRae, Singer

. 1923 ~ Dr. Lee DeForest demonstrated his putting sound on motion picture film. One of the pioneers of radio in the early 1900s, DeForest came up with a snappy name for his invention; he called it phonofilm. Today, we call it a soundtrack.

. 1937 ~ Charles-Marie Widor died.  He was a was a French organist, composer and teacher.

. 1939 ~ Artie Shaw and his band recorded the standard, Deep Purple, in New York for the Bluebird label. Listening carefully after the first minute or so, one can hear Helen Forrest sing the vocal refrain. Larry Clinton and his orchestra had a number one song with a similar arrangement of the same tune that same year. It later was a hit for saxophonist, Nino Tempo and his sister, April Stevens in 1963. Hundreds of versions of this song have been recorded through the years, making it one of the most popular standards of all time.

. 1940 ~ Al Jarreau, Singer

. 1946 ~ Liza Minnelli, American actress and singer of popular music
More information about Minnelli

. 1948 ~ James Taylor, American folk-rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist

. 1955 ~ Charlie Parker, influential U.S. jazz saxophonist, died.

. 1955 ~ One of the great groups of jazz appeared for the first time at Carnegie Hall in New York City. The Dave Brubeck Quartet presented a magnificent concert for jazz fans.

. 1969 ~ Wedding bells rang in London for singer, Paul McCartney and his new bride, photographer, Linda Eastman.

. 1985 ~ Eugene Ormandy, U.S. conductor, died. He directed the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1936-1980 and was especially noted for his performances of Rachmaninoff and Shostakovitch.

. 1987 ~ The famous musical play “Les Miserables” by Victor Hugo opened on Broadway in New York.

. 1991 ~ Jimmy McPartland passed away

. 1993 ~ June Valli passed away

. 1999 ~ World-famous violin maestro Yehudi Menuhin died in Berlin.

 

Frozen Fever: Brother and sister play Frozen songs on the piano while sitting backwards | Metro News

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If you haven’t seen someone playing the piano backwards before, take a good look at this video.

A brother and sister are seen battling it out on the piano in this clever clip, first nudging each other out of the way then rotating around on their stool.

Jason and Sarah Black perform a mash-up of Frozen songs including Love is an Open Door, For the First Time in Forever, Do You Want to Build a Snowman and Let it Go.

via Frozen Fever: Brother and sister play Frozen songs on the piano while sitting backwards | Metro News.