Every winter holiday season most music teachers are asked by parents to devote at least a few weeks to the absorption of Christmas and related celebratory selections. In the traditional musical cosmos, "Silent Night," "Deck the Halls," "Hark the Herald Angels" and "Jingle Bells," are popular learning requests. This year, my 9-year old student who… Continue reading Piano Lessons during the holidays: Inserting a creative composing dimension to chord exploration
Music Theory is often dreaded by piano students so why not make it intrinsic to learning an appealing selection.
When it comes right down to it, musicians "sing" through their instruments, and pianists with generous polyphonic resources (many voices) will find the melody and flesh it out as the tour de force of a composition. On this special day of Christmas I therefore chose la creme de la creme of a vocal model performance.… Continue reading Celebrating Christmas in the vocal tradition (Video)
I love the carol medley sung in chorus at this time of the year, especially, "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," which had a touch of Mendelssohn, though he was not the original composer; "Silent Night," "O' Come All Ye Faithful," "O' Holy Night," "The Little Drummer Boy," and "Angels We Have Heard on High." But… Continue reading Memories of J.S. Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” (Video)
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