Brunner Studios will be participating in the 2013 NMFC Piano Festival and Piano Scholarship Festival. As of now it looks like there will be 100% participation. Festivals are such a great opportunity for students to gain confidence in their playing and to get feedback from someone other than their teacher.
If you are interested in participating please contact a local teacher for more information.
This whole new piano thing is leading to a lot of new music. As a teacher, I try to keep a good variety on hand for when a student needs some variation in the schedule. As a musician, I love to have music that sounds great and I am pretty much sit down and sight read. So yesterday it was back to the music store.
First up is Popular Christmas Hits by Dan Coates published by Alfred.
This book includes songs from Bethlehem Morning, Frosty the Snowman, and Growup Christmas List. It is very diverse. My favorite surprise is that it offers interesting key changes. When was the last time you saw 6 flats in a popular book?
For full disclosure on the next selection, I am a huge Lord of the Rings fan. I can’t wait until the Hobbit comes out next week. So when I saw The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy by Howard Shore for Piano and Voice, I knew it was for me.
Some of these songs are familiar right off the bat and others I had to search my memory for the correct scene. This book has interesting arrangements that are fairly close to the sound from the score.
I would recommend either one of these books to one my students of an advanced level.
It’s been a few weeks since I managed to sit down and blog. First there was the recital, then Thanksgiving, and a few days away with friends.
Let’s start with the recital. The students all did a great job. Even the ones that I worried about all week. Never let it be said that I don’t have faith that a kid can pull it together when it counts. All the practice paid off.
We were missing a few student but everyone played 2 or 3 pieces so it was a very nice recital.
When I arrived at Miller Piano to make sure everything was set up a little something caught my eye. The conversation with Steve went a little like this:
“Is that a Baldwin Artist Series Piano?”- me
“Why yes it is.”- him
“Let me go call my husband.”- me
ring ring- “Are you going to be upset if I buy a grand piano today?”- me
“Go for it.”- husband
to Steve “I’ll take it.”- me
Say hello to my new piano. It is a Baldwin Artist series built in 1975. The sound is glorious.
Happy Birthday to me is all I can say.
The students are enjoying it and already commenting on how much better prepared they will be for festivals and recitals since they will have a chance to practice on a grand. Lessons the first week with the piano were quite fun and I am having a wonderful time playing all my favorite Christmas tunes.