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UNCG High School Piano and Organ Day

Posted on February 5, 2011 by Heather Brunner

I know I’ve been slack on blogging. There was a major computer issue last week and then I was sick, but I’m back and there is good news.

Today I took 2 of my students to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro for their High School Piano and Organ Day.

The day started with a recital by the UNCG faculty that would be serving as clinicians for the day’s master classes. Then the students were broke in 5 different groups where they participated in a master class setting. After a lunch break, the students returned for an afternoon class. Concluding the day was a honors recital. Both students were selected to participate in the honors recital.

I am very proud of my students. They performed admirably and gave up yet another Saturday for their art. Only 2 more festivals and a few more recitals to go this season!

The History of Music

Posted on January 27, 2011 by Heather Brunner

This week I’ve been feeling an impending case of brain rot. To try and stave this off, I dug some of my theory and music history texts from college. Nothing too heavy, but a little reading might refresh some of those ideas that are starting to get a little vague. The book The Development of Western Music by K. Marie Stolba serves as a nice corner stone for basic music history research. When I say basic, I mean that it covers from pre-history up to about the mid-1990s. So what does it have to say about the history of music?

The origins of music have been lost to time. Scientists say that is can be found in space. Ethnomusicologists can show that the most primitive tribes had it. Peoples such as the Hebrews have music rooted in their holy scriptures.

The noun Music is rooted in the Greek word Muse. A muse was one of 9 goddesses who presided over song, art, literature and science. Apollo was the guardian of the muses and therefore a god of ‘music.’ The Greek pantheon had many deities that were credited with the development of various musical instruments.

Apollo with his lyre. Greek Muses

Mythology, legend and ancient cultures are all credited with influencing the development of western music.

www.thebeautifulbrain.com

Posted on January 25, 2011 by Heather Brunner

If you have any interest in neuroscience and art/music, you need to check out www.thebeautifulbrain.com This site has loads of interesting articles and great pictures.

One of my college professors spent time talking about the various relationships of the harmonies and intervals in the universe. Here is an article that briefly explains some of the ideas.

http://thebeautifulbrain.com/2010/08/five-notes-for-all/

They Came to Play

Posted on January 17, 2011 by Heather Brunner

Did you know that the Van Cliburn Piano Competition has an amateur division? The International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs is held in Fort Worth, Texas. Participants are all over the age of 35 and are nonprofessional pianists. These musicians hold jobs ranging from physicists to former professional tennis player and even a few doctors.

Netflix currently has They Came to Play available on streaming. I highly recommend you add this to your queue.

Thoughts from and about Franz Liszt

Posted on January 9, 2011 by Heather Brunner

One of my favorite musical reference books is Famous Pianists and Their Technique by Reginald Gerig. Gerig distills the wisdom of the great performers and composers into a manageable text that benefits the serious amateur and the professional musician.

Chapter 10 is titled Liszt and the Virtuoso Technique. Below you will find a few quotes from this chapter.

“By 1832, (age 21) Liszt had mastered all of the Beethoven sonatas; but when he programmed them, he dared not give the composer’s name because Beethoven was considered dull during the years immediately following his death.”

“Liszt was the first to play complete programs by himself and the first to perform from memory.”

Anton Rubenstein said about Liszt “…in comparison with Liszt all other pianists were children.”

“Have patience with yourself,” Liszt said. “Your future is ahead of you. Rome was not built in one day.”

Organizational Project

Posted on January 3, 2011 by Heather Brunner

As many of you know, I tend to be an organizational freak. Keeping up with music can be a challenging task. Occasionally, I loan music to students while waiting for their books to be ordered. I’ve also noticed that students are forever ripping the covers off of their method and theory books. That can create a problem if their name was written in the cover. Next thing I know a student has left their music and I have no idea who to call to come and collect it.

These minor issues can be avoided by writing the owners name in 2 different places in the book. I usually write my name on the first page that is attached to the spine of the book. This way if the cover rips off the name is still in the front. The second place is that I pick a page number that means something to me and write my name on that page also. For example, my birthday is on the 23rd so I will write my name on page 23 also.

Music books are expensive and some are hard to come by so keeping track of them starts with knowing who they belong to. This is just a little project that could be undertaken to begin keeping your music more organized. Well, this is only a little project if you don’t own 3 bookcases of music. I may need a stamp with my name on it before this is over.

Ion Profile LP USB Turntable

Posted on December 30, 2010 by Heather Brunner

I have been collecting classical records for years. The idea is that when I have enough that I can create a boarder around my home music studio. The disappointing thing was that I had no way to play these wonderful recordings. Thanks to my family that is no longer a problem. Various family members gave me birthday and Christmas money that I put towards the purchase of a turntable.

The Ion Profile LP USB Turntable fits the bill.

The turntable comes with a USB port, USB cable and recording software. By plugging the turntable into the computer and playing the records, the tracks are saved into iTunes format. The quality level of the recordings is adjustable.

I will now be able to share some of the great recordings by the famous artists of the past. The equipment should pay for itself quite quickly. I usually purchase tracks from either iTunes or www.classicalarchives.com. These tracks are between 89 and 99 cents each. Records at thrift shops and charity stores are twenty-five cents to a dollar.

This is a nice piece of equipment to help me further the musical development and appreciation of my students.

New Studio Availability

Posted on December 21, 2010 by Heather Brunner

As 2010 comes to a conclusion, I am excited to announce new studio availability for the coming year. Lesson times are now being offered from 9:00 am until early afternoon Monday thru Thursday at Brunner Studios home location. These times are perfect for the homeschooled student, working adults with flexible schedules and retirees. Also, Fridays will also be opening up for lessons. Friday times are from 9:00-6:00.

Gift certificates are available for purchase for a monthly or semester basis. So go ahead and get that family member a keyboard or piano for Christmas. Another wonderful gift is having a piano tuned for someone who already owns an instrument.

I look forward to seeing what the new year will bring for those students who are interested in non-traditional lesson times. Please contact me for more information. For current students of Brunner Studios a 10% referral discount will be credited to your account.

Have a wonderful Holiday Season and I hope to see you soon!

What to Wear for a Recital

Posted on November 30, 2010 by Heather Brunner

Recital attire is on of the things that I really get on a soapbox about. It’s not just the performers, the audience usually needs a few lessons also. So many things have drifted into the casual realm that we occasionally need a reminder about what to wear. The performers have invested many hours and should respect themselves and should be respected by the audience.

Let’s start with the ladies attire:

1. Skirts and Dresses should not be above the knee when standing or seated. Don’t forget to have someone check the back while you are sitting at the bench. This one makes me especially crazy. Many times students forget that the stage or platform is elevated. What will look good while on a flat floor turns wildly inappropriate when seated 2 feet off the ground. If you are questioning the length of a skirt or pulling at it then just bypass the issue and pick something else to wear.

The first skirt pictured is a good length. Don’t even consider the style just the length. Any skirt or dress that hits the leg at this point would always be appropriate for a performance. The second skirt is seriously in danger zone for length. Now both skirts look very similar in length when standing, but they will appear very different when seated. The second example will hitch up more in the back and with a side view on an elevated stage things start to get a little risqué. The third picture pretty much explains it self. This is way too short.

No where does it say that you need to wear a skirt or a dress. Dress slacks are a great option.

2. Dress slacks are a nice choice. Just make sure they are not too tight or too short in the leg. My personal favorites are the Kasper brand. These pants are made of non-wrinkle material and are lined. They hang beautifully and if you manage to wear a pair out in 5 years or less, I would be very surprised. There is a Kasper outlet at Concord Mills and they have lots of different colors and patterns for around $35 a pair. For a slightly more casual and light weight feel, Gap’s perfect trousers are a good example.

3. Shirts and Tops offer more flexibility. To check to see if a shirt is appropriate, sit at the piano and play your piece with someone watching. If your back or sides are exposed at any point, the attire should head back to the closet. If you are constantly pulling the neckline because it feels too low, don’t wear it. If you are uncomfortable or self conscious, the audience will be as well. Also, try to avoid anything that lets your bra straps peek out. The public doesn’t need to see underwear.

4. Hair, Accessories, Pantyhose and Shoes

Topics every girl hates. It is hard enough to have a good hair day without your piano teacher’s input. However, you have worked extremely hard on your music and your parents are sitting through 35 other performances just to hear you. Make sure that we can see your smiling face. At the very least pull your hair back on the side that faces the audience.

Keep the accessories to a minimum. No bracelets or watches or anything else that might distract you or the audience.

I know all the kids think the idea of wearing pantyhose is the worst idea every. However, this is a winter recital. You might consider wearing a pair of tights with your skirt or dress. They don’t have to be plain either, a pattern without rips is fine or crazy colors are great.

Shoes. Make sure you can walk in them. They should be thin soled. Practice wearing your shoes around the house and playing your pieces. Some shoes will gape if they aren’t properly broken in. Then you feel like your shoe is going to fall off while using the pedal.

Most of my students and parents do an excellent job with wearing appropriate recital attire. Something things just slip through and we need a reminder. Later this week, I will review on article from the NMTA magazine that talks about how your attire affects the audience’s view of your performance. Tomorrow we will blog about the guys and their fashion options.

It’s all in the details

Posted on November 19, 2010 by Heather Brunner

Recently, I was thinking about how different all my students are in the aspect of detail orientation. Some of my students are very careful to not miss notes and to observe articulation markings. Surprisingly enough, this is not limited to older students who have had more musical experience. Some of those little guys come in and are determined to get it right. Other students take more of the bull in a china shop approach. They rush through the pieces and ignoring the wrong notes, tempo and dynamic markings. They just don’t want to slow down enough to take in the details.

How I teach lessons depends on how the student performs. With a student who is very detail conscious, I can send home the student home with a new piece with very little instruction. Then we spend more time at the next lesson working out the fine details and musicality. Those students who take a looser view of the music, require more guidance on the front end of the piece. We carefully read through the music and correct wrong notes and mark those dynamics.

Sometimes with new students, it takes a few weeks to find out where the student will fall in the learning process. So I was wondering if there is a way to predict with new students what type of student they will be. Right now, I am trying an experiment. I have created a sheet with 3 different shaped boxes to be colored in. I have randomly asked students to use a crayon and fill in the boxes. So far the early results indicate that a student will color with the same attention to details as they would look for in their music.

It might seem silly, but I see it as part of my job to tailor lessons as closely as possible for each students learning style. Any help that I can get is great. When accepting transfer students, those first few lessons are so important. Having the student feel successful is imperative to creating a long lasting successful teacher/student relationship. By having a glimpse into the student’s learning style and guiding those lessons along that track from the start can really make a difference.