Today's Moment of Beautiful Music

 Serene, gorgeous piano music for a rain morning.

What Deborah's Playing on the Piano

Saturday afternoon, I attended a lovely Hallowe'en student concert at Cabrillo College. Audience was masked, performers masked or PCR tested. So great to hear live music again! One of the pieces was a synthesizer adaptation of Satie's first Gnossienne, which I'm working on. (It was very weird. Very weird on steroids.) That reminded me it's been a while since I posted what I'm working on now. For those new to this journey, I'm an adult piano student who began piano lessons 15 years ago, my first ever formal instruction. I'm a grown up, or so the theory goes, so I get to play what I want.

Satie. Gnossienne #1. It's a hoot. One measure that goes on for pages, with directions like "Postulez en vous-même" (wonder about yourself). Lots of repetition of the motifs with subtle differences of expression.

Gillock. "Silent Snow" from Lyric Preludes in Romantic Style. Gillock was primarily a teacher. These short pieces are beautiful and fun to play as they challenge technique. The one I just started requires exquisite control of dynamics and pedaling. Gillock's pieces are a great prep for composers like Debussy and Satie.

A couple of Schubert waltzes. They're like "bon-bons" or Chopin Lite.

"Warg Scouts" from Howard Shore's music for The Hobbit. The dwarves are running for their lives, Radagast is trying to lure the orcs on their wargs away, and Gandalf is scheming to get his part to Rivendell. Pounding rhythm. Am I nuts? When I looked at the piece, I went, "Ack!! I can't possibly!!!" So I'm tackling it slowly with the metronome under my teacher's guidance. Might take a couple of years to get it up to tempo (quarter note = 180, agitated) but it will do wonders for my technique. And be soooo much fun!

Bach Invention 14. If I skip a day, it falls apart. Otherwise, I'm focusing on the way the motif bounces back from one hand to the other, detached notes in one hand but legato in the other.

Debussy. "Claire de Lune." Be still, my heart. I'm about a page away from playing it straight through and then we get to work on dynamics, speed, and expression.

When I have time, I work on my past repertoire. Current favorites are "May It Be" (Enya), Debussy's "La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin," Satie's 1st and 3rd Gymnopédies, a transcription of Ashokan Farewell, and a bunch of music from LotR.

My Love Affair with the Music of The Lord of the Rings

Listening

In an earlier post, I talked about my enthusiasm for Peter Jackson’s films of The Lord of the Rings. One of the things I adored was Howard Shore's music. I ran out and bought the CDs, of course. At first I listened to the music as a way of re-experiencing the movies. I’d done this with other movie music, like The Last of the Mohicans, Shakespeare in Love, Titanic, and all the work of Ennio Morricone. Romantic, evocative music fits the same slot in my brain as Mendelsohn’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream” or his violin concerto, or Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet,” Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade” suite, or Borodin’s “In the Steppe of Central Asia” (one of the pieces I listened to while writing Shannivar). It’s narrative music, emotive rather than abstract, and I find it marvelous to write to.

Singing

When at long last it was my time to embark upon piano lessons, as a first-time older adult student, I grabbed a copy of the easy piano versions of The Lord of the Rings music. My goal was to play “Into the West.” I was one of those folks in the theater with tears down my cheeks as the song ended. But I was just starting out, I had zero self-confidence, and I wanted to make sure I had the skill to play it well. My teacher and I selected “In Dreams” (which is also the leitmotif for the hobbits) as one of my early pieces. Even in the easy version, it was a challenge. And it had words, words in a key within my limited vocal range.

Like others of my generation, I got caught in the folk scene of the ‘60s and ‘70s, and even taught myself a few chords on the guitar. Although I enjoyed singing in a group, I had become convinced I had a terrible voice. I remember being told as a child that I couldn’t sing. So of course, my voice was strained, thin, unreliable in pitch. With the piano to support my voice, however, along with lots of practice when no one else was in the house, not to mention having an encouraging teacher, I learned how to breathe more deeply and relax my throat. The higher notes became easier and more clear. I added other songs and vocal exercises, which helped my confidence. “Wow,” my teacher said after one class, “who knew you had such a voice?”

Making Music, the February 2015 edition

I began studying piano about 8 years ago, the first formal musical education I’d had. Having schlepped two kids through a gazillion lessons (piano, voice, a second instrument), it was finally my turn. I haven’t taken lessons for a few years now but I still play almost every day for 30-45 minutes. I’ll probably never progress much beyond low to mid intermediate level, but since it’s for my own pleasure and there’s plenty of wonderful music within my skill, I don’t care.

Here’s what I’m playing now, both repertoire and new pieces. Some are challenging, some are way too much fun, and some are old familiar friends.

• Chopin: Preludes Op. 28, no. 4 and 6; Waltz in d minor Op. 69 no. 2 post.
• Brahms, Waltz in A flat
• Bach, Fughetta
• Kabalevsky, Novelette and Waltz
• Satie, Gymnopédie No. 3
• O’Carolan, The Queen’s Dream and The Separation of Soul and Body (from Allan Alexander’s The Celtic Collection for Piano)
• Finn, Song of the Lonely Mountain (the Dan Coates easy piano/voice arrangement)
• Türk, Children’s Ballet

And Now A Word From The Cats…

Shakir and Gayatri

I’ve been blogging about Tajji, our newly-adopted retired seeing eye dog, all the training we’re doing with her, how she’s recovering from the stress of many years of service. The cats have played no small role in helping her to adjust, and she in turn has provided them with interest and amusement.

“What’s that? Oh, you’ve brought us a dog to play with. She’s very big and very, very furry.”

“Um, this dog is exceptionally rude. She moves too quickly and looks directly at us.”

“Um, this dog is also exceptionally stupid. Sure, she’s finally understood how to greet us politely and that we don’t like big things moving fast in our general direction. But when we tell her we’d like to play, she acts brain-dead. And what’s with her bowing to us? What the heck does that mean?”

“Shakir has finally educated the dog to the point where they can romp, even if the dog does get carried away. He bestows upon the dog the great honor of grooming her, despite getting a mouthful of fur – the dog is incredibly furry! But she seems oblivious of his signals that he’d like her to groom him in return. Gayatri is of the opinion that being slobbered all over does not constitute grooming.”

Both cats have now marked the dog as Theirs by rubbing their jaws along her muzzle or feet. But cats have lives beyond taking care of the dog. They engage in various typically feline behaviors, each having staked out several prime napping areas (that vary according to seasonal sunlight).

Gayatri has turned out to be musical. She’s an extremely vocal cat and will meow loudly under many different circumstances:

“Where have you been? How dare you neglect me for this long?”

“I’m starrrrving!”

“Out! Now!”

"Pick me up! Nooooowwww!"

“I know you want to nap but I want to knead your stomach more.”

“Piano! What is that sound! I must sing with it!”

[personal] From the piano...

From time to time, I share what I'm working on in my piano practice. I say practice not just in the sense of "drills and repetitions" but as a spiritual practice. One of centering, focus, and intention. One of continually going deeper into the music and letting that (wordless) experience transform my day.

I'm an adult student, meaning I did not begin music lessons of any kind until my late 50s. I shepherded both daughters through endless lessons (from age 5 until the end of high school) and then finally it was My Turn. My piano belonged to my mother, who also realized her dream of playing it as an older adult. Sometimes it feels like she is looking over my shoulder, smiling.

Repertoire:
Chopin, Preludes (op. 28, no. 4 and 6)
Satie, Gymnopedie #3
Brahms, Waltz in Aflat
Kabalevsky, Waltz
various pieces from the easy piano version of The Lord of the Rings movies

New:
Chopin, Waltz dminor (op. 69, no 2. post.)
Bach, Fughetta
Kabalevsky, Novelette (how could I resist?)
easy piano/vocal version of "Song of the Lonely Mountain" from The Hobbit movie
two O'Carolan tunes, arranged for piano - "The Separation of Body and Soul," and "The Queen's Dream"

Puppy and Chopin

It's summer, Mr. Darcy is 10 weeks hold, and here he is, learning to appreciate classical music (as well he should, with a name like Darcy vom Steinbeckland). I'm practicing a Chopin Prelude, much to his enjoyment. Sometimes he flops over my right foot and we have a Discussion. Or he tries to chew on the pedal. Once or twice, he's tried to "sing," a sort of subdued howling. Mostly he plasters himself up against the piano. Lovely to have such an undemanding audience!

Music and grief

Our elderly and Highly Opinionated tortoiseshell cat, Cleopatra, died Saturday morning. She's made it to her 20th birthday last month, which astonished us all. Privately, I think she wasn't about to let the dog outlast her. (Oka, our wonderful German Shepherd Dog, died on Wednesday.)

It's a bit much to take in, the loss of two pets within a week. We're keeping an eye on the black cat who was Oka's buddy. He wanders around the house, clearly looking for Oka. (He still has a cat friend, one-eyed lady pirate Gayatri.)

I've been studying piano as an adult for about 7 or 8 years now. I play mostly classical, but add in fun stuff, too, like music from The Lord of the Rings. Earlier this spring, I began working on "Into the West." It's an easy setting, and it's flowing nicely, although in a key I can't sing. That's okay. Since Oka died, I've played it with tears streaming down my face. "All dogs pass...into the west." The music brings up grief in a way words can't. A healing way, a gentle way that lets me go as deep as is right for me at the moment. It's not the same as listening to music because I'm inside of it, I'm creating it right now in this moment and no two performances are ever the same. It reminds me poignantly of how pets live in the "now."

Today's practice was a little different. One of my serious pieces is the 3rd Gymnopedie by Satie. The tempo is Lento e grave. I slowed it a bit, focusing on the full tone of each chord, and realized I was playing it for both animals. The right hand melody soars above the funeral bass rhythm in that aeolian mode. Sweet and sad and profoundly honoring the memory of these friends-in-fur.