Happy Canada Day

Best wishes to everyone for a happy and healthy Canada Day! After some searching for the ideal performance to showcase on this post, I finally decided on an excerpt of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic gold medal hockey game between Canada and the US, featuring "O Canada" sung by the rabid Canadian fans during the dying seconds of the game*:



*Final score: Canada 5, USA 2. The Canadian goals were scored by Joe Sakic (2), Jarome Iginla (2), and Paul Kariya. Tony Amonte and Brian Rafalski scored for the USA. I missed the entire game, since I was in rehearsal for Modern Baroque Opera's 120 Songs for the Marquis de Sade in the Strathcona neighborhood of Vancouver's Downtown East Side. We broke for lunch minutes before the game ended, and en route to the cast's favorite neighborhood sushi takeout, we could hear people all over the neighborhood singing along with the fans on TV. From the spontaneous outpouring of song we surmised that Canada had indeed won the game.

Gustav Mahler Desktop Wallpaper for July 2009

If you're looking for some cool July desktop wallpaper of the Mahlerian variety, your search is at an end. Smashing Magazine has just debuted its July lineup of desktop wallpapers, and one of them features Maurice Depestre's of Gustav Mahler's portrait and Vincent van Gogh's "Starry Night" (you can see a preview here).

In case you would like Depestre's Mahler portrait to grace your desktop, there are number of screen size downloads available from Smashing Magazine--it's the 10th calendar down on the July desktop issue. I particularly like the timeline of musical works set against that of Mahler's milestones.

(Quick CPB hint: in case you've never figured out how to change your desktop wallpaper, you can right-click on the image and save it to your computer, then follow this tutorial on how to change the background picture on the desktop. If you're using Firefox, it's even easier - simply right-click on the image, then select "Set as Desktop Background".)

July is Degree Programs Month

One of the most popular articles on this blog for the last three and a half years has been the listing of Degree Programs in Collaborative Piano. Now that my schedule has lightened up somewhat, I will finally have time to return to my long-term plan of creating links to program info for as many of the listed schools (95 at present) for which I can find accurate information.

For the month of July, I'll be focusing on finding and listing those links. Each school will have its own posting, linked from the degree programs list, and linking to all relevant pages on the school website. I'll be creating the posts and building links for the schools in alphabetical order as I work through them.

However...

If you are an administrator or faculty member at a school with a degree program in collaborative piano and want to both 1) jump the alphabetical queue and 2) craft a better, more targeted posting for your school`s CP program, now is the time to contact me. If you write up a short article with relevant links, I can publish it right away as a guest post. Allison Gagnon, who previously wrote a guest post about the program at the North Carolina School of the Arts, has already recruited CPB readers into the NCSA program as a result of her initiative.

This project to create links to as many collaborative piano programs as possible is one of my top priorities at the moment, and if you run a collaborative piano program I would be more than glad to both feature your own introduction and drive interest in your program.

Sparks and Wiry Cries Podcast Launches - Long Live Art Song on the Internet

Training wheels for singers? No more....

Today pianist Erika Switzer and soprano Martha Guth launched Sparks and Wiry Cries, a podcast dedicated the world of the art song. Their goal is to bring awareness to an activity that is central to the art of the piano in ensemble, as well as to one of the most intimate, collaborative, and threatened genres of both piano and vocal classical music.

From the Sparks and Wiry Cries website:

The great passion in my career is the world of classical song. In conjunction with the Vancouver International Song Institute (VISI), renowned pianist Erika Switzer and I will co-host the upcoming episodes. We will look at song in a different light in episodes that will air every other week. Each podcast will be centered around a theme, and include live recordings spanning Mozart to the present day. We will also have the pleasure of including interviews with composers, musicologists and poets whose voices add a meaningful dimension to our conversations about song and performance. This podcast offers favorite repertoire, performed by ourselves and the many wonderful colleagues we have the pleasure to work with. This new generation of song singers have won international awards for excellence in their field and are currently performing in all corners of the globe. My hope is that this venue has the intimacy that the first composers of song originally had in mind, and that what has been delighting us on the concert stage can now be enjoyed in your living room. We have now Launched -Please enjoy!

Episode 1 (What Is Song) features a conversation between Erika and Martha about what art song is, how pianists and singers relate in this genre, as well as several awesome piano/vocal performances.

This is a major initiative that brings a new visibility to art song and the poetry that inspired it. To keep up with the podcast, you can check out either the Sparks and Wiry Cries website or subscribe to their RSS feed.

Britten/Pears Performing Schubert's Mein!

Peter Pears and Benjamin Britten were a voice/piano duo that excelled at lieder, even though it was not the style that they are primarily known for interpreting - here they are performing Mein! from Franz Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin:



(Via @weinmanj)

Astor Piazzolla Plays Milonga del Angel

One of the perennial favorites of pianists at the RCM/NMCP Grade 8 level is Astor Piazzolla's Milonga del angel. One of the things that I always like to impart when teaching this piece is just how important it is to get a feel of what this incredible Argentine dance form sounds like in its original form in order to recreate the style at the piano.

Here is the legendary Astor Piazzolla (on bandoneón) and friends performing Milonga del angel:

Looking Ahead

Believe it or not, this is one of the busiest times of the year for me, with 6 more days of examining for RCM Examinations coming up in Etobicoke this week, as well as a fair number of new summer students to contact before early July rolls around.

I'm grateful for the thoughtful blog input I received last weekend at the Collaborative Piano Conference of the Vancouver International Song Institute, and have a number of projects that will come off the backburner as soon as my schedule clears up, including a push to continue building links to more collaborative piano degree/diploma programs, and a renewed initiative to create repertoire lists for piano with specific instruments or voice genres (Thanks, Margo!). I'm also in the early planning stage of another month-long series--no details yet, as I still need to flesh out a lot of ideas before I even announce what the series will be about.

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to another action-packed week of judging nearly 200 piano exams at all levels.

Gerald Moore's Singer and Accompanist

Gerald Moore was one of the first collaborative pianists to become both a musical celebrity and champion of the collaborative arts (as both a pianist and writer). Although his playing has fallen out of favor somewhat [Update: see comments below for some strong opinions on the subject], he is still highly regarded as a writer, both for his musical wisdom and sharp wit. Embedded below is Moore's Singer and Accompanist - The Performance of Fifty Songs, via Google Books.

Dr. Seuss' Only Screenplay...About a Diabolical Piano Teacher

And you think your piano teacher is weird--below is the trailer from the 1953 Dr. Seuss movie (his only screenplay) The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T (wiki, IMDb).



Here's the plot of the movie from the Wikipedia entry:

The plot revolves around young Bart Collins [!?!?--CF: check out the author of the Well Tempered Blog for a rather significant coincidence], who lives with his widowed mother Heloise. The major blight on Bart's existence is the hated piano lessons he is forced to endure under the tutelage of the autocratic Dr. Terwilliker. Bart feels that his mother has fallen under Terwilliker's sinister influence, and gripes to visiting plumber August Zabladowski, without much result. While grimly hammering away at his lessons, Bart dozes off and enters a fantastical musical dream, in much the same fashion as Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz.

In the dream, Bart is trapped at the surreal Terwilliker Institute, where the piano teacher is now a madman dictator who has locked up all non-piano-playing musicians in a dungeon and constructed a piano so large that it requires Bart and 499 other enslaved boys (the aforementioned 5,000 fingers) in order to play it. Bart's mother has been turned into Terwilliker's hypnotized assistant and bride-to-be, and Bart must dodge the Institute's guards as he scrambles to save both his mother and himself. He tries to recruit Mr. Zabladowski, who has been hired to install all of the Institute's sinks ahead of a vital inspection, but only after much skepticism and foot-dragging is the plumber finally convinced to help. The two of them empty their pockets and construct a noise-sucking contraption which ruins the mega-piano's opening concert. The enslaved boys cheerfully run riot, and the "VERY atomic" noise-sucker explodes in spectacular fashion, bringing Bart out of his dream.

The movie ends on a hopeful note for Bart, when the real-life Mr. Zabladowski finally notices Heloise, and offers to drive her into town in his jeep. Bart escapes from the piano, and triumphantly runs off to play.

(Via Dr. B)

In Good Company

The online presence of the collaborative piano world continues to grow. The latest entry is Good Company by Northern Virginia/DC pianist Billie Whittaker. So far I like her Paid To Play series, with lots of unique information on how pianists can get themselves hired, including at universities, churches, in the army, and at summer music festivals.

I'll be announcing another major collaborative piano-oriented initiative in the coming weeks, but I'll remain quiet about the details until its creators officially launch the project...

Beethoven's 5th Sung in Japanese

This hilarious rendition of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is entitled "Asagohan" and is sung entirely in Japanese. From the YouTube comments, it appears that the lyrics are largely about what to order for breakfast.



(Thanks, Craig!)

Career Options Updates

I'm now back home from a wonderful weekend at the VISI Collaborative Piano Conference at the University of British Columbia. At my Saturday workshop, I presented my list of Career Options in Collaborative Piano and received some fine input for additions to the list, including the following:

• Dean has been added to the list of possible positions in Colleges and Universities.
• Singers on Chorus Contract and Small Role Contract are not required to possess voice degrees in order to be hired, according to anecdotes from those present.
• Under the Large Ensemble Category, I've added the "Fixer" in parentheses to the Contractor entry to reflect the UK term for that position.
• In the Other category, I've added Pianist for Musical Groups in Armed Forces, according to information in this post from BG.
• Official Competition Pianist and Official Symposium Pianist has been added to the Freelance category.
• Arranger has been added in the Media category.
  

Thanks to everyone for their invaluable input during Saturday's workshop!

The complete list: Career Options in Collaborative Piano

Welcome to the Collaborative Piano Blog

Greetings to all participants of the Vancouver International Song Institute! On Saturday at 4pm in Gessler Hall I'll be giving a workshop about the Collaborative Piano Blog and explaining its operations in detail, as well giving as an under-the-hood look at the various services I use to maintain and monetize it on a day-to-day basis. I've also created a public Netvibes page for the workshop containing links of interest that I'll be referring to in the lecture. Your feedback is very important to the development of this site, so I'll be having a question-and-answer session following the workshop. Hope to see you there!

Blogging the Piano in Ensemble This Saturday 4pm at the UBC School of Music

This Saturday at 4pm in Gessler Hall at the University of British Columbia's School of Music, I will be presenting a talk entitled Blogging the Piano in Ensemble, in which I will talk about the experience of creating and growing this blog over the last 3 and a half years. Admission is $10 for the afternoon, $20 for the full day, or $50 for the entire weekend of events. For more information, check out the full roster of events for the VISI Collaborative Piano Retreat.

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Vote For Your Favorite Operas To Go On Tapestry's 2009-10 Season

Tapestry New Opera Works is ready to program their 2009-10 season, including an upcoming production of Opera To Go at the Distillery's Fermenting Cellar in March 2010. This time around, Tapestry is crowdsourcing the operas to be chosen for the 2010 lineup--they are asking the community to vote on which operas in repertory they would like to see produced for Opera To Go 2010. Here is a list of operas (chosen from the 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2009 OTG productions) that you can vote on:

The Laurels: Michael Lewis MacLennan, librettist / Jeffrey Ryan, composer
Ice Time: Mark Brownell, librettist / Chan Ka Nin, composer
Mother Everest: Marjorie Chan, librettist / Abigail Richardson, composer
Rosa: Camyar Chai, librettist / James Rolfe, composer
Ashlike on the Cradle of the Wind: Jill Battson, librettist / Andrew Staniland, composer
Netsuke: Jill Battson, librettist / Rose Bolton, composer
The Enslavement and Liberation of Oksana G.: Colleen Murphy, librettist / Aaron Gervais, composer
The Colony: Lisa Codrington, librettist / Kevin Morse, composer
See Saw: Anna Chatterton, librettist / Andrew Staniland, composer
One Lump or Two?: Sandy Pool, librettist / Glenn James, composer
My Mother's Ring: Marcia Johnson, librettist / Stephen Andrew Taylor, composer

Vote for your favorite Opera To Go

The poll ends ends June 30, 2009.

Introducing Artistic Discourse

This weekend, Washington-based arts management grad student Zack Hayhurst launched Artistic Discourse, a blog that looks at the issues facing arts organizations in this time of economic transition. In spite of recent commentary on the difficulties faced by start-up bloggers, it's refreshing to see new arts blogs popping up (such as this one) at a time when support for traditional media is perceived to be on the wane. 

From Zack's inaugural post:

The way we as a society communicate and share information today is significantly different than even just ten years ago...Newspapers are failing, the major networks are re-structuring, and statistics show that more and more people are turning to blogs and other various online media sites to get information. The days of old-fashioned marketing and print media are coming to an end. How will arts organizations transition successfully and seamlessly as possible into the 21st century way of communicating? This is where we come back to the notion of an identity crisis.

The identity crisis comes in the form of artistic organizations determining how to navigate through a new, seemingly ubiquitous cultural shift that pervades the American and world cultures. That new culture is social networking and online media sites. How will opera companies, symphonies, choral societies, ballet companies, museums, and any other medium of classical art, connect to a new generation of potential art lovers? I believe the answer lies in the realms of cyberspace.

Well said. Best of luck to Zack and Artistic Discourse! Be sure to subscribe to his blog's feed to keep track of upcoming articles.

Beware of Falling Pianos

I ran across these quotes recently from the Piano entry on the Uncyclopedia, a site which you will definitely not want to consult for regular research purposes unless you are concerned about the rare urban phenomenon of falling pianos.

“Man who pushes piano down mineshaft get tone of A flat miner.”

~ Confucious on piano

“Man who drops piano over army base get tone of A flat major.”

~ Confucious on piano again

Falling pianos from a diplomatic perspective:

As reported by UnNews, in late 2007 the United Nations adopted the "falling piano" as hazard warning sign in areas with possibility of piano attacks. There is, however, doubt about the intuitivity (yes, that's a word) of the warning sign; some consider it still too vague or unclear to express the grave danger of such a situation to an unprepared belowstander. Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov has come out strongly against the signs, saying, "If a piano falls on you, then that's that. It's destiny. It's not that God hates you. He actually likes you, which is why he wants your death to be comical."

Here's a YouTube sighting of a genuine piano fall:



(Via oboeinsight)

More airborne pianos on the Collaborative Piano Blog:

Piano-flinging Trebuchet at Burning Man 2007
Another Insane Piano-flinging Trebuchet Video
The 2009 MIT Piano Drop

Flatpack: An Opera at London's Ikea Wembley

Here's an amazing use of contemporary opera as an advertising application--this week London's Ikea Wembley is hosting several performances of Flatpack, a site-specific opera composed by Tom Lane and produced by Mammoth Music Theatre. About the opera:

The Opera explores issues encountered in everyday modern life and how our consumer decisions and domestic interaction with others are indicators of more profound life choices and personalities. Practically, this focuses on a selection of scenes taken from the lives of a cast of characters, which relate to furniture, living and lifestyle.

...precisely the types of issues I contemplate when strolling through my friendly neighborhood Ikea location en route to chowing down on some meatballs with lingonberry compote. The remaining shows are scheduled for June 9 and 10 at 7:30 in Ikea Wembley. Admission is free. 



(Via Sound Mind)

CPB Readers Only: Free Sheet Music Download from Elijah Bossenbroek

Elijah Bossenbroek is a pianist, composer, and former Marine serviceman who has made two CDs of his own music entitled Harmony in Disarray and Carpe Lumen. In addition, he also periodically releases the sheet music for his compositions, including A Song of Simplicity from his first album (which you can hear on his home page).

Elijah has also kindly offered a free sheet music download for A Song of Simplicity for Collaborative Piano Blog readers (regularly a $5 download). Here's how you can grab your free copy:

Just send Elijah an email at his contact page and mention that you heard about this promotion via the Collaborative Piano Blog. He'll send you the downloadable pdf file in his reply which you can then print out and play.

(Thanks, Elijah!)

Toronto Children's Chorus Seeks Accompanist for the 2009-2010 Season

The Toronto Children's Chorus, led by Artistic Director Elise Bradley, is looking for a pianist for the coming season. Here is the press release I received earlier tonight:

Entering its 32nd year, the Toronto Children's Chorus (TCC) is committed to providing life enhancing experiences for children through the study and performance of the choral art. Under Artistic Director Elise Bradley, TCC continues to build its successful tradition of providing unparalleled choral music education to over 300 young singers in the Greater Toronto Area.

The TCC is currently seeking one or more Accompanists to join the Artistic Staff beginning in the 2009-2010 season.

Duties include accompanying the following choirs in weekly rehearsals, performances, workshops and camps:

• Main Choir (Cantare Division) (Tuesdays and Fridays under the direction of Teri Dunn)
• The Prep Choir (Wednesdays under the direction of Teri Dunn)
• Training Choir II (Wednesdays under the direction of Teri Dunn)
  

Rehearsals are at Calvin Presbyterian Church (Yonge & St. Clair) and performance venues include Roy Thomson Hall, the Koerner Centre, and Toronto Centre for the Arts.

The ideal candidate will be a collaborative pianist, with ARCT (or equivalent). Experience playing for choirs, singers or working with a conductor is an asset, as is experience singing in a choir. Candidates should have a good rapport with children and teens, and enjoy striving for musical excellence. Strong sight-reading skills, score reading, ability to harmonize simple melodies, and ability to transpose at sight are desirable.

To arrange for an interview and audition, or for more information, please contact Teri Dunn, Assistant Artistic Director at teri [at] torontochildrenschorus dot com by Friday, June 12, 2009.

To read more about the TCC, our programmes and our artistic staff, please go to
www.torontochildrenschorus.com

(Thanks, Penelope!)

Chausson Poème, Revised

Few orchestral reductions have created such consternation in the ranks of pianists as Chausson's Poème. The traditionally used (and flawed) Breitkopf und Härtel reduction requires significant modification and reworking in order to create a playable whole. That is about to end, with the release of a new piano reduction of the Poème from Dr. Allison Gagnon, currently serving as Director of the Collaborative Piano Program at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. More about the edition:

Allison Gagnon's new piano reduction of the Poeme, op. 25 for Violin and Orchestra by Ernest Chausson is now available. This definitive edition has been prepared in collaboration with violinist Stephen Shipps (University of Michigan) and Encore Music Publishers. It is the first published version of the piece to provide an accurate, playable and effective piano rendition of the orchestral score.

The STRStudies website contains a fascinating article by Allison about the sources and method used to prepare the reduction, as well as a link for buying the score online.

(Thanks, Allison!)

Tapestry New Opera Works Nominated for 6 Dora Awards

I've just received word that Tapestry New Opera Works has been nominated in six categories for the 2009 Dora Mavor Moore Awards.

In the Outstanding New Musical/Opera category, the following operas have been nominated:

• Sanctuary Song: Abigail Richardson, composer and Marjorie Chan, librettist
• The Perfect Screw: Alexis Diamond, librettist and Abigail Richardson, composer
• The Virgin Charlie: Taylor Graham, librettist and William Rowson, composer
• My Mother's Ring: Marcia Johnson, librettist and Stephen Andrew Taylor, composer
  

(The Perfect Screw, Virgin Charlie, and My Mother's Ring were featured in Opera To Go 2009.)

In addition, Wayne Strongman was nominated for Outstanding Musical Direction in Opera To Go, and Sanctuary Song (co-produced by Tapestry and Theatre Direct in collaboration with Luminato) was nominated in the Outstanding Opera Production category.

Congratulations to the creative staff, cast, musicians, and crew that were involved with the creation and performance of these works! I am honored to have coached and performed in Opera To Go as well as in the 2007 workshop of Sanctuary Song that led to the work's Dora-nominated production.

Visit the Dora Awards site for a complete list of 2009 Dora nominees.

7 Useful Resources for Identifying Intervals By Ear

This is the time of year when students are madly preparing for their upcoming Royal Conservatory exams. One of the staples of exams from Grades 2 through 10 are interval identification questions on the ear training component. Many students that have difficulty identifying intervals find it useful to associate melodies with different ascending and descending intervals. In case you're looking for a wide variety of tunes to go with every interval up to and including the octave, here are some places you can find answers:

• Naperville Chorus Songs for intervals page
• Laura Krzyston's Songs for interval recognition list from the Virginia Commonwealth University site
• Songs to help you learn note intervals at Piano and Synth Magazine
• Ear Training on Wikipedia
• Interval Chart at Jamey Aebersold Jazz (pdf file)
• Interval Songs at Sarah's Flute Page

Think you're a hot shot? Now take the online interval ear training quiz at Teoria Music Theory!

(NB: In case you're looking for a song that begins with that pesky descending minor seventh, I recommend listening to the first two notes of the main theme from The Price Is Right.)


Previously on the Collaborative Piano Blog:

8 Ways to Improve Your Mark on RCM/NMCP Examinations
10 Ways To Get a Fresh Start With Summer Practice Assignments
31 Days to Better Practicing: The Complete Series