Merry Christmas from the Collaborative Piano Blog and best wishes that the holiday season brings you lots of quality time with family and friends. It's only a short time until the new year rolls around and the madness starts up again!Amazed at how many students of mine found the best example of a ground bass was, in fact, the "inhalitus" in Bach's Cigarette Cantata.
Opening a can of worms here...The damage was discovered at about 9 a.m. Sunday in the practice rooms on the first floor of the James J. Whalen Center for Music, college spokesman Dave Maley said. More than 60 pianos were damaged, many by having parts removed. In many cases, parts were removed but left in the room, which may help ease re pairs, but other instruments received major damage, Maley said. Technicians and staff of the music school spent much of Sunday assessing the damage, and the Office of Public Safety, with crime-scene assistance from the state police, began investigating. No dollar value of the damage was determined. The entire Whalen Center was closed at one point. The vandalism was limited to the practice rooms, which are used not only by piano students but also other students requiring the instruments or piano accompaniment.You can also find more coverage in the Ithacan. My thoughts and prayers go out to the Ithaca College music community. One thing about music schools is that they are extremely difficult places in which to keep a secret - hopefully the police will find the vandals before they are able to do more damage.
Many of you may already have heard about the vandalism that occurred this past weekend in the James J. Whalen Center for Music. I wanted to take this opportunity to update members of the School of Music community as well as the wider Ithaca College community about that incident.The entire statement can be found at the Ithaca College website.
The good news is that nearly all of the pianos that were vandalized have been put back into service and are currently being used by students. While the extent of damage varied from piano to piano, none were completely destroyed. After a thorough assessment, it appears that the totality of the damage was less than first thought. This in no way minimizes the amount of harm and disruption caused by this senseless act. The feeling of frustration and violation felt by the students, faculty, and staff of the School of Music is very real, and it was only through many hours of work by our terrific piano technicians and others that we were able to reopen most of our practice spaces by the end of the day on Sunday.
Ran into Steve Buscemi today at work. Someone asked him if he was an accompanist. He said he was an accompanot. My life is always amusing.--@MissCarlyPants on Twitter
Nicole Tubman sends along the following info about a fascinating event coming up this Thursday morning at Discover Times Square Exposition in NYC, featuring Leonardo da Vinci's hypothetical-but-never-built Harpsichord Viola:On Thursday, December 10, at 11am, to mark the unveiling of Leonardo da Vinci’s harpsichord-viola designed over 500 years ago, Piffaro, the Renaissance band, will play a short concert featuring the never-before-built musical instrument at Leonardo da Vinci’s Workshop located at the Discovery Times Square Exposition in New York.
Da Vinci’s Harpsichord-Viola - now a permanent part of the exhibition --combines the keyboard of the harpsichord and the technology and sound of the viola. It’s unknown whether Leonardo da Vinci ever actually built the Harpsichord-Viola, but he left detailed designs in his Codex Atlanticus (1493-1495). This model, created using authentic materials by Leonardo3, was built to da Vinci’s specifications, enabling walking musicians to play what amounted to a stringed instrument. A belt would allow the player to wear it and play while walking in processions. The internal “bow” grazes the strings when the keys are depressed and is continuously propelled by a motor activated by the musician's leg as he walks. Further, unlike a viola, which essentially plays one or two strings at a time, the harpsichord-viola can play chords, like on a piano, which didn't exist in Leonardo's time.
This special performance by Piffaro for exhibit ticket holders will take place on Thursday, December 10 at 11 am. The performance kicks off a special “Meet the Curators” weekend, where Massimilano Lisa and Edoardo Zanon, of the Milan-based Leonardo3 will be available from Noon to 6 pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (December 11-13) to talk about the Exhibit and
demonstrate the Harpsichord Viola.
If you're in the Sudbury area on December 19, you might want to check out Silver Bells, an evening of popular and seasonal favorites performed by soprano Renée Salewski, baritone Anthony Cleverton, and pianist Charlene Biggs. From the event's press release:The couple who were married this summer, have, between them, performed all over the world including: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, South Korea, France, Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, Ireland, and of course the UK. Since her last sold out appearance in Sudbury (Fall 2003), Renée has been busy both as a singer and an actress. Alongside her career as a vocalist, Renée has voiced animated characters for up and coming young film makers, been heavily involved in new theatrical writing in London and made her feature film debut in Penny Woolcock’s controversial film ‘Exodus’.These award winning and critically acclaimed newlyweds will be performing what promises to be a fun and entertaining concert of ‘Popera’ and Christmas Classics with the superb pianist Charlene Biggs on the 19th of December at St. Andrew’s Place, 7 pm. Tickets are $25 and available from Jett Landry Music, both locations of Old Rock, on the door or by calling 694-9090 to book.
Charlene has been on the piano faculty of England’s Colchester Institute, London’s famed City Literary Institute, the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, and Laurentian University in Sudbury. She continues to share her talents as a professor in Cambrian’s Music department, teaching piano, piano pedagogy, music history, and music performance. She was Assistant Chair of Piano at the Eastman School of Music (Community Education Division) in Rochester. Charlene is a senior examiner and a clinician for the Royal Conservatory of Music and the Frederick Harris Music Company. She has written nationally published articles on teaching and performance. Charlene is also an adjudicator and is regularly invited to give master classes and lectures on piano pedagogy across Canada. Charlene maintains a regular concert schedule, most recently playing two performances of Beethoven’s Fourth piano concerto with the North Bay Symphony Orchestra.
Why is it that the default original key tends to be for the high voice? For women, I understand, as the Soprano is the most common voice type, but for men about 70% of singers are Baritones. Why did Schubert, Schumann, Wolf, Faure, Debussy et al write so much of their rep for the high voice?Leave your answers below in the comments. If you don't feel comfortable disclosing your identity, you can either invent a nom de plume or comment anonymously...
From j/bimages on Flickr, this Wegman piano was discovered in an abandoned farmouse. Auburn 13021 has an interesting history of this former piano company that closed down in 1915. Anyone else own a Wegman? (Might they be referred to in upstate NY parlance as a Weggie?)
Lied Austria International in Liebnitz is looking for a collaborative pianist for the summer of 2010. Tracy Brighty sends along the following information:Lied Austria International seeks collaborative pianist/coach to compliment its artistic teaching team during the summer of 2010. Lied Austria International is a summer training program for Artistic Advancement in Lieder, taking place each summer in Leibnitz, Austria. The intimate size, innovative approach, and close, team teaching at LAI necessitate special qualities in our team members, including: willingness and ability to fit into LAI’s team approach to teaching; willingness and ability to fit into our poetic approach to Lieder performance and study, led by Dr. Wolfgang Lockemann; very good working knowledge/fluency of the German Language; strong collaborative keyboard performance skills; knowledge in appropriate musical styles for German Lied from Schubert to Schoeck and beyond; ability to teach German Diction.
Please see www.liedaustria.com for more information.
Priority will be given to applications received before January 5, 2010. Applications should include: letter of interest, bio, CV, and CD(s)/DVD(s) of recent performances.
Please send to:
Tracy Brighty
Lied Austria International
8855 SW 171st St.
Miami, FL 33157
USA
Questions should be addressed to Tracy Brighty.
info [at] liedaustria dot com
305.969.4516
