Well, of my life, anyway. It was strange, and please allow me to throw in a few humble brags. Last year I was part of a residency in which I performed at twenty-seven schools in ten school days. But, that was almost it for gigs that semester, so it was one crazy oasis in the desert. My last semester of my masters degree (four years ago!) I had a credits snafu that resulted in my adding of three classes halfway through the semester, and attempting to perform an elective recital. Yet, somehow, this semester took the cake (There’s cake?!).
I have unfortunately had a major absence in the online community for the past three months. This has been in part a result of my extreme business, for which I apologize. However, this has also been in part on purpose, for which I do not apologize. For years I have been blogging and video blogging, and I had a very harsh realization: I was sometimes coming across in a conceited, arrogant, and self-righteous manor. Maybe that is an exaggerated assessment, but one I made of myself. I think that it is very difficult to be a young writer and use the internet without coming off in that way (I personally blame the keyboard; I was always positive while typing). So, I made up my mind to attempt to change my writing style and to more often than not write lighter material… then that material kept being pushed back by three things:
Gigs
Practicing (for said gigs)
and finally… LECTURE PREP
I decided to completely overhaul both my lecture series and my assignments for my three music appreciation courses. Add it up, and you’ve got the recipe for the ‘ol back-burner special.
Before I being anew and reboot this blog, allow me to summarize my wild and crazy gigs…
The theme of the semester was bad weather. Snow forced me to miss three presentations, two of which rescheduled, and the third of which could not. Snow should have forced me to postpone my first collegiate guest artist recital, but I pushed onward! The result was a small audience, but a greatly invested audience. Finally, a sever thunderstorm and tornado watch caused a very small audience, but not a cancelled performance.
During this semester I have so far presented:
9 Recitals
13 Assemblies
10 Clinics/Master Classes
With one recital and one assembly left. Those 32 presentations happened between January 6th and March 22nd, aka 76 days. Many of these actually happened during my “Spring Break.” This was mentioned in the Des Moines register, but I failed to post the link online thanks to comical mistakes in both my bio and schedule!
Up next, I plan on detailing my weekend at Bernie’s… I mean my various gigs for the past semester. After that, it’s back to music blogs and MPP’s. Hopefully a new approach and a consistent approach can help me gig this blog off the ground again.
Before I sign off, our dear friend Brian has yet to send me any etudes! Please be sure to annoy him at the following email address:
Bivdub@gmail.com
Monday, April 18, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Marimbist’s Log: 1/18/11
This is an idea I had to catalogue some of the crazier or more interesting days in my performance career, very much in the style of the daily entries from my residency last year in Dubuque. This first one is being posted a little late, but I’ll try to stay on top of them from now on!
A week before today’s gig I was supposed to be performing in the towns of Ogden and Cambridge, IA. Unfortunately the weather required that both schools cancel classes. As I went to sleep last night the radar began to show signs of another blizzard. Fortunately for me and for the students, the snow held off and today’s assemblies happened.
I awoke at 5am to load the car and take off for the town of Dunkerton, IA (pop. 749), which is about an hour and a half north of where I live: I was set to perform two assemblies in the morning for the elementary school. I am performed two thirty minute assemblies as opposed to one forty-five minute assembly for no extra charge. This is an option I give that I feel is one of the elements that help me book events. The more negotiable I am, and the more I am willing to adapt to a school helps me to reach more people.
The community school in Dunkerton reminds me of the school I attended to. They have a large brick building that has been there for close to a hundred years, with new additions surrounding it. The beauty of this old building is the auditorium that was built in it. It had a gorgeous stage and sat more than a hundred people. The school is planning on tearing down this building; I am hoping that their plans include rebuilding this auditorium in the new space.
The elementary was split between upper and lower grades, with the youngins being my first audience. They were an incredibly observant and respectful audience while I was performing, and extremely enthusiastic about joining me on stage for the African drumming portion.
After I packed the marimba I left for the town of Jesup (pop. 2,212). Whenever I have an assembly performance booked that is somewhat of a drive I do my best to try to line up another assembly nearby for the other half of the day. This worked out very well, as Jesup Community School was interested and only fifteen minutes away.
Jesup is a completely different school from Dunkerton, new and HUGE! I performed first for the middle school students, and then for the second through fifth graders. My final performance went very well, but the middle school performance was interesting. The problem with students at that age is that there will always be some who think you are lame no matter what. After that there will be a range of students who either think you are okay or who love what you are playing. Unfortunately at that age the fact that the first group exists can make the latter two groups feel self-conscience about seeming too interested.
So, as musicians and educators, how to combat this? I feel that since I am only going to be there for a small period of time that first group may be a lost cause. However, I am going to work my hardest to entertain those who I know I will have a positive effect on. I recently heard a podcast interviewing the comedian Patton Oswald, and he stated that his type of comedy isn’t all-inclusive. Therefore, when he was doing the club rotations in the early nineties he tried to find those people who would absolutely love him and appeal to them, that way anytime he was in town they would come back to see him.
I realize that I am the same person who wrote a righteous blog about how classical music can be loved by anyone. However, young teenagers are not free-thinking adults. There will always be a handful that even if they like what they hear, will pretend it isn’t cool. Would I try to reach them and inspire them if I was their every-day teacher? Absolutely! But, as a visiting artist I feel I must advise others that are just beginning down the same path as me to not take their dissatisfaction seriously.
Once my day was completed I headed for home where more practicing and lecture prep awaited.
A week before today’s gig I was supposed to be performing in the towns of Ogden and Cambridge, IA. Unfortunately the weather required that both schools cancel classes. As I went to sleep last night the radar began to show signs of another blizzard. Fortunately for me and for the students, the snow held off and today’s assemblies happened.
I awoke at 5am to load the car and take off for the town of Dunkerton, IA (pop. 749), which is about an hour and a half north of where I live: I was set to perform two assemblies in the morning for the elementary school. I am performed two thirty minute assemblies as opposed to one forty-five minute assembly for no extra charge. This is an option I give that I feel is one of the elements that help me book events. The more negotiable I am, and the more I am willing to adapt to a school helps me to reach more people.The community school in Dunkerton reminds me of the school I attended to. They have a large brick building that has been there for close to a hundred years, with new additions surrounding it. The beauty of this old building is the auditorium that was built in it. It had a gorgeous stage and sat more than a hundred people. The school is planning on tearing down this building; I am hoping that their plans include rebuilding this auditorium in the new space.
The elementary was split between upper and lower grades, with the youngins being my first audience. They were an incredibly observant and respectful audience while I was performing, and extremely enthusiastic about joining me on stage for the African drumming portion.
After I packed the marimba I left for the town of Jesup (pop. 2,212). Whenever I have an assembly performance booked that is somewhat of a drive I do my best to try to line up another assembly nearby for the other half of the day. This worked out very well, as Jesup Community School was interested and only fifteen minutes away.Jesup is a completely different school from Dunkerton, new and HUGE! I performed first for the middle school students, and then for the second through fifth graders. My final performance went very well, but the middle school performance was interesting. The problem with students at that age is that there will always be some who think you are lame no matter what. After that there will be a range of students who either think you are okay or who love what you are playing. Unfortunately at that age the fact that the first group exists can make the latter two groups feel self-conscience about seeming too interested.
So, as musicians and educators, how to combat this? I feel that since I am only going to be there for a small period of time that first group may be a lost cause. However, I am going to work my hardest to entertain those who I know I will have a positive effect on. I recently heard a podcast interviewing the comedian Patton Oswald, and he stated that his type of comedy isn’t all-inclusive. Therefore, when he was doing the club rotations in the early nineties he tried to find those people who would absolutely love him and appeal to them, that way anytime he was in town they would come back to see him.
I realize that I am the same person who wrote a righteous blog about how classical music can be loved by anyone. However, young teenagers are not free-thinking adults. There will always be a handful that even if they like what they hear, will pretend it isn’t cool. Would I try to reach them and inspire them if I was their every-day teacher? Absolutely! But, as a visiting artist I feel I must advise others that are just beginning down the same path as me to not take their dissatisfaction seriously.
Once my day was completed I headed for home where more practicing and lecture prep awaited.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Etude Project: One Handed Rolls
Greetings! I have a feeling that 2011 is going to bring many more posts, videos, projects, and of course performances. January is already pretty packed with assemblies and concerts. But, the purpose of this post is to begin my new etude project with The Collaborative Process’ Brian Van Winkle. If you haven’t read before, Brian became interested in writing a set (or two) of etudes for the marimba. He asked me to help by sending him concepts for each etude, and later we will organize them. For my first post, I decided to approach one handed rolls. Leave any comments for Brian to read; although if I think they’re bogus I will delete them!
Here was my first e-mail to Brian...
I was thinking that there could be two etudes focused on one handed rolls: one beginner/intermediate, the other advanced. I won’t tell you what to compose timbrely, however it would be nice if the first was a little on the slower side.
For the first etude my suggestion would be to only use the following intervals for the one handed rolls: 5ths through octaves. When the interval is smaller it is more challenging, and usually requires a much faster speed; whereas further than an octave would be too much of a mallet spread for a beginning to intermediate percussionist. While one hand is executing a one handed roll, I would suggestion something articulated in the other hand. This could also allow this etude to work on hand to hand independence. I would probably suggest that for beginners the one handed rolls only change pitches if there is a break in the roll.
I have a few more ideas for the advanced etude. First of all, feel free to use smaller intervals, and to use larger intervals (especially in the right hand). Also, it would be great if at some point you could even have the right hand rolling on one note while the left hand plays something articulated below.
Here’s another idea. Some percussionists don’t think about speeding up and slowing down their roll speeds with one handed rolls. So, you could write a few Malsanka-esque accels into roll, and rit. into niente… or something like that. You could also try a right handed roll being joined after a while by the left hand, so a one handed roll blending into a four mallet ripple roll. Let me know with this paragraph if you need a few visual examples.
Looking at this now, those two paragraphs have a lot of ideas. So, if it makes it easier to split into two etudes, feel free to go down that route. We could also include a few other etude ideas into splitting the etudes.
Here was my first e-mail to Brian...
I was thinking that there could be two etudes focused on one handed rolls: one beginner/intermediate, the other advanced. I won’t tell you what to compose timbrely, however it would be nice if the first was a little on the slower side.
For the first etude my suggestion would be to only use the following intervals for the one handed rolls: 5ths through octaves. When the interval is smaller it is more challenging, and usually requires a much faster speed; whereas further than an octave would be too much of a mallet spread for a beginning to intermediate percussionist. While one hand is executing a one handed roll, I would suggestion something articulated in the other hand. This could also allow this etude to work on hand to hand independence. I would probably suggest that for beginners the one handed rolls only change pitches if there is a break in the roll.
I have a few more ideas for the advanced etude. First of all, feel free to use smaller intervals, and to use larger intervals (especially in the right hand). Also, it would be great if at some point you could even have the right hand rolling on one note while the left hand plays something articulated below.
Here’s another idea. Some percussionists don’t think about speeding up and slowing down their roll speeds with one handed rolls. So, you could write a few Malsanka-esque accels into roll, and rit. into niente… or something like that. You could also try a right handed roll being joined after a while by the left hand, so a one handed roll blending into a four mallet ripple roll. Let me know with this paragraph if you need a few visual examples.
Looking at this now, those two paragraphs have a lot of ideas. So, if it makes it easier to split into two etudes, feel free to go down that route. We could also include a few other etude ideas into splitting the etudes.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Revisiting Methods, and a new Etude Project
I have had the fortunate luck that many of my posts and videos have been shared throughout the percussion-blogosphere, especially on the website Drumchattr.com. However, being a blog writer is a tricky job, and some of my posts have often been misunderstood. There have even been times when they were so misunderstood that they were criticized for saying things that I had no intention of saying. This is something that happens to all writers, but the internet provides endless opportunities for people who disagree with you to take their shots.
Most recently I had a post that seems to have been either slightly misunderstood, or approached with a small amount of disagreement. The latter is something that I can handle. As the drumchattr guys said while reviewing this post, everyone’s experience will be different, and there is no one right way to teach the marimba. It’s the former that always makes me worry. Luckily, having a blog gives me an opportunity to expand on previous ideas so that a certain community of readers can understand my thoughts more clearly.
In the post Method Books and the Marimbists Who Love Them I wrote about my growing feelings that certain methods should be used more often with beginning students. One thing I probably could have stressed is that this is most important with percussionists who are still new to the marimba. There are many drummers who begin their studies as a music performance major having never touched four mallets. This is the first and most important group of students that need to be introduced to the beginning methods I mentioned. If a student is like me, and had been a successful mallet player throughout high school, a beginning method may not be important, but beginning work on etudes would be. I’ll get into that later in this post.
I simply think that it is irresponsible as a teacher to throw solos at a student if they are not ready for them. On other classical instruments (strings, piano, winds and brass) a student will be required to work through technical studies and etudes during their first semester if they are not yet at the appropriate level as a music major. When a percussionist begins taking lessons in middle school the teacher doesn’t assign solos, they assign work in some type of book. You can see, then, where logic brings me back time and again to percussionists utilizing methods to get to where they need to be.
Now, that’s not to say that this percussionist will need to spend all four years of college in Method of Movement. Maybe it takes them a semester or two to get where they need to be (which doesn’t necessarily mean all the way through the book) and they move onto to other studies. If you watch my most recent MPP you will also see the MOM can be used to simply isolate areas of struggle in warm-up sessions.
The idea that a student should learn as much marimba repertoire as possible while an undergrad is perplexing to me. If a student is not technically or musically sound then it will take them forever to learn an intermediate piece of music. It is also not practical as an undergrad has so many other instruments to study. I think that the time to go wild with rep may be as a grad student. That seems to be when a student is more mature in their practice habits, and can handle the amount of time necessary to learn so many pieces.
When I was a senior in college my top choice for grad school was Nancy Zeltsman’s marimba program at The Boston Conservatory. Therefore, on my senior recital my rep included three standard but more intermediate pieces: Tanaka’s Two Movements for Marimba, Deane’s Etude for a Quiet Hall, and Rosauro’s first Marimba Concerto. On that recital I, of course, had other non-mallet pieces, but only one was actually a standard solo, Milhaud’s Concerto for Percussion. The snare drum piece I played was a more advanced etude.
During my degree I worked diligently on etudes and technical studies on both snare and timpani (in my opinion MOM’s technical studies are the equivalent to learning rudiments), as well as excerpts. However, I rarely touched advanced solos on these instruments, because I wasn’t ready for them technically. It would have been wildly inappropriate for me to play Prime on my senior recital. Instead, I played a concert-appropriate etude.
This is not to say that someone who is more interested in orchestral percussion shouldn’t play a marimba solo or two on their recital(s). Maybe, thought, it is more important that they play more intermediate works so that in their practice time they can focus on etudes as well.
Coming back to the idea of etudes now, that’s the missing piece I referred to in the post about methods. If you were to quiz every non-percussionist in a school they would tell you how they work through etudes in their lessons. Maybe a certain etude helps with their phrasing, maybe one helps with time/feel, maybe one works on articulation… but they are effective because they are pieces of music that are enjoyable to play, while helping them pedagogically. For the undergrad percussionist who knows how to play the marimba, but is not ready to start intermediate to advanced literature, a collection of etudes would help them immensely.
And that is where this post gets interesting!
A few days after I posted the blog about methods my good friend Brian of Collaborative Process fame called. He wanted to help us percussionists (he is a giving soul) by taking a stab at writing technical etudes with my help. For the time being the Collab Blogs will be all about me finding a technical or musical study that should be utilized, and Brian writing the etude. We are planning on documenting this, and I would as always appreciate any feedback or ideas.
In conclusion, the hardest part about writing or being active on internet boards is context. I am extremely passionate about what I write, and sometimes come off in either a defensive or abrasive tone. However, this is never my intention. I am simply trying to help those who need it, and send my thoughts into the internet-universe. The point of my blogs and videos are not to educate those who are already well respected and successful, but to help those who do not have access to these successful percussionists. Yes, every person’s approach to education will be different, but it is our duty as pedagogues to remain intellectually curious about our approach. We need to have an open mind to see if there are new ideas that may work better than the status quo.
Most recently I had a post that seems to have been either slightly misunderstood, or approached with a small amount of disagreement. The latter is something that I can handle. As the drumchattr guys said while reviewing this post, everyone’s experience will be different, and there is no one right way to teach the marimba. It’s the former that always makes me worry. Luckily, having a blog gives me an opportunity to expand on previous ideas so that a certain community of readers can understand my thoughts more clearly.
In the post Method Books and the Marimbists Who Love Them I wrote about my growing feelings that certain methods should be used more often with beginning students. One thing I probably could have stressed is that this is most important with percussionists who are still new to the marimba. There are many drummers who begin their studies as a music performance major having never touched four mallets. This is the first and most important group of students that need to be introduced to the beginning methods I mentioned. If a student is like me, and had been a successful mallet player throughout high school, a beginning method may not be important, but beginning work on etudes would be. I’ll get into that later in this post.
I simply think that it is irresponsible as a teacher to throw solos at a student if they are not ready for them. On other classical instruments (strings, piano, winds and brass) a student will be required to work through technical studies and etudes during their first semester if they are not yet at the appropriate level as a music major. When a percussionist begins taking lessons in middle school the teacher doesn’t assign solos, they assign work in some type of book. You can see, then, where logic brings me back time and again to percussionists utilizing methods to get to where they need to be.
Now, that’s not to say that this percussionist will need to spend all four years of college in Method of Movement. Maybe it takes them a semester or two to get where they need to be (which doesn’t necessarily mean all the way through the book) and they move onto to other studies. If you watch my most recent MPP you will also see the MOM can be used to simply isolate areas of struggle in warm-up sessions.
The idea that a student should learn as much marimba repertoire as possible while an undergrad is perplexing to me. If a student is not technically or musically sound then it will take them forever to learn an intermediate piece of music. It is also not practical as an undergrad has so many other instruments to study. I think that the time to go wild with rep may be as a grad student. That seems to be when a student is more mature in their practice habits, and can handle the amount of time necessary to learn so many pieces.
When I was a senior in college my top choice for grad school was Nancy Zeltsman’s marimba program at The Boston Conservatory. Therefore, on my senior recital my rep included three standard but more intermediate pieces: Tanaka’s Two Movements for Marimba, Deane’s Etude for a Quiet Hall, and Rosauro’s first Marimba Concerto. On that recital I, of course, had other non-mallet pieces, but only one was actually a standard solo, Milhaud’s Concerto for Percussion. The snare drum piece I played was a more advanced etude.
During my degree I worked diligently on etudes and technical studies on both snare and timpani (in my opinion MOM’s technical studies are the equivalent to learning rudiments), as well as excerpts. However, I rarely touched advanced solos on these instruments, because I wasn’t ready for them technically. It would have been wildly inappropriate for me to play Prime on my senior recital. Instead, I played a concert-appropriate etude.
This is not to say that someone who is more interested in orchestral percussion shouldn’t play a marimba solo or two on their recital(s). Maybe, thought, it is more important that they play more intermediate works so that in their practice time they can focus on etudes as well.
Coming back to the idea of etudes now, that’s the missing piece I referred to in the post about methods. If you were to quiz every non-percussionist in a school they would tell you how they work through etudes in their lessons. Maybe a certain etude helps with their phrasing, maybe one helps with time/feel, maybe one works on articulation… but they are effective because they are pieces of music that are enjoyable to play, while helping them pedagogically. For the undergrad percussionist who knows how to play the marimba, but is not ready to start intermediate to advanced literature, a collection of etudes would help them immensely.
And that is where this post gets interesting!
A few days after I posted the blog about methods my good friend Brian of Collaborative Process fame called. He wanted to help us percussionists (he is a giving soul) by taking a stab at writing technical etudes with my help. For the time being the Collab Blogs will be all about me finding a technical or musical study that should be utilized, and Brian writing the etude. We are planning on documenting this, and I would as always appreciate any feedback or ideas.
In conclusion, the hardest part about writing or being active on internet boards is context. I am extremely passionate about what I write, and sometimes come off in either a defensive or abrasive tone. However, this is never my intention. I am simply trying to help those who need it, and send my thoughts into the internet-universe. The point of my blogs and videos are not to educate those who are already well respected and successful, but to help those who do not have access to these successful percussionists. Yes, every person’s approach to education will be different, but it is our duty as pedagogues to remain intellectually curious about our approach. We need to have an open mind to see if there are new ideas that may work better than the status quo.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Method Books and the Marimbists Who Love Them
I have written before about my feelings when it comes to the use of method books, technical exercises and etudes. I used to be of the opinion that the marimba seriously lacked the literature to help young percussionists learn the instrument. However, I am starting to change my feelings. I still think that there are a few missing pieces to the overall puzzle, but that many of the problems lie with the pedagogues and students.
First of all, I think it’s necessary to explain why we need different methods. I will take the time later this week to shoot a new MPP showing the dangers of using a piece of music to learn how to play the marimba. However, it is quite a simple idea. The best example I have is that when I was in high school I learned how to play Keiko Abe’s Michi, which was my introduction to one-handed rolls. However, the piece only contains one-handed rolls in the right hand. Because I used this piece to learn how to play a one-handed roll, and not a method book that would assure I also work on my left hand, I never bothered to learn how to roll with my left.
There may be some reasons as to why many teachers do not assign work in method books to beginning and intermediate marimba students, and there are certainly many reasons as to why many students fail to do their proper technical studies. All I can offer are generalized theories, and hope that some of them are accurate.
It seems the earliest that most percussionists start to learn four mallet marimba is either in high school or college. I have certainly heard my fair share of stories of elementary and junior high students learning how to play the marimba, but it seems like in this country that is rare. We know that most high school percussionists do not have the attention or desire to practice endless amounts of exercises and etudes on both snare and marimba, while often also practicing drumset. What it seems like high schoolers want to practice are solos. This is evident with the high amount of students preparing both snare drum and marimba solos for contests. While it is understandable that a high school percussionist doesn’t want to feel like they are behind the rest of their classmates, having to start all over on a new instrument, it is necessary to introduce them to one of the many beginning method books in existence. Remember, most middle school drummers work from method books when they first join band.
The unfortunate reality is that this practice of only working on solos doesn’t end with high school. I have written before that many collegiate percussionists are worried about so many things to practice (snare and timpani etudes, orchestral excerpts, jazz studies, etc.) that when they stand in front of their marimba they just want to play a full composition. This of course only increases when they are expected to present marimba solo(s) at juries and recitals, as well as (again!) for contests. While I’m not saying a percussionist shouldn’t learn to love performing on the marimba, and that percussionists should not be expected to perform solos, it is a reality that percussionists have to focus on many things on many instruments. However, it is not an excuse to stop developing technically.
In a recent Drumchattr.com article, Thomas Burritt described how technique shouldn’t be learned so that a musician can “flaunt” their talents. I whole-heartedly agree. A musician does, though, need a well-developed technique so that they perform with ease and confidence, and so that they can focus more on developing musically.
“Alright already!” screamed the annoyed but thoroughly convinced Marimba Blog readers, “What do you, the so-called marimba expert, want us to do about it?!”
I feel that the three method books following this paragraph are the best in terms of methodology. I am also hoping to find well written etudes in the future. I know of the Gordon Stout etudes, but I need more! As a person who worked for a few years in the sheet music world, I know that most instruments have a wealth of technical and musical etudes at their disposal. The purpose of the multiple sets of etudes would be that each teacher can find what they believe in most as a pedagogue, and what they feel works for them.
The three method books: Leigh Howard Stevens’ Method of Movement, Nancy Zeltsman’s Four-Mallet Marimba Playing, and Gordon Stout’s Ideo-Kinetics Workbook. Obviously, the first is already a standard, and the second is beloved by many. There are many other methods on the market, but these are my personal favorites.
The big question is, though, how would I use them as a teacher?
First off, just because I am a traditional grip player does not mean that I cannot use Method of Movement. Only a few chapters in the first part of the book dissect how to play with the Stevens grip. The rest is perfectly useable by percussionists who use other grips. The same goes for Four-Mallet ‘Playing. There is only a small portion that delves into how to play with a traditional grip.
However, one second item is that if you plan on being a teacher that doesn’t require their students to switch grips, you need to know how to teach each grip. If you play with a Stevens grip, and have a cross grip student who is struggling with something concerning their grip, it is your job as pedagogue to help them diagnose and fix.
I would begin each student with the methods at the beginning of both the Stevens and Zeltsman books. Then, to help them start to learn their grip I would assign a few of the exercises from Method of Movement. The exercise portion of MOM is both awe-inspiring and terrifying because of the sheer volume of exercises covering every angle of marimba playing. The beautiful part is that Stevens took the time and energy to create exercise routines (Part three, page 102). There you can help a beginning student design a practice routine that fits what they are capable of. As they transition into an intermediate and finally advanced performer, you can continue to help them evolve their routine.
As an intermediate marimbist, I would re-introduce Four-Mallet ‘Playing. I would have a student begin to work through the 50 Short Studies, which are more like miniature etudes. Some of them work on technique, and some on musicality. At the same time, I would introduce the third section, which is a whole new method book on refining their playing (ie: more intermediate to advanced techniques and musical ideas).
Finally, I would also introduce Gordon Stout’s workbook on Ideo-Kinetics. It is a book where the percussionist develops their feel of the instrument, knowing where notes are and how certain intervals feel are without looking. Every other instrument has to worry about things like evenness of scale, making sure every note of their instrument is in tune, and knowing without a doubt how to get out certain challenging notes. That is a problem that is very limited on the marimba due to its fixed pitches. But, I feel that to become an advanced player those are the type of musical refinements that a student should be concerned with, and this book is a great example of how to get there.
There have been many times when I have attended a student percussion recital where the performer seems spread too thin. Often times it seems that the portion of the program that suffers is the marimba solo(s). I feel that this is because the student hasn’t put in the proper work ahead of time making sure they’re technically capable, and instead just attacked a new solo. The proper way as a teacher to counter this problem is to make sure they do their appropriate studies, and maybe assign them a solo that is more appropriate to their current skills. One of the best teaching moments I witnessed in college was one of my teachers explaining to an overly-ambitious freshman that they were not ready for Andrew Thomas’ Merlin. The teacher did it without being condescending, while also lighting a fire under their ass to try to get them to someday work up to that level.
We as teachers have to realize that there are often two types of students: those who are unfortunately lazy and need to be pushed into doing their work, and those who are over-eager. It is important to not destroy the second group’s spirit, while making sure that they are capable technically for everything they want to achieve.
First of all, I think it’s necessary to explain why we need different methods. I will take the time later this week to shoot a new MPP showing the dangers of using a piece of music to learn how to play the marimba. However, it is quite a simple idea. The best example I have is that when I was in high school I learned how to play Keiko Abe’s Michi, which was my introduction to one-handed rolls. However, the piece only contains one-handed rolls in the right hand. Because I used this piece to learn how to play a one-handed roll, and not a method book that would assure I also work on my left hand, I never bothered to learn how to roll with my left.
There may be some reasons as to why many teachers do not assign work in method books to beginning and intermediate marimba students, and there are certainly many reasons as to why many students fail to do their proper technical studies. All I can offer are generalized theories, and hope that some of them are accurate.
It seems the earliest that most percussionists start to learn four mallet marimba is either in high school or college. I have certainly heard my fair share of stories of elementary and junior high students learning how to play the marimba, but it seems like in this country that is rare. We know that most high school percussionists do not have the attention or desire to practice endless amounts of exercises and etudes on both snare and marimba, while often also practicing drumset. What it seems like high schoolers want to practice are solos. This is evident with the high amount of students preparing both snare drum and marimba solos for contests. While it is understandable that a high school percussionist doesn’t want to feel like they are behind the rest of their classmates, having to start all over on a new instrument, it is necessary to introduce them to one of the many beginning method books in existence. Remember, most middle school drummers work from method books when they first join band.
The unfortunate reality is that this practice of only working on solos doesn’t end with high school. I have written before that many collegiate percussionists are worried about so many things to practice (snare and timpani etudes, orchestral excerpts, jazz studies, etc.) that when they stand in front of their marimba they just want to play a full composition. This of course only increases when they are expected to present marimba solo(s) at juries and recitals, as well as (again!) for contests. While I’m not saying a percussionist shouldn’t learn to love performing on the marimba, and that percussionists should not be expected to perform solos, it is a reality that percussionists have to focus on many things on many instruments. However, it is not an excuse to stop developing technically.
In a recent Drumchattr.com article, Thomas Burritt described how technique shouldn’t be learned so that a musician can “flaunt” their talents. I whole-heartedly agree. A musician does, though, need a well-developed technique so that they perform with ease and confidence, and so that they can focus more on developing musically.
“Alright already!” screamed the annoyed but thoroughly convinced Marimba Blog readers, “What do you, the so-called marimba expert, want us to do about it?!”
I feel that the three method books following this paragraph are the best in terms of methodology. I am also hoping to find well written etudes in the future. I know of the Gordon Stout etudes, but I need more! As a person who worked for a few years in the sheet music world, I know that most instruments have a wealth of technical and musical etudes at their disposal. The purpose of the multiple sets of etudes would be that each teacher can find what they believe in most as a pedagogue, and what they feel works for them.
The three method books: Leigh Howard Stevens’ Method of Movement, Nancy Zeltsman’s Four-Mallet Marimba Playing, and Gordon Stout’s Ideo-Kinetics Workbook. Obviously, the first is already a standard, and the second is beloved by many. There are many other methods on the market, but these are my personal favorites.
The big question is, though, how would I use them as a teacher?
First off, just because I am a traditional grip player does not mean that I cannot use Method of Movement. Only a few chapters in the first part of the book dissect how to play with the Stevens grip. The rest is perfectly useable by percussionists who use other grips. The same goes for Four-Mallet ‘Playing. There is only a small portion that delves into how to play with a traditional grip.
However, one second item is that if you plan on being a teacher that doesn’t require their students to switch grips, you need to know how to teach each grip. If you play with a Stevens grip, and have a cross grip student who is struggling with something concerning their grip, it is your job as pedagogue to help them diagnose and fix.
I would begin each student with the methods at the beginning of both the Stevens and Zeltsman books. Then, to help them start to learn their grip I would assign a few of the exercises from Method of Movement. The exercise portion of MOM is both awe-inspiring and terrifying because of the sheer volume of exercises covering every angle of marimba playing. The beautiful part is that Stevens took the time and energy to create exercise routines (Part three, page 102). There you can help a beginning student design a practice routine that fits what they are capable of. As they transition into an intermediate and finally advanced performer, you can continue to help them evolve their routine.
As an intermediate marimbist, I would re-introduce Four-Mallet ‘Playing. I would have a student begin to work through the 50 Short Studies, which are more like miniature etudes. Some of them work on technique, and some on musicality. At the same time, I would introduce the third section, which is a whole new method book on refining their playing (ie: more intermediate to advanced techniques and musical ideas).
Finally, I would also introduce Gordon Stout’s workbook on Ideo-Kinetics. It is a book where the percussionist develops their feel of the instrument, knowing where notes are and how certain intervals feel are without looking. Every other instrument has to worry about things like evenness of scale, making sure every note of their instrument is in tune, and knowing without a doubt how to get out certain challenging notes. That is a problem that is very limited on the marimba due to its fixed pitches. But, I feel that to become an advanced player those are the type of musical refinements that a student should be concerned with, and this book is a great example of how to get there.
There have been many times when I have attended a student percussion recital where the performer seems spread too thin. Often times it seems that the portion of the program that suffers is the marimba solo(s). I feel that this is because the student hasn’t put in the proper work ahead of time making sure they’re technically capable, and instead just attacked a new solo. The proper way as a teacher to counter this problem is to make sure they do their appropriate studies, and maybe assign them a solo that is more appropriate to their current skills. One of the best teaching moments I witnessed in college was one of my teachers explaining to an overly-ambitious freshman that they were not ready for Andrew Thomas’ Merlin. The teacher did it without being condescending, while also lighting a fire under their ass to try to get them to someday work up to that level.
We as teachers have to realize that there are often two types of students: those who are unfortunately lazy and need to be pushed into doing their work, and those who are over-eager. It is important to not destroy the second group’s spirit, while making sure that they are capable technically for everything they want to achieve.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Agendas when teaching Music History/Appreciation
I have always been amazed by the agendas that some faculty run while teaching a course. As you grow older you realize that your teachers were not perfect, and that some allowed their likes and dislikes, as well as their strengths in certain areas to decide the materials for their courses. One of the many differences between a good and poor teacher, to me, is how much effort they put into subduing their own tastes and opinions so that they may present a well balanced and well educated course. There are a great amount of other aspects that control whether a teacher is simply good or great, but that is not the concern of this post.
In music the greatest spectrum of agendas can be seen in the teaching of history, whether it is in a degree fulfilling history course or a humanities fulfilling appreciation course. There is such a wide range of what is taught that it is actually, at times, a little frightening. There is so much that has occurred in the span of both Western Art music and Jazz music that sometimes you have to pick and choose what it is that you focus on.
Some schools take care of the matter for you. Comparing the two schools that I attended, one school spread music history courses over one academic year. The other school spread it over two academic years. As you can guess, the latter gave the students a more in-depth analysis on the history of Western Art music. It gave an opportunity for the faculty to educate on every important name and movement, as well as provide much more insight on specifics. It also gave an opportunity for the students to become familiar with many more pieces of music, allowing them to more knowledgeable of the music they would someday perform.
If a teacher is expected to introduce the entire course of music history in one academic year, some sacrifices may occur. Maybe a teacher will be forced to introduce fewer topics in lecture, but provide the students with resources in the library to be able to fill in the holes. The danger occurs when a teacher simply focuses on their strengths, and passes over the rest.
I often compare this with my education of American history growing up. Any time that American history got brought up in Elementary School and Middles School, the same thing happened. This unfortunate occurrence happened in my required American history course in High School as well. What happened was the teacher focused so much time and energy on the Revolutionary, Civil, and World wars that I never learned about America post-World War II. It is a depressing and unacceptable notion the a young person growing up in the late twentieth century would be so uneducated on the Civil Rights movement, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, the Cold War, etc. This was so disappointing to me that when time came to choose a history course to fulfill my GECR requirement in college I chose modern history. In the course we began with the ancient Greeks. As you can imagine, we didn’t make it past the Second World War.
A similar thing seems to happen in music history. It seems that many of my past teachers, and many of my colleagues, have focused on music from the Middle Ages and Renaissance. In a music major history course it is absolutely essential that the students learn about these periods. However, I have been made aware of horror stories where at teacher spent so much time on early music, that the students were never introduced to movements of music after the Second Viennese School (in one case, a class was so behind the teacher had to choose between lecturing on either Stravinsky or Schoenberg). As a teacher, I feel it is my responsibility to account for what is to come later in the course. If the class falls behind, then it is my responsibility to get us back up to speed. There is absolutely no excuse to skip one of the most important movements of our current musical landscape because a teacher couldn’t stop raving about Hildegard von Bingen.
The musical eras can be quite misleading. The Middle Ages and Renaissance cover such a vast amount of time that it appears that they deserve as much classroom attention as what comes later. I have oftentimes felt that one of the major points of history for music majors is to prepare them for what they will be expected to know, and what they will be expected to be familiar with in performance. Since the bulk of music performed now was written after the end of the Renaissance, it seems perfectly logical that lectures would put more of a stress on the Baroque moving forward. However, this was not the case with my history course as an undergrad. Because my school was on a quarter system, our instructor split the course in three parts:
Fall Quarter: Middle Ages and Renaissance
Winter Quarter: Baroque and Classical
Spring Quarter: Romantic and 20th Century
This, in my humble opinion, was completely inappropriate. This system of course management effectible set up our entire grade up for failure. We were forced to breeze through movements in the 19th and 20th Centuries, and even simply missed important composers after 1945. Because of this, we were uneducated in our ensembles, and when attempting to audition for Graduate programs.
If I have one agenda in my music appreciation course it is that I want my students to be familiar with what they will be hearing live. Most Music Appreciation curriculums include some form of concert report, and mine is no different. When my students, many of whom have had no previous contact with Western Art music, listen to their first concert, I want them to be knowledgeable of what they’re hearing. What they are introduced to at live events is almost always music written since the end of the Renaissance.
Another problematic agenda as mentioned above is not only a focus on one section of history, whether innocent or not, but also the teacher allowing their personal tastes to dictate their curriculum and lectures. The beautiful thing about students is that many of them are blank slates. We as teachers have the opportunity to introduce music to young students. The last thing a teacher should want to do is place their personal opinions and baggage on a student, skewering their perspective.
As pointed out above, a teacher focusing too heavily on a particular subject simply because it is their favorite can disrupt the curriculum. However, it is also a possibility that a teacher’s specialty or loves may be in a relatively less significant area. Focusing too much in this area may be changing the students’ perspective on the hierarchy of what is important historically.
Even more dangerous, though, is blowing over a subject that is unsatisfactory to a teacher. There can be problems with music teachers ignoring either early music or modern music, because it is something that they do not personally enjoy. This is a massive detriment to the students because it is keeping them from having a well-balanced education. It is not our duties as teachers to make their minds up for them. Teachers should simply present the facts and allow their students to decide for themselves what they enjoy. Even if a student is planning on being some form of a specialist, it is important for them to understand the entire spectrum of music history.
Music Appreciation is a completely different beast when it comes to curriculum, and it is where there is the largest amount of diversity from teacher to teacher. The difficulties of teaching a Music Appreciation course are that it is only one semester long, is aimed at non-music majors, and encompasses more genres of music. Because the course is aimed at those who are not music majors, a teacher cannot possibly go into the details that are essential in Music History. Further complicating the course is that the historical aspect does not only cover Western Art music, but also Jazz, and sometimes indigenous music. Added onto that, the course often begins with basics on music fundamentals.
Therefore, it is extremely tempting for a teacher to simply focus on the music that they enjoy, and not present a broader spectrum. However, that is not the point of the course. The art of teaching people to appreciate music has to include many styles and genres, so that the students can find something that they enjoy, and learn to talk about it in an educated manor. A teacher must remember that the students have different tastes and life experiences, and therefore will probably find different styles of music satisfying.
And since we as teachers cannot possibly fit every single thing into a one semester lecture on music, we have to ask ourselves what is the true purpose of music appreciation for non-music majors? Besides learning to appreciate music, the curriculum usually dictates that we teach them how to analyze and discuss music. For them to obtain the ability to do this, it is beneficial to introduce as many styles as possibility, but introduce the movements that contain the most salient aspects possible. From the perspective of the college or university they don’t care if a student passes the class loving Mozart. The purpose of their humanities credit is to learn how to think analytically. That is the main purpose, and the best way to introduce those skills is to find music that interests them so that they can listen and learn with open ears.
In music the greatest spectrum of agendas can be seen in the teaching of history, whether it is in a degree fulfilling history course or a humanities fulfilling appreciation course. There is such a wide range of what is taught that it is actually, at times, a little frightening. There is so much that has occurred in the span of both Western Art music and Jazz music that sometimes you have to pick and choose what it is that you focus on.
Some schools take care of the matter for you. Comparing the two schools that I attended, one school spread music history courses over one academic year. The other school spread it over two academic years. As you can guess, the latter gave the students a more in-depth analysis on the history of Western Art music. It gave an opportunity for the faculty to educate on every important name and movement, as well as provide much more insight on specifics. It also gave an opportunity for the students to become familiar with many more pieces of music, allowing them to more knowledgeable of the music they would someday perform.
If a teacher is expected to introduce the entire course of music history in one academic year, some sacrifices may occur. Maybe a teacher will be forced to introduce fewer topics in lecture, but provide the students with resources in the library to be able to fill in the holes. The danger occurs when a teacher simply focuses on their strengths, and passes over the rest.
I often compare this with my education of American history growing up. Any time that American history got brought up in Elementary School and Middles School, the same thing happened. This unfortunate occurrence happened in my required American history course in High School as well. What happened was the teacher focused so much time and energy on the Revolutionary, Civil, and World wars that I never learned about America post-World War II. It is a depressing and unacceptable notion the a young person growing up in the late twentieth century would be so uneducated on the Civil Rights movement, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, the Cold War, etc. This was so disappointing to me that when time came to choose a history course to fulfill my GECR requirement in college I chose modern history. In the course we began with the ancient Greeks. As you can imagine, we didn’t make it past the Second World War.
A similar thing seems to happen in music history. It seems that many of my past teachers, and many of my colleagues, have focused on music from the Middle Ages and Renaissance. In a music major history course it is absolutely essential that the students learn about these periods. However, I have been made aware of horror stories where at teacher spent so much time on early music, that the students were never introduced to movements of music after the Second Viennese School (in one case, a class was so behind the teacher had to choose between lecturing on either Stravinsky or Schoenberg). As a teacher, I feel it is my responsibility to account for what is to come later in the course. If the class falls behind, then it is my responsibility to get us back up to speed. There is absolutely no excuse to skip one of the most important movements of our current musical landscape because a teacher couldn’t stop raving about Hildegard von Bingen.
The musical eras can be quite misleading. The Middle Ages and Renaissance cover such a vast amount of time that it appears that they deserve as much classroom attention as what comes later. I have oftentimes felt that one of the major points of history for music majors is to prepare them for what they will be expected to know, and what they will be expected to be familiar with in performance. Since the bulk of music performed now was written after the end of the Renaissance, it seems perfectly logical that lectures would put more of a stress on the Baroque moving forward. However, this was not the case with my history course as an undergrad. Because my school was on a quarter system, our instructor split the course in three parts:
Fall Quarter: Middle Ages and Renaissance
Winter Quarter: Baroque and Classical
Spring Quarter: Romantic and 20th Century
This, in my humble opinion, was completely inappropriate. This system of course management effectible set up our entire grade up for failure. We were forced to breeze through movements in the 19th and 20th Centuries, and even simply missed important composers after 1945. Because of this, we were uneducated in our ensembles, and when attempting to audition for Graduate programs.
If I have one agenda in my music appreciation course it is that I want my students to be familiar with what they will be hearing live. Most Music Appreciation curriculums include some form of concert report, and mine is no different. When my students, many of whom have had no previous contact with Western Art music, listen to their first concert, I want them to be knowledgeable of what they’re hearing. What they are introduced to at live events is almost always music written since the end of the Renaissance.
Another problematic agenda as mentioned above is not only a focus on one section of history, whether innocent or not, but also the teacher allowing their personal tastes to dictate their curriculum and lectures. The beautiful thing about students is that many of them are blank slates. We as teachers have the opportunity to introduce music to young students. The last thing a teacher should want to do is place their personal opinions and baggage on a student, skewering their perspective.
As pointed out above, a teacher focusing too heavily on a particular subject simply because it is their favorite can disrupt the curriculum. However, it is also a possibility that a teacher’s specialty or loves may be in a relatively less significant area. Focusing too much in this area may be changing the students’ perspective on the hierarchy of what is important historically.
Even more dangerous, though, is blowing over a subject that is unsatisfactory to a teacher. There can be problems with music teachers ignoring either early music or modern music, because it is something that they do not personally enjoy. This is a massive detriment to the students because it is keeping them from having a well-balanced education. It is not our duties as teachers to make their minds up for them. Teachers should simply present the facts and allow their students to decide for themselves what they enjoy. Even if a student is planning on being some form of a specialist, it is important for them to understand the entire spectrum of music history.
Music Appreciation is a completely different beast when it comes to curriculum, and it is where there is the largest amount of diversity from teacher to teacher. The difficulties of teaching a Music Appreciation course are that it is only one semester long, is aimed at non-music majors, and encompasses more genres of music. Because the course is aimed at those who are not music majors, a teacher cannot possibly go into the details that are essential in Music History. Further complicating the course is that the historical aspect does not only cover Western Art music, but also Jazz, and sometimes indigenous music. Added onto that, the course often begins with basics on music fundamentals.
Therefore, it is extremely tempting for a teacher to simply focus on the music that they enjoy, and not present a broader spectrum. However, that is not the point of the course. The art of teaching people to appreciate music has to include many styles and genres, so that the students can find something that they enjoy, and learn to talk about it in an educated manor. A teacher must remember that the students have different tastes and life experiences, and therefore will probably find different styles of music satisfying.
And since we as teachers cannot possibly fit every single thing into a one semester lecture on music, we have to ask ourselves what is the true purpose of music appreciation for non-music majors? Besides learning to appreciate music, the curriculum usually dictates that we teach them how to analyze and discuss music. For them to obtain the ability to do this, it is beneficial to introduce as many styles as possibility, but introduce the movements that contain the most salient aspects possible. From the perspective of the college or university they don’t care if a student passes the class loving Mozart. The purpose of their humanities credit is to learn how to think analytically. That is the main purpose, and the best way to introduce those skills is to find music that interests them so that they can listen and learn with open ears.
Friday, November 12, 2010
How to perform for an older audience 3.0
I realize that this is a topic that I may be exhausting, but I keep coming up with new ideas! For past ideas and tips you can check other Marimba Blog posts, the article in Percussive Notes, and my reaction to the article on the PAS website.
Last night I performed a gig and taped the process of tearing down my marimba for a new video blog… riveting stuff! As I was doing this I thought of more ideas to build on for those of you interested in performing for older audiences.
For starters, in the video I quickly talked about my feelings about this sort of community outreach concert. I had to make it quick, so I will elaborate here. I view a performance like this (Assisted Living Center, Retirement home, etc.) as a public service, not an opportunity to educate an audience. My assembly performances are an opportunity to educate, but this type of concert is not the forum for “education.”
In both venues, the main idea is to entertain, but there’s always an underlying reason you’re there. With the assemblies I’m there to entertain and to spread great music, but I’m also there to give some sort of educational experience, otherwise a school would have no interest in bringing me in. With my performances for senior citizens, I am there to provide a bit of companionship and service. Even in the best of homes the residents’ lives can become monotonous, so I come in to provide a warm and engaging experience that gives them something new and exciting in their lives.
This is why I find it so important to be early and to be willing to stay a little late. I want to make sure that I don’t rush myself in the set up or tear down stages so that I can converse with as many residents as I can. But be warned! If you are a musician with awkward social skills, this type of performance may not be for you. If you cannot take hearing the same joke about “don’t you wish you had played the flute instead?” joke, this type of performance may not be for you. As a marimbist I remind myself each time that even thought my performance is not geared towards education, I am usually introducing the instrument to a new audience. There will always be a lot of questions about the marimba (and there will usually be questions about my personal life). I personally get satisfaction from spending the time at these gigs, make sure that if you perform for the elderly that you approach it with the same positive manner (or else you will not get called back!).
In the past I have mentioned that I prefer to fill my repertoire for these concerts with as much older Broadway and Jazz songs as possible. But, I have never mentioned that you need to know your audience. My first performance for an assisted living center was in December of 2007, so naturally I worked on a few Christmas songs. While I was looking up directions the day before the gig I realized that it was a home specific for a Jewish community! Luckily, I had enough time to work up a few other pieces to replace those Christmas songs.
You may have noticed that I only have a few short clips on my youtube from these types of concerts. This is because I feel that I should be tasteful, respectful, and professional about what I put online. I have brought my camera to almost every gig I’ve ever performed, just to watch later to see how I did. I like to see what they liked, what bored them, and where I can improve. However, I also check to see IF I can put something online. I say if, because I try to be respectful of the residents. I have had many gigs where people are talking through the performance, where some of the older residents have had some sort of outburst, or sometimes when the support staff is being loud. These can all lead to an unprofessional recording, and it’s not worth it to put those online. I just continue to keep trying and see if I can find a clip that I feel comfortable posting.
I also have two new ideas from the performance aspect. Lately I have tried using softer mallets even on pieces where I would normally use harder ones. It seems that the seniors I’ve played for have really responded to this. Also, you may notice on some of my videos that I don’t often perform very complicated arrangements of old Broadway songs. I tend to simply play out of a piano book that always has a clearly defined melody, so that people can sing along if they wish.
Enjoy the new video blog!
Last night I performed a gig and taped the process of tearing down my marimba for a new video blog… riveting stuff! As I was doing this I thought of more ideas to build on for those of you interested in performing for older audiences.
For starters, in the video I quickly talked about my feelings about this sort of community outreach concert. I had to make it quick, so I will elaborate here. I view a performance like this (Assisted Living Center, Retirement home, etc.) as a public service, not an opportunity to educate an audience. My assembly performances are an opportunity to educate, but this type of concert is not the forum for “education.”
In both venues, the main idea is to entertain, but there’s always an underlying reason you’re there. With the assemblies I’m there to entertain and to spread great music, but I’m also there to give some sort of educational experience, otherwise a school would have no interest in bringing me in. With my performances for senior citizens, I am there to provide a bit of companionship and service. Even in the best of homes the residents’ lives can become monotonous, so I come in to provide a warm and engaging experience that gives them something new and exciting in their lives.
This is why I find it so important to be early and to be willing to stay a little late. I want to make sure that I don’t rush myself in the set up or tear down stages so that I can converse with as many residents as I can. But be warned! If you are a musician with awkward social skills, this type of performance may not be for you. If you cannot take hearing the same joke about “don’t you wish you had played the flute instead?” joke, this type of performance may not be for you. As a marimbist I remind myself each time that even thought my performance is not geared towards education, I am usually introducing the instrument to a new audience. There will always be a lot of questions about the marimba (and there will usually be questions about my personal life). I personally get satisfaction from spending the time at these gigs, make sure that if you perform for the elderly that you approach it with the same positive manner (or else you will not get called back!).
In the past I have mentioned that I prefer to fill my repertoire for these concerts with as much older Broadway and Jazz songs as possible. But, I have never mentioned that you need to know your audience. My first performance for an assisted living center was in December of 2007, so naturally I worked on a few Christmas songs. While I was looking up directions the day before the gig I realized that it was a home specific for a Jewish community! Luckily, I had enough time to work up a few other pieces to replace those Christmas songs.
You may have noticed that I only have a few short clips on my youtube from these types of concerts. This is because I feel that I should be tasteful, respectful, and professional about what I put online. I have brought my camera to almost every gig I’ve ever performed, just to watch later to see how I did. I like to see what they liked, what bored them, and where I can improve. However, I also check to see IF I can put something online. I say if, because I try to be respectful of the residents. I have had many gigs where people are talking through the performance, where some of the older residents have had some sort of outburst, or sometimes when the support staff is being loud. These can all lead to an unprofessional recording, and it’s not worth it to put those online. I just continue to keep trying and see if I can find a clip that I feel comfortable posting.
I also have two new ideas from the performance aspect. Lately I have tried using softer mallets even on pieces where I would normally use harder ones. It seems that the seniors I’ve played for have really responded to this. Also, you may notice on some of my videos that I don’t often perform very complicated arrangements of old Broadway songs. I tend to simply play out of a piano book that always has a clearly defined melody, so that people can sing along if they wish.
Enjoy the new video blog!
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