Every Wednesday we discuss topics of interest to musicians, usually pianists and organists. The following is basically a topical index of these articles:
The Practice Room--motivation and technical things
Practice your vegetables! a.k.a., eat your scales
Repetition
before you can't get that song out of your head you have to put it in
there
Everyone's a critic (hopefully) deciding it's not up to par is a
prelude for making it better
Motivation "I can't get no....motivation."
That's it, isn't it?
Obstacle course
take 37...
The courage to go to lunch
You have to know when to work hard and when not to work
hard
Permission Granted
sometimes the biggest gift a teacher can give us is permission to break
the rules
an act of faith You just
gotta believe...and practice your butt off
Is Consistency Evil? steady
effort isn't a lot of fun. Therefore it is bad.
Blogger, interrupted
On Shostakovich and yard work, or Bach and Little League
soccer
The Sinister Hand
What to do about your left hand (assuming you are right handed)
The Practice Room--efficiency and understanding
Sick
Be prepared. Because later you may not be able to....
Woozy
When the notes won't hold still, it helps to know which ones are
important
Patterns it's as if the
musical universe is not composed of random notes
How to sound like a human being
the
rise and fall of a good phrase
Grouping
thi sisrea llyimp ortant
Attack of the blobs
They're just dots on a page. But like you, they hang out
in groups
You have my sympathy
Learning music the hard way
Some more haphazard thoughts about grouping
a little of this, a dash of that
a fun game for the kids There are
six subtle difference between these two passages...
"Getting" Gottschalk
sometimes what the notes add up to is a whoosh
Triage
effective practice on limited time
Going for it
adversity causes a change in plans: or, One blower
deserves another (F)
On the Third Day
How long will it take me to learn this piece? he
asked
how long? The
perennial question of pianistic existence
How to tell if you're making progress whether it's self-diagnosis or obsession, we want to know!
Attention to Detail
You needn't bother with this. It's less competition that
way.
The stages of practice
The thrill of Discovery
practical practicing part primo
specificity
how to diagnose, and cure, poor playing
To be taken orally sure, take two Youtube videos, but call me in the morning, ok?
You have to really want it
concentration and desire
performance preparation and general survival strategy
Take Care of yourself
drink lots of water, concert artists!
Getting a good return in the long run
Musicians, it's a tough world out there. Here's
what you'll need to survive.
Why your organist is a cranky old guy
How First Refusal is supposed to work
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Accompanying department
Pitch perfect
Think of the choral accompanist as the starting pitcher
more on the art of pitch giving
Giving pitches to singers is actually a skill
What makes a good accompanist?
letting someone else be your metronome
Kill the Accompanist!
Listen for it...
Composition
I can't think of anything good to write so I think I'll just throw some
words together and hit 'publish.' Is that ok with you? Sometimes even Haydn couldn't think of
anything
Hymn playing for organists
Not too loud, now! Hi, I'm Michael-I-won't-play-the-organ-too-loud!
Improvisation
Improvisation season music for stocking stuffing
How did he do that? A few things to consider while improvising
memorization
I think I forgot what I was going to say
don't hurry the memorization process
Musicology
Who Wrote the 8 short preludes and fugues? series
Organ, learning to play
Rank Amateur
How I stopped worrying and learned to love the pipe organ
Organ mechanics
Flexible When a note won't sound what's your plan B?
Organ Registration
Whose Idea is Organ Registration?
who gets to decide which colorful stops to
use?
Thinking organically
the pipe organ is a great instrument for problem
solvers
Organ registration survival tips (part
one) We'll start with what some of those knobs mean
Organ registration survival tips (part
two) how not to make a scary noise in church
Organ registration survival tips (part three) fear not...I bring you tidings of hope and confidence!
oops! (organ registration survival tips part four) I have to stress that the church didn't explode!
organ registration survival tips part five you've survived long enough--time to thrive
Page Turning
Page Turn how
I put the "near" in "near disaster"
Willpower
overcoming the odds by just wanting it badly enough, page turning edition
Thinking outside the page turn
it is
too a science!
five, six, seven, eight
page turning strategies
piano vs. organ (it's a little like spy vs. spy but not exactly)
piano vs. organ
"The squall in the concert hall"
piano vs. organ, round two
"The campaign in Champaign"
The public
Marketing music and demand (to please the crowd or not to please the crowd, that is the question)
Sellout
Cameron Carpenter has quite a career--and some enemies
sellout (part two)
Cameron Carpenter and the term impressario
Keep Going If
an artist plays something and hardly anyone is there to appreciate it, did he
still play something? yes. And it still matters, too.
recording
The Birds They aren't "Hitchcock
scary" exactly, but they are pretty annoying
musical resources
The Vault
There once was a boy with no idea where to find anything
rhythm and meter
Time Change (part one)
fun with mixed meter
Time Change (part two) more
fun with mixed meter
Department of Applied Music Theory
It's just another term for awkward crossed
voices make me cross
The case of the missing measures In summary, he made it a bit shorter
Bach, the not quite god
Sometimes hearing someone else make a mistake makes us
feel better about our own efforts. How about when a musical deity does it?
questions and answers
You've come to the right place...I guess
you have questions, I make fun of them
Now that I've called you all here
more answers to your questions
just fun (you should be practicing, but instead you are reading these blogs...)
A little Musical Motivation
a little musical exercise (video)
Pianogames all
work and no play makes saucy Jack a dull boy
Pardon me while I punch that up on my abacus
By the way, I do have a smartphone now
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catalogued: Wednesday columns through Jan. 8, 2016
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