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Journey

Learning any new piece of music is a journey. When you embark upon this journey there is a starting point and a destination, if not in plain sight, certainly in the mind’s eye (or ear!). Let’s imagine this destination is at the top of a challenging climb. Whether it’s Ben Nevis or Mount Everest depends on the length of your legs – or your fingers!

Once we have chosen the destination, the first step is ‘making a start’. It features tentative baby steps, a little sight reading as you weave a path through the challenges ahead, working out notes, phrases, rhythms and fingerings slowly, hands separately and in small sections.

Younger pianists find this phase frustrating. Playing hands separately is boring and looking at key signatures, time signatures and counting is what beginners do! They need to stop to rest often despite the slow pace. Experienced pianists know it is imperative this stage is not rushed as bad habits are hard to break. They pace themselves, find footholds and secure ropes. It’s an exciting time, a voyage of discovery and identifying the challenges to come.

Step two is about ‘making progress’. Gradually the piece starts to take shape, phrases make more sense and the pianist develops a greater awareness of how the music fits together as a whole.

Younger pianists are excited now because they are allowed to play hands together and feel they are playing real music. Notes are mostly secure (no need to keep checking the key signature) and rhythms are ingrained (rightly or wrongly). The view is good from here, and given the choice they might not climb further, but they will probably run in circles as fast as they can!

For experienced players this is a time of uncertainty; the end goal is glittering somewhere on the distant horizon but there’s still a long way to go. And yet, they have come too far to turn back! The twists and turns of the path ahead are clearer. The trouble spots have been identified and need more work but the easier passages are falling into place. A few ambitious sprints are quickly abandoned for a more measured pace.

The last stage is ‘crafting the music’. You are taking the final steps towards your destination.

Young pianists think they’ve made it, but the teacher is still nagging about dynamics, pedalling and giving the last note its full value! They don’t care about the destination anymore; they are ready to start a new journey (having already forgotten how frustrated they were at the outset!). For experienced pianists, it’s a steep climb at the end; the most technically challenging parts remain elusive on occasion (and despite the best of intentions, some bad habits were formed along the way).

Finally, you are there; it’s performance day – an exam, a concert or something more informal. Now you’ve reached those heady heights, all you can do is hold on tight, enjoy the view and hope you don’t fall off!

My friend and piano teaching colleague Rob Foster notes that for some pieces you will make the journey many times in your life and, like a favourite city, experience them differently every time you return to them.

Why not take a moment to reflect on the music you are playing now: where are you on the journey?

Liz Giannopoulos, Music Tutor and Mentor
www.encore-music.org.uk

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scriabin_ragtime_300x300The curious, often sensual and hypnotic soundworld of Alexander Scriabin is viewed through the lens of a three-piece jazz ensemble in the David Gordon Trio’s new album Alexander Scriabin’s Ragtime Band. Released at the close of the year marking the centenary of Russian composer Alexander Scriabin’s death, the album is a witty and imaginative take on Scriabin’s music, part reinterpretation, part hommage to the many elements and influences which make up this composer’s unusual oeuvre.

In an earlier article for this site, written on the anniversary of Scriabin’s death, David Gordon describes the many motifs and idioms from jazz which are also present in Scriabin’s music. He also highlights the other music which was being created over in America and Western Europe at the same time, from Irving Berlin to Claude Debussy. Thus the album contains tracks which reference these composers too, from the entertaining ‘Alexander Scriabin’s Ragtime Band’ (track 2) which directly references Berlin’s ‘Alexander’s Ragtime Band’. In ‘Cakewalk’ there is a groovy hint of Debussy’s ‘Golliwog’s Cakewalk’ from Children’s Corner, a reminder that Debussy fell under the spell of a new kind of music emerging from America. ‘Famous Etude’ turns Scriabin’s Op 8, No. 12 into a sensual tango which segues into a samba, David Gordon weaving a hypnotic piano improvisation over silky cymbal and drums.

In an way, the opening track is the most interesting. Scriabin’s original Prelude op. 74 no. 2  becomes Praeludium Mysterium, a trippy number with spooky, Schoenberg-like dissonance which tells us as much about the strange soundworld and musical personality of Alexander Scriabin as it does about the David Gordon Trio’s ability to create something striking and new out of what is normally defined as “classical” music. The result is a wonderfully weird fusion. The ensuing tracks are arrangements, mostly by the Trio’s pianist, David Gordon, and like the opening track, they are not just “jazzed up” classics. The music exploits Scriabin’s penchant for dissonance and innovation and hints at what Scriabin might have composed had he lived longer.

Throughout, David Gordon’s piano sound is bright, yet warm, with sparing, sensitive rubato, a clear sense of phrasing and rhythmic vitality in the upbeat numbers. He is complemented by bass player Jonty Fisher and drummer Paul Cavaciuti. The Trio are adept at switching seamlessly between styles, and the whole album works as one might experience a set or two in a jazz club, or enjoy individual tracks as the mood takes you.

Mister Sam Records SAMCD004

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P1010088
(picture from Hand Knitted Things)

Cold weather can play havoc with the pianist’s body – and instrument. Hands suffer in the cold, becoming sore and chapped, and limbs take longer to warm up. Always take time to warm up properly before you play. All of my students coming for lessons over the recent spell of freezing weather in the UK have arrived without gloves and consequently their hands are cold and uncomfortable, absolutely not ideal for playing the piano! I have handcream by the piano and I always wear gloves if I am out when it is cold.

Pianos suffer too. If the central heating is on more frequently than usual, pianos will slip out of tune and some notes may develop an unpleasantly shrill “ring” when struck. Always try to site the piano away from a radiator or heat source, but if this is not possible consider using a protective guard. If you have underfloor heating, the piano should be placed on a heat-reflective mat.

The temperature and relative humidity of the room in which your piano lives is most important to the care and well-being of your instrument. Pianos are made from wood and metal, both materials which expand and contract in relation to moisture and heat/cold. It is worth purchasing a digital hygrometer which will calculate the relative humidity in your home or piano studio. Ideally, it should be no lower than 50% and no higher than 75%. If central heating causes the humidity to drop, you can make a basic humidifier by placing a sponge in a tray of water and inserting this in the case of a grand piano, or in the lower portion of an upright. Or buy an automatic humidifier which sends a light mist into the air and helps regulate the humidity. Keeping houseplants in the same room as the piano can help too. There are also more sophisticated and expensive ways of humidifying your piano, such as the Piano Life Saver.

Look after yourself and your piano and you will both perform better, all year round.

Piano Gloves

DontCrampYourStyle – warm up exercises factsheet from the British Association for Performing Arts Medicine (PDF file)

 

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Who or what inspired you to take up the guitar and make it your career?

Well, mostly luck! A music teacher heard me attempting classical guitar at school, and put me in touch with Sasha Levtov, a Russian émigré who organises a small music school, a recital series, and a guitar club, in my hometown, Bognor Regis. And that was it – I was hooked!

Who or what were the most important influences on your musical life and career?

When I took up lessons, I became a regular at the West Sussex Guitar Club. There were regular club nights, a mix of food, impromptu ensemble playing, and an informal stage to air the latest work. These evenings, and my lessons, entered the bloodstream – I saw music as a social art, a way to bring people together and participate in something positive. More recently I lived for a year (on a sofa) with two composers and a modern artist – that exposure to current ideas stretched the imagination quite wildly…

What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?

Arriving at the Royal College of Music came as a huge jolt to the system… in London I was painfully conscious of being a very little fish indeed. Changing tutor was hard, and being in the city, acclimatising to a new life, affected me profoundly. I had an extremely painful first year at the RCM.

I suppose the biggest technical challenge has simply been reconciling lute and guitar technique. I’m proud that most lutenists like the sound I make, even using fingernails!

Which performance/recordings are you most proud of?

The next one!

Which particular works do you think you perform best?

I think that the most rewarding thing about music is that it invites you to enter the mindset of a composer – his world, imaginary and historical. Different composers have articulated so many things in wonderful ways. That said, I have a soft spot for John Dowland

How do you make your repertoire choices from season to season?

It’s usually the case that I have a project on the go – a big performance or a concerto, or a specific project focusing on a composer. Simply, I have a very long to-play list!

Do you have a favourite concert venue to perform in and why?

In a sentimental mood, the Recital Hall in Bognor Regis. It’s a venue that has seen some world-renowned performers – for me, it’s the first stage I was acquainted with. I do still perform there very frequently.

I played some time ago at Bolivar Hall – the venue attached to the Embassy of Venezuela – in a series organised by Alberto Portugheis. Because of its size, sober tone, and impeccable acoustic, the atmosphere is just perfect for the guitar.

Favourite pieces to perform? Listen to?

Bach’s Suite BWV 997 (the “second lute suite”) is a great honour to play – a huge journey. I’ve loved performing Rodrigo’s Aranjuez, too, it’s very exhilarating.  

My all-time favourite works are Schnittke’s Requiem, Beethoven’s 6th, the Schubert’s ‘Arpeggione’ Sonata, and Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon!

Who are your favourite musicians?

Some performers are magic: Fritz Wunderlich; Meredith d’Ambrosio, a Jazz singer with a dark, smoky voice; Pavel Steidl, wild-eyed Czech guitar genius with firework humour; and pianist Dinu Lipatti.

What is your most memorable concert experience?

Bernard Haitink and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe performed Beethoven’s 6th this year at the Barbican… I danced in the street on the way home.

What do you consider to be the most important ideas and concepts to impart to aspiring musicians?

I can’t really say with something so individual… For me, a thirst for knowledge, making imaginative connections, and empathy. Music should be alive and exciting. And always necessary are a sense of humour – and patience!

What are you working on at the moment?

The next big project is putting together a concert and talk on Schubert on the guitar: Lieder, poetry and the Arpeggione Sonata!

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Happiness isn’t a state or an acquisition, it’s a process – it arises like steam from the way in which we live our lives. It isn’t something to be chased and nailed down: it comes from the way we act, the smiles we give, the work we do. So in this way, happiness is to live, to make the most of the challenge.

What do you enjoy doing most?

RCM guitarists have just established Fika, which is the Swedish verb to have a coffee, with some sort of sweet, with friends, and one or two idle hours. I think Schubert would approve!
Classical guitarist Sam Dixon Brown has earned a reputation for “flair, personality and confidence” with his performances in the UK and abroad.

Winner of the 2011 Chichester Festival Award, the 2012 West Sussex Youth Music Award, and the 2013 Worthing Concerto Competition, Sam studied at the Regis School of Music with Sasha Levtov, and at the Junior Royal College of Music, under full bursary. He is presently a pupil of Charles Ramirez (guitar) and Jakob Lindberg (lute) at the Royal College of Music in London, where he combines his studies with a burgeoning musical career.

www.sambrownguitar.com