The Amazing Power of the Internet

Recently, I was chatting on Skype with my friend in Europe. We were discussing Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2. Not only were we talking about how to play the opening chords (as written, they are impossible to play), but I was able to send him a sound file (through Skype) of our orchestra playing this piece. And then he sent me a pdf file of the score! All of this took only a few minutes. I have to pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming about all of this!! Pictures and sounds are immediately accessible over long distances!!

Japanese Podcast

For two years now, I have been listening to a podcast from Japan. The host "Pot-au-feu" (a pseudonym) has been delivering podcasts at regular intervals. His main interests are music and Macs, just like me!
ポッドキャストと音楽とMacな話題を書いたり喋ったり。

I have found out about a lot of cool rock groups from his podcasts. Most recently, it's a group called "Stereomovers" from Canada. I must admit, I can barely understand Pot-au-feu, but I really enjoy trying!
Free download here.

Here is the song, Picture of You, by the Stereomovers.


I learned about "SexRex" from Pot-au-feu's podcast, as well as an Indie guy -- Josh Woodward, who lives in Ohio! Small world, isn't it?

Here's the podcast: My Cup of Tea
Also, you can subscribe to his podcast through iTunes.

Pot-au-feu is also a photograher -- his pictures are beautiful and interesting.

Die Dreigroschenoper

The other night, my husband and I watched "Die Dreigroschenoper", a very old film (1931) based on the musical by the same name. In English, it's "The Threepenny Opera". Bertolt Brecht, the German dramatist and Kurt Weill, the composer, wrote the original "opera", which is really a musical. The style can be described as "jazzy" or "cabaret" style. The mood of the music is sarcastic, biting, cynical, sophisticated and bitter. "Mack the Knife" is the famous song from this work, but all of the songs are wonderful and fun. The characters are thieves and prostitutes and the musical can be seen as social commentary.

I have been fascinated by this music for many years. We were lucky enough to be in New York in 1976 to see The Threepenny Opera performed in New York in Central Park! It was sung in English.


The rather exotic Ute Lemper, a contemporary singer, has sung a number of Weill tunes, including "Mackie Messer" ("Mack the Knife"), heard here. She captures the authentic spirit of the times, especially with the exaggerated, trilled "r"s at the ends of some of the words!



This is the second time I have mentioned the music of Kurt Weill. See my previous blog entry here, with another musical example: Click here.

Anime Obsession

Lately, I have continued watching more and more episodes of Nodame Cantabile. The manga version came first, the live action TV series later. I am watching the anime version, based on the original manga. The story is about Chiaki, a music student who plays violin, piano and conducts. And it's about Noda Megumi, who is a strange little underclassman at the music school, who is a kind of genius at playing the piano

It's fun for me to watch this series because I can listen to the Japanese, a language I am studying, and read the English subtitles. And, of course, the topic is fascinating to me -- performing music -- on piano -- on violin and in the orchestra.




Often the visual images are expressive and illustrate the emotional aspects of the characters in the series. There are 23 episodes, each about 40 minutes long. I have watched about 16 of these so far. The relationship between the characters is interesting. Also, the series explores feelings of performers such as "competition", "performance anxiety","the will to succeed", "being in the out group or the in group" and so on.



Here is a clip featuring Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2, a hauntingly beautiful piece. The clip is 10 minutes long.

Blast From the Past

Today I was listening to my favorite radio station, WXRT-FM while I fixed dinner and this song came up: How Soon Is Now? by The Smiths. I didn't really remember the name of that group, but I sure do remember the song. It seemed to come out of that period of David Bowie, Brian Eno and Talking Heads. It was all so stylish and smooth!



It's a little funny, because the original lyrics say, "son and heir", but the video seems to interpret the words as being, "sun and air"!! hahaha!

Playing With An Orchestra

Even though this is not a picture of my orchestra, it might give you the feeling of what it's like to play in an orchestra. It's an amazing experience. Hearing all of the instrumental tone colors and hearing how all our parts fit together as we perform the world's greatest symphonies simply can't be beat. We practice once a week and give 5 or 6 concerts every year between October and May.

Gustav Mahler, Composer

For our concert on Sunday, we are performing Mahler's 5th Symphony, a long and complex work with large numbers of instruments, including 8 French horns, and close to 90 players. There's lots of percussion in this piece -- very dramatic moments for bass drum alone or tympani alone. And some of the lyrical melodies are hauntingly beautiful. It's going to be a great experience (especially if we can play our best and not make too many mistakes!)

Again, not a picture of my orchestra, but try to imagine the sound of 8 French horns at once. It's a powerful sound!

The Thrill of Performance

As to Once on This Island, originally a Broadway musical, which was performed by an elementary school in my town -- we had four performances at the end of March. Each performance was a little different, the last one was definitely the best. Everyone gave their all! I was "on fire" at the keyboard. I played with all my passion and verve! It was exceedingly fun! All of my musical training and musical experiences contributed to my being able to keep on top of all that was going on -- students singing solos, missing whole measures of the song, as I seamlessly kept on as if nothing was wrong! At the end, many parents came to me with compliments. I received a lovely bouquet of flowers. After all the hours and hours of rehearsal, it was definitely worth this final thrill! (See my picture here, NOT!!)

But, here is a photo of the older model Technics keyboard I played. I couldn't really get all the sounds I wanted, but I found a few exotic blends that were fun!