Musical Injuries

Playing a musical instrument can be hazardous to your health! Usually, the musician doesn't notice what is happening and continues to play on and on. Later on he or she realizes they went too far! By then, it's too late!!

• Many violinists have shoulder pains, usually the right shoulder. My friend, a conductor and violinist, simply wore out his right shoulder from years and years of playing the violin. One violinist friend explained that she hurts her right wrist sometimes by bowing too frantically and holding her wrist stiffly.
• I know a pianist who recently hurt his thumb from over-playing. And there was a famous pianist, Leon Fleisher, who misused his right hand and could play only with his left hand for years.
  
• It's quite common for beginning guitar players to complain of sore finger tips from pressing down on the strings. More experienced players have developed pads or calluses on their finger tips.
• Brass players can over stress their lips by playing too long and they become unable to produce notes because their lips are simply tired out. ("Save your lip")
  
• And, as an Orff teacher I have injured my hands a number of times: playing conga drums furiously for long periods, clapping and patsching my thighs all day at school. Ouch! I also hurt my back by playing the piano standing up with my foot on the pedal, causing my back to be in a really strange position and causing great pain afterward. Later on in my teaching, I found another way to look at my students while playing, by placing the piano at an angle and looking out over the keyboard. In my last years of teaching I used an electronic keyboard, which was the most comfortable of all. (And it transposed to different keys, too!!)

Benjamin Britten and Japan

From the program notes for Britten's "Sinfonia Da Requiem":

In 1940 Britten was asked by a high official of the British Council if he would consider writing a symphony for a celebration honoring a foreign dynasty. He agreed, but he stated that he would not become involved with any nationalistic propaganda.

After beginning the work, he learned that it was intended as part of the festivities surrounding the 2,600th anniversary of the founding of Japan's dynasty in 660 B. C. He also discovered that composers from France, Germany, Italy and Hungary had received similar commissions.

Two things influenced the expressive content of this music: Britten's strong anti-war views and his sorrow at the deaths of his parents. Although he labled the three movements with names from the Latin Requiem Mass, he did not mean this work to be religious, however. These titles represented emotions.

• "Lacrymosa" -- extreme sadness
• "Dies Irae" -- day of wrath and anger
• "Requiem aeternam" -- eternal peace

The plan was initially approved by the Japanese, and the score was completed during the spring of 1940. Six months later Britten received a scathing rebuke from the Japanese officials saying that his use of Christian dogma and liturgy was a calculated insult to the Emperor, and they rejected the "Sinfonia" completely.

"Sinfonia Da Requiem" was performed in 1941 for the first time in New York by the New York Philharmonic. Britten happened to be there for the performance, which was conducted by Koussevitzky. From this meeting, Britten got a commission for his famous opera, "Peter Grimes".

In 1956, Britten traveled to Japan to lead performances of his music, including a performance of the "Sinfonia Da Requiem". This concert was broadcast from Toyko on NHK Radio. During his visit to Japan, Britten saw some traditional "No" plays which inspired some music which he composed soon after that.

I was surprised to learn about Britten's connections with Japan!

Chicago's Free Music Festivals

I finally got to hear the Grant Park Symphony on the very last weekend that they performed in beautiful Millenium Park. It was a great concert -- Vaughn Williams, John Adams and Benjamin Britten. The chorus sang (magnificently) as a part of the Vaughn Williams piece for orchestra. Try to imagine the scene: the beautiful and unusual Pritzker Pavillion, designed by Frank Gehry. Behind it and to the side -- beautiful skyscrapers against the night sky.

It's interesting to note that the Grant Park Music Festival is the nation's only remaining free outdoor municipally-supported classical music series. We are so lucky!

Here is a sample of the amazing concerts:

Concert Schedule

In addition to the classical music series, there are other performances and other festivals. For example, I went to the Chicago Blues Festival earlier this summer. This weekend it's the Chicago Jazz Festival. All these events are free!

Climaxes, Part 2

Now that I found out how to post music here, watch out!! In an earlier post, I mentioned the "Liebestod", an aria from Tristan und Isolde. Here is more about that plus the actual music!

More thoughts: How are climaxes in music created? By using a series of unresolved chords, perhaps modulating to other keys in rapid succession, by creating melodies which rise in pitch, and by increasing the volume gradually -- all of these create a feeling of unrest. Isolde longs for Tristan, but he has died in her arms. As she sings of her love and longing, unresolved longing, the music becomes more and more restless until at the end, she dies and the music is finally peaceful and serene. The opera is over.

Isolde sings: "Hear you not . . round me flowing. . .growing nearer...growing clearer...the wondrous melody?"

Mild und leise wie er lächelt,
Wie das Auge hold er öffnet,
Seht ihr, Freunde, säh't ihr's nicht?
Immer lichter wie er leuchtet
Sternumstrahlet hoch sich hebt?

Seht ihr's nicht? Wie das Herz ihm muthig schwillt,
Voll und hehr im Busen ihm quillt?
Wie den Lippen, wonnig mild, süsser Athem sanft entweht,

Freunde! Seht!
Fühlt und seht ihr's nicht?
Höre ich nur diese Weise, die so wundervoll und leise,
Wonne klagend, Alles sagend, mild versöhnend aus ihm tönend,
In mich dringet, auf sich schwinget, hold er hallend um mich klinget?

Heller schallend, mich umwallend, sind es Wellen saufter Lüfte?
Sind es Wolken wonniger Düfte?
Wie sie schwellen, mich unrauschen,
Soll ich athmen, sol ich lauschen?
Soll ich schlürfen, untertauchen, süss in Düften mich ver hauchen?
In dem wogenden Schwall, in dem tönendem Schall,
In des Welt Athems wehendem All . .
Ertrinken, versinken, unbewusst, höchste Lust!

Listening to German

Who doesn't love the music of Kurt Weill? He captures that decadent, cynical mood of the 1930's. Some famous ones: the Alabama Song ("Show me the way to the next whiskey bar...") and Mack the Knife.

Today I was listening to "Pride" from Weill's Seven Deadly Sins (Die seiben todsünden). I can't understand the words, but I love hearing the German!

Liz Plays the Trumpet

As many of my friends know, I took a 6 week job as a substitute music teacher in April and May. Whereas I had been a general music teacher in elementary school during my working life, this job was for half time instrumental music and half time general music. I had never taught instrumental music, but I knew that I could fake it well, because I have a little knowledge about winds and brass.

One day, my little trumpet students were having a problem blowing their instruments. After they left the room, I picked up a spare trumpet and blew into it to see if I could teach them better next time. I found out I could still remember how to play it a little, though badly!! I would need a LOT more practice. But, anyway, the next day I brought my video camera to school and my colleague taped it. I started laughing when I missed notes and then I could hardly play at all!






When I was in college, Class Trumpet was required for all music education majors. I also had Class Clarinet and Class Percussion. Since I graduated in 1963, it had been quite some time since I had tried to play, although I may have picked up a brass instrument several times in the intervening years because those instruments were around in the schools.

As for playing a trumpet, all you have to know is the fingering for each note. Then you have to imagine the sound of the note. If it's a higher note, you must press your lips closer together. For lower notes, you let your lips become looser. Before you play at all, you must know how to "buzz" your lips. That means you press your lips together very tightly, and force the air through your lips, making them vibrate. You should be able to make a kind of a note with just your lips. It really helps to be familiar with overtones of notes. For example, the lowest note is the fundamental note, next is an octave, next a fifth above that, next is two octaves above the fundamental, next a third above that. All brass instruments are played this way. With the trombone, instead of valves and keys you have to know the position of the slide for each note.

I really enjoyed my instrumental music students. They were all nice and they were motivated to learn. Also, I could use my abilities and skills. For example, since I can read a musical score, with many parts in the notation, this helped me when I worked with the ensemble groups that had 4 or more parts and with the band, which had many more parts. I rehearsed the band only two or three times, however. It was ironic that string instruments were not part of my assignment, since I can play the violin. Another teacher came to the school for the string students.

I enjoyed the students and all my general music classes at the school. It was a particular pleasure to prepare the fifth graders for their big performance for their "graduation". I accompanied them as they sang three pop songs. The teachers and students at the school were all so friendly and welcoming! But, I was happy to end my working, finally, and return to my leisure at home!

Improvising!

I had three fun experiences doing some improvisation recently. Since I am a "classical" musician, I haven't done much improvisation. When I was teaching, though, I used to make up all kinds of expressive music on the piano for children to move to: giant, heavy steps in the bass -- next, fluttery notes in the treble so that children could listen to various kinds of music and move to them in imaginative and expressive ways. I felt very free to play anything at all on the piano because, after all, they were children and they didn't care about what I played -- they were enjoying themselves!

The Dance Jam

Recently there was an announcement about a Dance Jam at the nearby dance studio. I wanted to go and dance there; it was to be just improvisatory dancing. There were to be drummers and other musicians who would also improvise. So I took my recorder and my violin. I danced for awhile, then I picked up a small percussion instrument and played with the drummers. I danced for awhile, then I stopped and picked up my recorder and improvised along with the drummers. After awhile, someone said, "Aren't you going to play your violin?" So, I picked up my violin and began to play with the drummers. Just then, two belly dancers stepped into the middle of the floor. As I watched their undulating bodies, I experimented with some of the basic tricks that violinists can do: trills, sliding from note to note, percussive strokes with the lower part of the bow, double stops and soulful melodies. When I finished, everyone was very kind and said, "Liz, you are amazing!" I was amazed myself because I had never improvised on my violin in public before and hardly ever in private!! But, as a classical violinist, I know a lot of tricks and it's easy for me to put them all together and it sounds amazing to others.

Tai Chi Class

Now I was emboldened! At my Tai Chi class during the break, we got on to the subject of Asian music. I said, "I guess everyone knows that Asians use the 5 tone scale. In fact, anyone can improvise on the black keys and it always sounds good." They were intrigued and they said, "Liz, please improvise like that for us while we do the form." All of our Tai Chi exercises are done in total silence so this was quite new for all of us. I went to the piano in the room and I improvised on the black keys for about 8 minutes. They all said they had enjoyed it so much! I tried to keep it rather minimal because a lot of fancy playing would distract from the "Tai Chi mood".



String Quartet

Finally, I planned to ask my string quartet to try a joint improvisation. So, at our rehearsal, after we had played our usual classical music for over an hour, I said, "Ladies, let's be brave! Let's try to improvise together!" To their credit, each one was brave and they said yes! I asked the cellist to start a pattern, then the viola could enter, then the other violin, then me. We played for about 5 minutes and it was a really fun experience! As a string quartet, it's very important for us to listen to each other as we play and I think the improvisation thing can help us to do that. I hope we do it again!!

Life is full of adventures. I wonder what tomorrow will bring!! Thanks to certain friends of mine who inspire me and encourage me!