The Collaborative Piano Blog

The Art Song Recital is Alive and Well: Sparks and Wiry Cries Relaunches as an Ezine

2012-01-25T00:28:00.000-05:00

Calling all champions of the art song genre: Sparks and Wiry Cries, the brainchild of Erika Switzer and Martha Guth which previously had its debut as a podcast, has now relaunched as ~~a blog~~ an ezine. Here is just a sample of some of the articles that you'll be able to find on the new SWC format:

Sparks and Wiry Cries also has a Facebook page, which you're obligated to join if you're an avid CPB reader. Fans of the original SWC podcast will be glad to know that all the previous podcast archives are still prominently featured on the site.

Best of luck to Erika and Martha as they embark on the next stage of their podcasting/blogging/ezining journey!

(Thanks, Liz!)

10 Things Every Collaborative Pianist Should Have

2012-01-24T09:05:00.000-05:00

Today's guest post is written by Nancy Harder, who speaks to musicians about being entrepreneurial and tossing out the status quo on her blog, The Composed Musician. She's an active collaborative pianist, teacher, and writer. She's also on the faculty at Virginia Tech's Department of Music. Sign up for her free monthly newsletter on The Composed Musician for inspiration and news.

These are the things I've needed time and again as a collaborative pianist. Some of them have taken me a while to learn about and implement, but they've all made a big difference in my career as an entrepreneurial collaborator.

The list, of course, doesn’t include the indefinables - the gifts, talents, character set, and mindsets that are needed to be a musician.

But, these are the 10 simple things that will make a big difference in the marketing and success of yourself and your talents as a collaborative pianist, whether you’re a professional, amateur or something in between.

1. Website

If I could get all musicians in the world to do one thing for their business, this would be it. Have a website. Have a website. Have a website.

It’s best to have a dedicated domain (a la youname/brand.com), but using a free host like Wordpress, Blogspot, and Musicteachershelper also works well.

Make sure the site’s clean & organized. Simple = classy.

Think of your website as your portfolio, a one-stop preview of who you are and what you do.

What could you include to give people the full picture of what you do, what you’ve done, and what you’d like to do in the future?

2. Great Bio

Have a carefully crafted bio at the ready. Don’t be shy about what you’ve done and who you've worked with.

Take note of bios you like and assimilate what you’ve liked best from other people’s bios.

This is important: have both a long and short version. The long version’s for your website, marketing materials, etc. The short version is a good blurb for certain programs, newsletters, etc.

This is not the same thing as a CV/resume. Though, you should have one of those at the ready too.

3. Cocktail Line

What do you do?

Does hearing this question in social situations make you break out into a sweat?

Having a great cocktail line may seem insignificant, but it’s not about small talk. It’s about a quick, authentic round-up of what lights you up in the world presented with confidence.

And you never know who you could next be standing in front of.

4. Professional Photos

Have a good headshot and/or professional photos. The investment will be worth it, I promise.

You can use the photos on your website, promo material, business cards, programs, facebook profile/page, twitter profile, linkedin, etc.

Think about the image you want to get across. If you’d like a range of pics, work with the photographer and be detailed about what you’d like to convey and for what purpose.

Whatever you do, avoid photos that look like they were snapped by a friend at a party or were taken by yourself.

If it's been more than 10 years since your last photo shoot, it's time to update. You don't want to be unrecognizable in your professional photos. It's distracting and reads as lazy.

5. Business Card

It never fails; the day you forget to carry business cards will be the day a prospective collaborator/event manager/etc…will come up and ask you for one.

And it just doesn’t feel as elegant to have to grab a scrap of paper to put your info on.

Get some cards printed up cheaply at an online printing service, like Vistaprint.com. (Again, simple is better.)

And if you’re into arty flair, Moo.com is great for specialty products and cards.

6. Respectable E-mail Address

Avoid monikers like greeneyedpianoplaya@aol.com.

Your name (e.g. janedoe@gmail.com) is better, a dedicated e-mail is best (e.g. jane@janedoe.com).

Get on the Gmail train if you still hear “you’ve got mail” when you check your e-mail.

7. Attire

Don’t add stress to your life and wait until the last minute to find the right outfit for performances.

Let's face it. As collaborators our concert wardrobe is predominately black, but due to the variety of concert settings we need all kinds of black (Sunday matinee, evening, white tie, etc….) as well as more colorful concert attire.

Make sure you have a pair of shoes you’re comfortable performing in and are scuffed up to prevent slipping on newly polished stage floors.

Ladies - have flattering make-up and hair styles practiced and ready to go. Watch out for too-high heels that are difficult to maneuver on the piano pedals.

8. Set rates + availability

Know EXACTLY what your rates are and EXACTLY when you’re available.

Don’t wait until a request comes to set a rate or figure out your calendar. This is when the risk of overbooking at too little money becomes very high.

Being very clear about your rates & availability is a form of service and respect to yourself and others.

I say this all the time on my blog: It's our job as musicians to teach the world the value of what we do.

Want others to respect your role as collaborative pianists? It's up to you to teach others the value of what you do and proactively set what you're worth.

9. Proactive responses

Don’t waste time crafting responses to requests every time one comes in. This is reactive and a big energy waster. Be proactive and have set responses to requests.

For example, create a “Yes, I’m interested. Take a look at more of my info on my website…” e-mail and a “I’m honored you thought of me. However, I’m unavailable/my rate is ___. Here are people I recommend…”

Of course, the e-mail is personalized, but the structure and language of the response is already done and is effortlessly courteous and professional.

10. Have it in writing

Have everything in writing, whether contract, agreement, dates, price, etc…

It not only protects you legally, but you’ll find people step up their commitment when it becomes official.

Rob Ford, The Opera Premieres on January 22nd at the University of Toronto

2012-01-04T15:03:00.000-05:00

Image by sniderscion

As part of its Student Composer Collective, the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto will be presenting one performance of Rob Ford, The Opera on Sunday, January 22nd at 2:30pm in the Macmillan Theatre. Admission will be free. The concept and libretto (based on Toronto's colorful and controversial mayor) are the brainchild of U of T Resident Stage Director (and Tapestry LibLab dramaturg/animateur) Michael Albano. From the U of T press release:

To celebrate the 15th successful year of the Student Composer Collective, the Faculty of Music will present Rob Ford, the Opera. The concept and libretto is by the Opera Division’s Resident Stage Director, Michael Patrick Albano with musical contributions by four of the Faculty’s gifted student composers: Massimo Guido, Anna Hostman, Adam Scime and Saman Shah.

In 1997, the Opera Division inaugurated a workshop at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music to allow student composers to gain experience writing opera, following a process of composition, dramaturgy, orchestration and staged public performance. The concept proved so successful that the workshop was ultimately introduced as a formal course in composition at the graduate level.

The opera [approximately an hour in length] is a surrealist fantasy based loosely upon the personality of Toronto’s current and much discussed Mayor. In describing the piece, the librettist writes “I have long been puzzled that one of the most important dramatic movements of the twentieth century, The Theatre of the Absurd - skilfully pioneered by Apollinaire, Ionesco, and Samuel Beckett - has, curiously, not made substantial inroads into opera. Rob Ford, the Opera, corrects that omission and jaunts joyously into the no-holds-barred ring of the ridiculous”

In addition to the GamUT ensemble, Rob Ford, the Opera features singers from the Faculty of Music’s distinguished Opera Division, including Andrew Haji as Rob Ford and Rosanna Murphy as Margaret Atwood. The opera will be conducted by Raphael Luz and directed by Erik Thor.

There is no word yet regarding whether or not Mayor Ford will be making a cameo appearance in the opera. I presume that there will be no comment from the Mayor's office. My vote for Most Predictable Line in the libretto: "I'm Rob F***ing Ford!"

Meme of the Day

2012-01-03T08:22:00.000-05:00

Remembering Martin Isepp

2012-01-03T07:45:00.000-05:00

Martin Isepp, one of the world's great vocal coaches and mentor to countless singers and pianists, has passed away over the holidays. Although I never worked with Martin, his influence on those I have worked and studied with over the years, both in the art song and opera realms, was palpable. Here is Martin Isepp with tenor Paul Austin Kelly in a 2010 performance of Britten's On This Island:

More remembrances from around the blogosphere:

Two posts from Norman Lebrecht (also read the comments)
Brian Dickie of the Chicago Opera Theater
Musical Toronto
Lewes Classical
Nicholas Phan

If you have any experiences or stories you would like to share, please leave a comment.

Meme of the Day

2012-01-02T08:00:00.000-05:00

Ever met someone like this? No matter how much you compliment them on their playing, they will always turn it back on you.

"Nice Hammerklavier, bro. That fugue was awesome."

"How on earth could you enjoy that feeble excuse for a performance that I attempted tonight? Did you not listen? Are you not familiar with Op. 106?"

Fixing, Flow, and Self-Nudging

2012-01-01T19:04:00.000-05:00

Back from some much needed downtime, I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and I hope that your 2012 is safe, healthy, successful, and creative.

First of all, an interesting update on the recent discussion about practicing more effectively rather than longer. Study Hacks listed some strategies on practice from an anonymous pianist - here are all four:

1. Avoid flow. Do what does not come easy.
2. To master a skill, master something harder.
3. Systematically eliminate weakness.
4. Create beauty, don't avoid ugliness.

I would agree with most of those four statements - the only one that I would disagree with is the avoidance of flow. My conception of Flow as it relates to the creative process (based on Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's book) is not just the experience of playing the work, but the experience of engaging with the entire process of taking the work apart, working the small parts, putting it back together, and repeating the process en route to the best performance possible.

A better way to understand flow in this context would be to add a fifth statement which would read something along the lines of "Cultivate flow as you observe the previous four concepts".

For those who can work their way through some complex concepts, an article by Penny Tompkins and James Lawley in the Clean Collection entitled Self-Nudging: unconscious decision-making and how we can bias our future self provides some very useful clues on how we can build a first-person support system. Rather than focusing only on goals, Tompkins and Lawley's NLP-based feedback system relies on targeting very small, incremental changes and becoming aware of them over time:

1a. Decide on the behaviour you would like to do more of (in particular contexts) =X.
1b. Identify how specifically will you know more X-ing is happening?

2a. Identify what needs to get your attention in-the-moment (trigger and signal =Y) so that you automatically tend to do more X-ing? (i.e what internal conditions will nudge you to do more of X?)
2b. Identify how will you know Y-ing is happening more?

3a. Identify several ways of practising how to get good at generating Y =Z.
3b. Identify undeniable evidence that will let you know whether you are making ‘incremental progress’ – or not.

4. Do Z regularly

5. Put yourself in contexts where X will likely be required – and notice what happens: If you detect incremental progress do more of Z until you have demonstrated you are good enough at doing X and it has become a habit. If you detect no, or decremental progress, identify what other Y and/or Z are likely to have more influence, and repeat using those.

(Via Get Everything Done forums and @mgr88)

Speedlinking - 22 December 2011

2011-12-22T21:57:00.003-05:00

As the year winds down to a close, here are some interesting links from the news and blogosphere that are worth a look over the next few days:

Guttural or alveolar? Norman Lebrecht looks at the proper way to enunciate one's r's in German.
It all starts with us - Nicole Murphy writes about developing a studio concert culture.
I met pianist and conductor Kevin Class some time ago in Holland - hear what he has to say about collaborating with a conductor.
Are you from a small town and study or work in the big city? Lachlan Glen shows how to get back to your roots with a musical thank-you concert.
Collaborative pianist, teacher, and writer Ashley Danyew (see her play here) writes her own version of The Night Before Christmas, choir-style.
Kennith Freeman shares what he has learned from his first semester as staff accompanist at Union University.
Erica Sipes gives some advice gleaned from playing for loads upon loads of juries.
And finally, congratulations go to Tracy Cowden, whose discovery of a little-known book of poetry in the Virginia Tech library led to both the commissioning of a new song cycle by Daron Hagen and a debut in New York City.

Meme of the Day

2011-12-19T10:27:00.000-05:00

Another Useful Accompanist Career Guide

2011-12-19T10:12:00.001-05:00

The Music Council of Australia's Music Career Wiki has just published a very informative career guide on the Accompanist, with sections on skills, prospects, training, and more. The rundown of specialist skills was particularly informative, as was the wording on interpersonal skills:

Accompanists need good interpersonal skills, because their clients are not always very good players or singers, and they may have personality traits that do not appeal to the accompanist. An even temper and extreme patience are required to produce the best possible outcome for the client. Nerves of steel are needed in concert or other performance situations if the client loses his/her place in the music — the accompanist has to be able to make the necessary adjustments to save the performance from disaster.

I also like this comment from Jilliane Stoll at Opera Queensland:

Surely there is no greater joy than to be making music WITH someone. The likelihood of a pianist ever “making it” as a soloist is virtually nil. So one must consider either teaching or accompanying as a career path. Just think about the diversity of musicians/singers that one can play for: individuals, big groups, small groups, theatre/ballet groups … a rewarding collaboration, both musically and socially! Accompanying is fun — so become an accompanist. You won’t regret it.

What You Need to Know About Marking for Singers

2011-12-14T16:00:00.000-05:00

Today's guest post was written by soprano Elisabeth Turchi. Based in Central Pennsylvania, Elisabeth has sung with the Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Delaware, Opera Camerata of Washington D.C., Atlantic Coast Opera Festival, Harrisburg Opera, New Opera Festival of Rome, and Gotham Chamber Opera. Ms. Turchi’s numerous concert engagements include Handel’s Messiah at Massachusetts’ Mechanics Hall and a European tour of Haydn’s Creation. Elisabeth's guest post arose out of a conversation with NY-based vocal coach Jennifer Peterson about maintaining vocal health through a busy rehearsal schedule.

In every singer’s life, there comes a time when we must mark. Marking is a way of singing quietly during rehearsals in order to protect one’s voice. Reasons for marking are varied: perhaps you didn’t get enough sleep, or maybe you didn’t have the opportunity to warm up sufficiently. But what if you have only one rehearsal with a pianist for a very important audition? You have just one chance to prepare your work together, and you’re not up to a full- voiced session. So, go ahead – mark.

The question is: how do you communicate everything necessary to a pianist when you mark?

The key to successful marking is to always give your colleagues what they need to do their job. Whether your colleague is another singer, a pianist, instrumentalist, or conductor, you must give them clear cues. They need crisp diction, clean entrances, and clear cut- offs. Yes, you can sing quietly, and yes, you can drop down the octave, but the energy level must remain high. Often when singers mark, they slow the tempo, change the length of notes or rests, and give very dull interpretations. If your intentions are not clear, your colleagues will not know what you want from them. Keep your interpretation alive so they will know when to swell to a forte with you, diminuendo with you, and breathe with you.

You want to give the best you can. Give them what they need to do their best as well, and you’re on your way to a successful collaboration! Cheers!

Meme of the Day

2011-12-14T08:00:00.000-05:00

In case you don't get the BSG reference, you can find a full explanation of the Someone to Watch Over Me episode here and the iconic musical moment here.

The Piano Guys' Lightsaber Duel

2011-12-13T22:09:00.000-05:00

The Piano Guys' Steven Sharp Nelson (previously seen in a brilliant David Guetta cello/piano cover) is back, this time in a cello ~~duet~~ duel with two....lightsabers.

Backstage at the Fern Hill Christmas Show

2011-12-13T21:59:00.000-05:00

Here's the keyboard setup I used earlier this evening while playing for the Fern Hill School Christmas Show at the Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts. Yes, that's a triangle on the left side, and this was my debut doubling on that noble instrument. Shown faintly on the iPad is the running order of the show - there was only one program on stage left so I took a shot of it with my iPad's camera.

Also in the band were Lord Bubba on bass guitar, Jeremy Kelly on guitar, and Riley O'Connor on drums. I don't get a chance to play much rock or jazz these days, so it was a great pleasure to work with these guys, and it's a great experience for the kids at Fern Hill to work with a professional band, all under the guidance of musical directors Amanda Nelli and Chris Cigolea.

Meme of the Day: Piano Squirrel

2011-12-12T08:00:00.000-05:00

Mid-December Linkfest

2011-12-11T21:01:00.000-05:00

The last few weeks have been some of the busiest of the year for me, with recent highlights including delivering the 2010-11 financial report for the Royal Conservatory Faculty Association, examining in Boston for the Carnegie Hall Royal Conservatory Achievement Program, watching Wendy in an awesome performance of the Ruckert Lieder with the Oakville Symphony, and rehearsing for Fern Hill School's Christmas Concerts this week. All this is in addition to a career-high 54 students so far this year, thanks to the publicity generated by 31 Days to Better Practicing. And you wondered why I gave away my ebook for free.

Several articles from around the blogosphere have provided food for thought, and I don't just mean Classical Music Humor or Occupy the Practice Room on Facebook, nor Jeremy Denk's #OccupytheProgramNote (even though it was somewhat preposterous for the unfortunate program note author to have called K. 415 an "odd bird").

Aaron Gervais' Why Composers Should Drop Out of University (and What They Should Be Learning) is a wake-up call for all those who have been lulled into thinking that academia is the center of the musical universe. What he says about the composition industry could equally apply to performance field as well:

Even at the best of times, the relationship between academia and the creative arts (composing, filmmaking, literature, choreography, visual arts, etc.) has been problematic. Today, it’s even more so—many schools have an overt interest in producing unsuccessful artists. It’s not that there’s some nefarious grand agenda, it’s just that the economics of art and of art school are very complicated, and well-meaning educators haven’t found a better solution. The many “failures” end up subsidizing the few superstars. From the perspective of the student, it’s a bad deal, but maybe it’s the best deal there is. When they realize this, most students become disillusioned and cynical and choose one of three paths: (1) drop out of music altogether; (2) carve out their own bunker within academia; (3) look for alternative ways to make music.

Part 2 of the article is also worth the read, and offers some solutions.

I've been talking about ornamentation a lot recently, and Nicholas Phan's The Rules provides a useful perspective on keeping your head in the right place when dealing with the often conflicting needs of historical authenticity, tradition, and artistic license:

A few years ago, I was rehearsing with a pianist for an upcoming concert, and I couldn’t remember what the rule was regarding whether to approach a trill from above or directly on the note when singing a certain composer’s music. I asked her if she remembered the rule, and she said to me, “I don’t do rules.”

While her response seemed hilariously rebellious at first, I came to see a lot of logic to her point. Much like Italian cuisine, which varies so much from region to region, so do people’s ideas of “rules” in music. Encounter an Italian from one region of Italy, they will tell you that unequivocally you do not use garlic when preparing a certain sauce. Travel just an hour south, and ask an Italian from that region about said sauce, and they will tell you unequivocally that you MUST use garlic when preparing that sauce. Both are equally convinced that they are telling you the rules, despite the fact that they are telling you the opposite.

So maybe you don't have to worry so much about these guys coming after you when rendering those upper mordents.

Because at the end of the day, it's what you're comfortable with. Even if you would prefer to be called an accompanist. Even if you need to change direction when the need arises. Because just beneath the surface, your brain knows more than you realize.

Meme of the Day

2011-11-22T08:00:00.000-05:00

2P4H Is Held Over Until December 4

2011-11-21T21:22:00.001-05:00

At the Toronto run of 2 Pianos 4 Hands a few weeks ago, I can't remember having laughed so hard. After teaching for 8 hours that day, watching a play whose first act essentially pokes fun at piano pedagogy had me gasping for air many times. 2P4H is now held over until December 4th, so if you haven't seen this hilarious, sad, wonderful, and heartbreaking celebration of piano playing, it's definitely worth the trip. Here's just a taste of the gags that Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt are up to:

Is This the Future of Practicing?

2011-11-21T19:39:00.001-05:00

Even for a tablet desk slated <cough> to retail at $1,299, this video of the upcoming EXOdesk failed to excite me. Until the :39 mark, when my jaw hit the floor. Yes, that would appear to be a Bechstein-branded piano app. If a the screen sensitivity of this type of device could be finely honed to respond to minute changes of touch, you might just be looking at the future of keyboard instruments.

(Via Mashable)

Meme of the Day: Prepared Piano Edition

2011-11-21T07:30:00.000-05:00

If you've ever played the John Cage Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano and had to go through the arduous process of collecting all the screws, bolts, nuts, and rubber mutes and meticulously measured exactly where to put them, these sentiments will be familiar...

Huge Archive of Free Video Game Piano Arrangements on PDF

2011-11-20T21:29:00.001-05:00

Whether your game of choice is Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, Castlevania, Shadow of the Colossus, or Super Mario Brothers, you can find a huge number of video game selections arranged for solo piano on Mark Andrews' Ninja Pumped. Teachers might find these free sheet music PDFs a godsend for young students who may have heard these songs dozens of times while gaming. Being able to play them might just be a way to rekindle their interest in the piano.

Here's Mark (aka RigorMortis999) playing Legends of Azeroth from World of Warcraft:

Sign or Resign at Shorter University

2011-11-20T08:48:00.001-05:00

If you're a faculty or student at a university, what happens if your personal beliefs conflict with a school's corporate agenda? And what do you do when your employer enforces the terms of their agenda?

Shorter University in Georgia is doing precisely that - all ~~students and~~ staff must now sign a Personal Lifestyle Statement, whose Principles of Personal Conduct might be offensive to some (see #3):

I agree to adhere to and support the following principles (on or off the campus):

1. I will be loyal to the mission of Shorter University as a Christ-centered institution affiliated with the Georgia Baptist Convention.

2. I will not engage in the use, sale, possession, or production of illegal drugs.

3. I reject as acceptable all sexual activity not in agreement with the Bible, including, but not limited to, premarital sex, adultery, and homosexuality.

4. I will not use alcoholic beverages in the presence of students, and I will abstain from serving, from using, and from advocating the use of alcoholic beverages in public (e.g. in locations that are open to use by the general public, including as some examples restaurants, concert venues, stadiums, and sports facilities) and in settings in which students are present or are likely to be present. I will not attend any University sponsored event in which I have consumed alcohol within the last six hours. Neither will I promote or encourage the use of alcohol.

A Times Free Press article looks at the difficult decisions facing many faculty and students at Shorter, including collaborative pianist and vocal coach Ben Harris:

To Harris, DiPillo and others, the gay portion of the statement is the headline maker, but not the crux of a culture change they fear will diminish the school that has produced two Metropolitan Opera winners and an 85 percent student acceptance rate to medical schools.

“For me, my conduct should show my faith. Now I have to come up with a phony document to insert Baptist doctrine into opera training and singing. We’re here to educate, not to have prayer at the beginning of each class,” Harris said.

Harris is an instructor of collaborative piano and a vocal coach in Shorter’s School of Fine and Performing Arts. He assumes that because he has spoken out, he won’t get the option of signing the statement of faith when faculty contracts are extended in the spring.

Harris said if his contract isn’t renewed, he and his wife and two small children will move to Texas to work on his father’s ranch.

The Shorter University situation is also a fascinating example of the conflict between a university's right to manage its affairs and the need of its academic community to assert intellectual independence.

Meme of the Day: The Urtext Police

2011-11-17T18:36:00.001-05:00

Practice More Effectively, Not Necessarily Longer

2011-11-17T11:16:00.001-05:00

For the last few days, I've been thinking about a recent Study Hacks article on the surprisingly relaxed lives of elite achievers. According to a study conducted at the Universität der Künste in Berlin, the practice habits of music students considered to be elite performers were contrasted with the practice habits of merely average students. The amount of practice time between the two groups was roughly even, but the type of work utilized in the practice time was what differentiated the groups:

The difference was in how they spent this time. The elite players were spending almost three times more hours than the average players on deliberate practice — the uncomfortable, methodical work of stretching your ability.

The scheduling of practice time was also different between elite and average players:

The average players, they discovered, spread their work throughout the day. A graph included in the paper, which shows the average time spent working versus the waking hours of the day, is essentially flat.

The elite players, by contrast, consolidated their work into two well-defined periods. When you plot the average time spent working versus the hours of the day for these players, there are two prominent peaks: one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

In fact, the more elite the player, the more pronounced the peaks. For the best of the best — the subset of the elites who the professors thought would go on to play in one of Germany’s two best professional orchestras — there was essentially no deviation from a rigid two-sessions a day schedule.

Assuming that the students that faculty had picked to be "elite" or "average" actually corresponded to those who went on to have careers (a completely different question), we can draw the following conclusions on how to rise to a high level of playing:

Pick the best times of day to practice and stick to them. Every day.
Take the time to do the detail work. Hands separately. Slowly with metronome. Multiple repetitions. Work at problem spots until they're fixed.

Apparently those who do the work and do it consistently actually have more relaxed lives than those who don't. Considering how difficult a life in the arts can be, a relaxed attitude towards life is a very noble aspiration indeed.

Meme of the Day

2011-11-17T08:39:00.001-05:00

If you've ever had a studio teacher put the lid all the way down after you play the first chord, approach you a dress rehearsal saying "Please, a little bit less", or worse yet, put the dust cover on the piano while you play, this meme of the day is for you.

Meme of the Day

2011-11-16T08:12:00.001-05:00

For those of you who are often a bit too eager to overbook and then end up having too much music to learn at the last minute...

The Paul Schoenfield Trio for Violin, Clarinet and Piano

2011-11-15T14:01:00.001-05:00

From the Sala Sinfónica del Auditorio de Castellón, here are Jose Franch-Ballester, José M. Blumenschein, with pianist Amy Yang (who has an amazing website best viewed in widescreen) playing the Freylakh movement of the Paul Schoenfield Trio for Violin, Clarinet, and Piano:

Meme of the Day

2011-11-15T08:00:00.000-05:00

The Arts and Entertainment Plan is a Medical Benefits Program for Candadian Performing Artists

2011-11-14T20:50:00.001-05:00

One of the really tough things about being a Canadian performing artist is that it's next to impossible to get extended medical benefits unless you work as an employee at a medium to large arts organization that offers benefits for your level of pay. Since that rules out the vast majority of working artists, many of us make do with only basic provincial medical health insurance, which, depending on which province you live in, can either cover a lot of procedures or very little.

The Arts and Entertainment Plan is a program for providing prescription drug care, extended health care, and dental care to individuals and families who are members of participating organizations, namely ACTRA/UBCP, Recording Artists' Collecting Society, and the Canadian Federation of Musicians (aka Musicians' Union locals in Canada). If you think this might be an option for you, take a look at the program handbook, as well as details of the program and enrollment.

The Arts and Entertainment Plan is underwritten by the ACTRA Fraternal Benefit Society, and here is an interesting statement about the plan from the FAQ page:

The Arts & Entertainment Plan is now available because it's the right thing to do: workers in the artistic community are not afforded the same benefits as their public and private counterparts. A 2010 study by the Cultural Human Resources Council notes that only only 20% of those working in the cultural sector have access to dental benefits and only 20% of those working in the cultural sector have access to dental benefits and only 22% have a drug plan. The Arts & Entertainment Plan is doing their part in making benefits a reality for those within the artistic community who otherwise would be without this safety net.

Against the Grain Theatre Presents La Bohème at the Tranzac Club in Toronto Dec. 1-3

2011-11-14T09:07:00.001-05:00

Against the Grain Theatre is a Toronto-based collective of artists who have a penchant for interesting repertoire and unique venues. Their latest project is a production of Puccini's La Bohème at the Tranzac Club in the Annex. Under musical director Christopher Mokrzewski, many of my favorite Toronto singers are appearing, including Miriam Khalil, Ryan Harper, Justin Welch, Lindsay Sutherland-Boal, Neil Craighead, Gregory Finney, and Keith Lam.

Here's a clip from Against the Grain's Super Villains show earlier this year at the SMASH Furniture Store in the Junction (feat. Ambur Braid w/ Topher on piano):

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(Thanks, Nancy!)