There is a growing collection of everyday household items in my house that want to murder me and the next one is my piano bench. I sat on it and it made a weird sound that most would have translated to a squeaking sound, similar to the groans of an old house creaking but I most definitely heard it make a sound more like a voice saying "I WANT YOUR BLOOD!" so I drop kicked that sucker and got a new piano bench!
So today I'm talking about the Karate Kid, because that's what I feel like right now. Allow me to explain...
In the Karate Kid, Daniel (that's right, I even remembered that fool's name!) is training to be a ninja assassin warrior of revenge and cliche'd movies and such or something. He begins his training by doing the most random household for the benefit of his trainer, Mickey. Actually, I think Mickey trained Rocky, but whatever. About three years into his training or so (don't quote me on that number), Daniel began to wonder why he wasn't learning any martial arts but was instead acting as Mickey's (or whoever's) man-maid-servant-butler-thing. Only then would he discover that by doing these seemingly meaningless tasks would he realize that they were only seemingly meaningless and were, in fact, unseemingly meaningful. He learned how to do karate by doing chores, only proving once more that our parents are Jedi knights and we should probably listen to them.
How does this relate to me? Well, it all comes back to my audition. You see, I have three pieces I have to learn and memorize and I'm currently spending a total of 0 hours a day actually playing these pieces right now. 5 hours a day (give or take) are spent playing through exercises. And here's the craziest thing; I tried to play my songs today and they actually came out fairly decent without much actual practice. I'm spending my time getting down fundamentals first and then learning the pieces, because I don't want to learn them wrong or anything. So, scales it is. Wouldn't you know it, my band directors were right about practice habits. THEY ARE JEDI KNIGHTS TOO!!!
P.S. If this blog post gets to you before I see you again tell my family the Bench is feisty and will stop at nothing to get the flesh and blood meal it desires. Don't go near it! I play the piano only at my own risk.
P.S.P.S.P.P.S.S.S...P.
I am very much aware that the information on the Karate Kid is incorrect so don't think I'm an idiot. Or at least don't consider me more or less of an idiot than I actually am. I only permit you to judge me of the correct level of idiocy.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Salieri VS Mozart!!!
If you haven't seen "Amadeus", you should. It's kind of legit, and although quite a bit of artistic license was taken in the telling of the story, it was actually kind of accurate. What's most amazing to me is that the story is told from Mozart's rival's point of view rather than Mozart himself. But one thing has always captured my attention, and that's the differences found in each of the composer's beginnings.
Antonio Salieri wanted to study and compose music from a very young age. He prayed for it, thought of it constantly, and made it his passion, even though his father wouldn't allow him near any instrument. Mozart, however, was thrust into a world of musical virtuosity at a very young age. He wrote full scores before he was seven years old, showing that he was a musical genius, and his contrastingly strict and harsh father forced him to pursue the greatest depth of his potential. His father's discipline and demanding nature turned Mozart into one of the greatest musicians the world has ever seen.
This isn't unlike the world of piano and the way it is being flipped on it's head currently. In the United States, piano has been taught in a very specific way. We start with the foundations, often not even beginning with how to read music, then slowly inch our way towards, dynamics, staccato vs. legato touch, Sight reading, and often ending with how to use the pedals (unfortunately). But this is starting to change now that the United State's no longer has the greatest piano players. I'd venture to say that era ended with Glenn Gould, as well as the end of the Jazz Era (before the Bebop years).
The United States is slowly beginning to pick up the Chinese approach to playing piano, which is very similar to what Mozart would have endured as a child. In China, a child is often given a difficult, classical piece of music to start their musical journey. Everything is asked of them from a young age (often five years old!); pedaling, dynamics, legato or staccato touch (depending on the song, obviously), etc. They are so successful in what they do precisely because of their attention to detail and desire to command a great amount of knowledge and skill early on. This is in everything they do, from memorizing, sight-reading, scales, or whatever. And the United States is beginning to learn our lesson.
Pushing our youth harder in music is slowly becoming the new trend, and it won't take but another generation or so until we not only have another Glenn Gould, but a new Viktor Borge and our own Lang Lang as well (some consider him to be the greatest pianist alive right now). A new breed of super pianists are on their way within the next generation or so, and I pray that they hold off until I find a secure job so I can have work too.
The point in all of this? Mozart was encouraged in his endeavors and he is known as one of the greatest musicians of all time. Salieri was NOT encouraged and he is known as the man who killed Mozart. Just saying...
Antonio Salieri wanted to study and compose music from a very young age. He prayed for it, thought of it constantly, and made it his passion, even though his father wouldn't allow him near any instrument. Mozart, however, was thrust into a world of musical virtuosity at a very young age. He wrote full scores before he was seven years old, showing that he was a musical genius, and his contrastingly strict and harsh father forced him to pursue the greatest depth of his potential. His father's discipline and demanding nature turned Mozart into one of the greatest musicians the world has ever seen.
This isn't unlike the world of piano and the way it is being flipped on it's head currently. In the United States, piano has been taught in a very specific way. We start with the foundations, often not even beginning with how to read music, then slowly inch our way towards, dynamics, staccato vs. legato touch, Sight reading, and often ending with how to use the pedals (unfortunately). But this is starting to change now that the United State's no longer has the greatest piano players. I'd venture to say that era ended with Glenn Gould, as well as the end of the Jazz Era (before the Bebop years).
The United States is slowly beginning to pick up the Chinese approach to playing piano, which is very similar to what Mozart would have endured as a child. In China, a child is often given a difficult, classical piece of music to start their musical journey. Everything is asked of them from a young age (often five years old!); pedaling, dynamics, legato or staccato touch (depending on the song, obviously), etc. They are so successful in what they do precisely because of their attention to detail and desire to command a great amount of knowledge and skill early on. This is in everything they do, from memorizing, sight-reading, scales, or whatever. And the United States is beginning to learn our lesson.
Pushing our youth harder in music is slowly becoming the new trend, and it won't take but another generation or so until we not only have another Glenn Gould, but a new Viktor Borge and our own Lang Lang as well (some consider him to be the greatest pianist alive right now). A new breed of super pianists are on their way within the next generation or so, and I pray that they hold off until I find a secure job so I can have work too.
The point in all of this? Mozart was encouraged in his endeavors and he is known as one of the greatest musicians of all time. Salieri was NOT encouraged and he is known as the man who killed Mozart. Just saying...
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
MY PIANO HAS MORE SCALES THAN A DRAGON!!!
HELLLLLLLLOOOOOOO!!!!!
Guess what I've done with my day today. I bet you can't. I hope you can't. I'd probably assume you were stalking me if you could and I wouldn't even be able to do anything about it because getting a restraining order on my few readers would definitely hinder this blogs already poor readership...
So, I played scales today. That was fun. I woke up early, reviewed the fugue for my audition, saved the fridge from imploding, and played scales until my left hand literally fell off my body. I was in the middle of the Db Major scale and my left hand was like, "Hey, Tyler. We've been through some great times these past 21 years, but you are working me too hard. Here's my two weeks notice. In two weeks from now, you're gonna notice I haven't been here in two weeks. See ya!" And that was that.
So then I played Halo with my brother, played guitar with one hand (obviously), and struggled to turn to page 394 without Snape getting ticked off at me (with little success). It was somewhere between throwing a grenade at aliens and right now when I blogged about nothing (yet still successfully referenced Harry Potter) that I began to realize that during the course of this break a very significant yet not entirely unforeseeable event has occurred. When I am not by my piano, I am practically a nobody. I seem to put myself in a position where I don't have an existence away from the piano, unless that existence is to review my piano music away from the piano. I could be out with friends, but my piano is my BEST friend. I could watch a movie, but it usually ends up being a movie about a piano player (there are plenty out there, trust me). I could play video games, but that's my reserve for when my hands cramp up and playing piano is no longer an option.
I would just like to say that at first I was quite ticked off at Nintendo for making a system that worked entirely off of motion rather than pressing buttons like any video game conglomerate would have designed. But when your fingers refuse to move, just having to swing your arm to kill bad guys is kind of a blessing.
That's my post for today. I'd be icing my hand right now but thankfully my house is cold enough so I don't have to. I'm gonna go watch youtube, maybe another movie, and find SOMETHING to do with my life that doesn't have anything to do with piano.
Guess what I've done with my day today. I bet you can't. I hope you can't. I'd probably assume you were stalking me if you could and I wouldn't even be able to do anything about it because getting a restraining order on my few readers would definitely hinder this blogs already poor readership...
So, I played scales today. That was fun. I woke up early, reviewed the fugue for my audition, saved the fridge from imploding, and played scales until my left hand literally fell off my body. I was in the middle of the Db Major scale and my left hand was like, "Hey, Tyler. We've been through some great times these past 21 years, but you are working me too hard. Here's my two weeks notice. In two weeks from now, you're gonna notice I haven't been here in two weeks. See ya!" And that was that.
So then I played Halo with my brother, played guitar with one hand (obviously), and struggled to turn to page 394 without Snape getting ticked off at me (with little success). It was somewhere between throwing a grenade at aliens and right now when I blogged about nothing (yet still successfully referenced Harry Potter) that I began to realize that during the course of this break a very significant yet not entirely unforeseeable event has occurred. When I am not by my piano, I am practically a nobody. I seem to put myself in a position where I don't have an existence away from the piano, unless that existence is to review my piano music away from the piano. I could be out with friends, but my piano is my BEST friend. I could watch a movie, but it usually ends up being a movie about a piano player (there are plenty out there, trust me). I could play video games, but that's my reserve for when my hands cramp up and playing piano is no longer an option.
I would just like to say that at first I was quite ticked off at Nintendo for making a system that worked entirely off of motion rather than pressing buttons like any video game conglomerate would have designed. But when your fingers refuse to move, just having to swing your arm to kill bad guys is kind of a blessing.
That's my post for today. I'd be icing my hand right now but thankfully my house is cold enough so I don't have to. I'm gonna go watch youtube, maybe another movie, and find SOMETHING to do with my life that doesn't have anything to do with piano.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Beethoven and Mozart and trying to murder me in my sleep...
I am in the process of completely clearing out my room, and one of the joys of this is finding things I had completely forgotten about. I have a small collection of busts of famous piano players and composers that I had assumed diasappeared off the face of the earth. But I also have two Mozart and Beethoven "action figures" that had been buried beneath my pile of junk for a while. I busted them out, set them on their piano bench accessory, and began to realize how much of a nerd I really am.
I found a Bach action figure online and I want it!!! Because that's just the type of guy I am. Am I still a nerd or does this thrust me into Geekdom? One day when I have my own place I will have my own piano, and you can bet that there will be these composer action figures up there. If only they had Debussy!!! But anyways, this is my life right now. Piano piano piano, still. Just in the nerdiest (hopefully not geekiest) way possible. Nerd is cool. Being a geek is my worst nightmare!
I found a Bach action figure online and I want it!!! Because that's just the type of guy I am. Am I still a nerd or does this thrust me into Geekdom? One day when I have my own place I will have my own piano, and you can bet that there will be these composer action figures up there. If only they had Debussy!!! But anyways, this is my life right now. Piano piano piano, still. Just in the nerdiest (hopefully not geekiest) way possible. Nerd is cool. Being a geek is my worst nightmare!
 |
| "I'll be Bach!" -Arnold Schwarzenegger |
Saturday, December 31, 2011
If it Ain't Baroque...
Been playing a lot of Bach, today. Let me tell you what, that is exciting stuff. Two hands but three melodies at the same time is kind of fun to play! But it's brought back some memories. One memory in particular really stands out.
I was playing piano at a benefit at St. Anthony's Church in Kyle my freshman year. It was an event put in place for a priest who was retiring that year and the church wanted to honor him and his contributions to the parish, and they had asked me to play. I had my keyboard and amp set up on the stage and I played the usual, dry, cocktail piano stuff I always bust out at these sorts of events, but near the end of the night I started to run out of material so I improvised some and played more fun stuff. It was easy money, it was fun, and it was for a good cause. Can't beat that, no?
Well, at some point in the night, the priest for whom them benefit was being held slowly walked up to the stage, being very dependent on his cane to get around, and stood by the amp. He closed his eyes and just stood there, listening. I had never had anybody do this in one of my "performances" before, and it was a bit different then what I was used to. After I had finished the song, he opened his eyes, looked at me and said, "When you walked into the room and set up, I saw you and you seemed so tense. But when you play you seem to have a real joy in what you do. That's God's joy. Please keep playing."
...Yep. That just happened. I had no idea what I was supposed to say or do to that. He just smiled at me and walked away. I remember very little about the priest, honestly, but I do remember what he said to me. Frequently, it jumps back into my mind and kind of haunts me during the times I convince myself not to try. Hopefully this isn't a bust. Hopefully I am actually good enough to get into the school of music. I've practiced so hard, and I'm analyzing my music when I'm not at the piano like I never have before. Yesterday I memorized whole sections of my piece away from the piano, only to return to the piano the next day and play those parts entirely from my study and analysis of the pieces the night before. I need to listen to the recordings, I need to study, I need to analyze more, and most importantly I need to practice. But most importantly, I need to pray. God has answered my prayers more than I deserve. I need to turn to Him entirely and play only for Him. I will make it into the school of music not by my talent or hard work, but only if it is God's will. I realize that now, and I accept that what happens is in His hands.
Because I need a total investment in what I am doing the chorus below is kinda what my life feels like right now. ;)
You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime yo
I was playing piano at a benefit at St. Anthony's Church in Kyle my freshman year. It was an event put in place for a priest who was retiring that year and the church wanted to honor him and his contributions to the parish, and they had asked me to play. I had my keyboard and amp set up on the stage and I played the usual, dry, cocktail piano stuff I always bust out at these sorts of events, but near the end of the night I started to run out of material so I improvised some and played more fun stuff. It was easy money, it was fun, and it was for a good cause. Can't beat that, no?
Well, at some point in the night, the priest for whom them benefit was being held slowly walked up to the stage, being very dependent on his cane to get around, and stood by the amp. He closed his eyes and just stood there, listening. I had never had anybody do this in one of my "performances" before, and it was a bit different then what I was used to. After I had finished the song, he opened his eyes, looked at me and said, "When you walked into the room and set up, I saw you and you seemed so tense. But when you play you seem to have a real joy in what you do. That's God's joy. Please keep playing."
...Yep. That just happened. I had no idea what I was supposed to say or do to that. He just smiled at me and walked away. I remember very little about the priest, honestly, but I do remember what he said to me. Frequently, it jumps back into my mind and kind of haunts me during the times I convince myself not to try. Hopefully this isn't a bust. Hopefully I am actually good enough to get into the school of music. I've practiced so hard, and I'm analyzing my music when I'm not at the piano like I never have before. Yesterday I memorized whole sections of my piece away from the piano, only to return to the piano the next day and play those parts entirely from my study and analysis of the pieces the night before. I need to listen to the recordings, I need to study, I need to analyze more, and most importantly I need to practice. But most importantly, I need to pray. God has answered my prayers more than I deserve. I need to turn to Him entirely and play only for Him. I will make it into the school of music not by my talent or hard work, but only if it is God's will. I realize that now, and I accept that what happens is in His hands.
Because I need a total investment in what I am doing the chorus below is kinda what my life feels like right now. ;)
You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime yo
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Keyboard win! Weight gain fail! Alcohol!
Hey readers. Currently readers who don't exist, but regardless...
So, I've been working on my keyboard stuff lately. That's been fun. I'll post a picture of it soon. I have two keyboards, one with very few synth capabilities like a piano, and the other can do rhythms and funky sounds and stuff. It's been fun trying to put them together. I've started a couple projects. One is to use my equipment to make covers of famous songs, and the other is to make my own songs. Pretty straight forward, but idea is to just get to know the equipment.
Oh, so guess what! I'm on a weight loss push again. I was doing really good until the semester ended a couple weeks ago, and it's time to get back to it. Thankfully I haven't gained that much weight, but I've made a bigger push to lose weight this time around in that I've actually started running! I had run for a little bit this past summer, but I'm really hoping to get to do it more this coming semester. FROM BEER BELLY TO A...BEER...SIX PACK! Yeah, I had to be realistic. The beer wasn't going anywhere.
AAAAAAAAnd it should be noted that I'm getting back into trying to watch the way I dress. Still can't exactly say that I'm an expert on the subject, but there are certain things I'm trying to stay away from (denim shorts). Really just trying to get myself into looking like I know how to put on clothes before I leave the house. Shouldn't be too hard, right?
...right?
Last but not least, my prayer life! Oh gee. Not been the best lately. I definitely have room to improve. My biggest thing is that I've been desperately wanting to go to Mass, but I keep sleeping in! GOSH DANG IT!!! But that's okay because I found a desperate but workable solution. If I don't sleep, I can't sleep in. So, in order to get to daily Mass in the morning, I've decided to not sleep! That's why I'm awake right now at 7:00 am. I'd normally still be asleep! I figured, "hey, if I put forth some extreme effort and show I really want to be there, maybe in the future God will help me make it work so I can actually sleep!" Sound's reasonable enough to me, but I'm working off no sleep, and my ability to think clearly has been severely screwed up. Also, I'm not very sure I'll be able to stay awake during Mass either. To be totally honest, it wouldn't surprise me if I was asleep right now and dreaming all of this...
And last last and quite randomly, I would just like to say that I'm SO PUMPED TO SEE THE CIVIL WARS IN CONCERT IN JANUARY!!! I'm going to fan-boy like a fan-girl so hard. Just saying.
And with that, I leave you. It's time that I find something to do with myself that requires movement of more of my body than just my fingers, or else I risk falling asleep. Unless I'm already asleep. OR TO KEEP ME FROM FALLING ASLEEP IN MY DREAMS!!! No Inception crap it gonna keep ME from Mass.
So, I've been working on my keyboard stuff lately. That's been fun. I'll post a picture of it soon. I have two keyboards, one with very few synth capabilities like a piano, and the other can do rhythms and funky sounds and stuff. It's been fun trying to put them together. I've started a couple projects. One is to use my equipment to make covers of famous songs, and the other is to make my own songs. Pretty straight forward, but idea is to just get to know the equipment.
Oh, so guess what! I'm on a weight loss push again. I was doing really good until the semester ended a couple weeks ago, and it's time to get back to it. Thankfully I haven't gained that much weight, but I've made a bigger push to lose weight this time around in that I've actually started running! I had run for a little bit this past summer, but I'm really hoping to get to do it more this coming semester. FROM BEER BELLY TO A...BEER...SIX PACK! Yeah, I had to be realistic. The beer wasn't going anywhere.
AAAAAAAAnd it should be noted that I'm getting back into trying to watch the way I dress. Still can't exactly say that I'm an expert on the subject, but there are certain things I'm trying to stay away from (denim shorts). Really just trying to get myself into looking like I know how to put on clothes before I leave the house. Shouldn't be too hard, right?
...right?
Last but not least, my prayer life! Oh gee. Not been the best lately. I definitely have room to improve. My biggest thing is that I've been desperately wanting to go to Mass, but I keep sleeping in! GOSH DANG IT!!! But that's okay because I found a desperate but workable solution. If I don't sleep, I can't sleep in. So, in order to get to daily Mass in the morning, I've decided to not sleep! That's why I'm awake right now at 7:00 am. I'd normally still be asleep! I figured, "hey, if I put forth some extreme effort and show I really want to be there, maybe in the future God will help me make it work so I can actually sleep!" Sound's reasonable enough to me, but I'm working off no sleep, and my ability to think clearly has been severely screwed up. Also, I'm not very sure I'll be able to stay awake during Mass either. To be totally honest, it wouldn't surprise me if I was asleep right now and dreaming all of this...
And last last and quite randomly, I would just like to say that I'm SO PUMPED TO SEE THE CIVIL WARS IN CONCERT IN JANUARY!!! I'm going to fan-boy like a fan-girl so hard. Just saying.
And with that, I leave you. It's time that I find something to do with myself that requires movement of more of my body than just my fingers, or else I risk falling asleep. Unless I'm already asleep. OR TO KEEP ME FROM FALLING ASLEEP IN MY DREAMS!!! No Inception crap it gonna keep ME from Mass.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Winning streak
I don't know what the hell is going on lately, but it's awesome.
Okay, so here's the deal. This past week has been awesome. My mood is just through the roof, and I think it's partially because I've been getting a full night's sleep lately and actually watching what I eat. Haven't done either of those things since this past summer, and the difference is noticeable. On Wednesday, I actually woke up smiling...at 6:15 in the morning. Who the hell wakes up at 6:15 in the morning with a smile on? Seriously, I don't like questioning good things, but I'm just gonna have to let this one slide.
Anyways, not much to say here other than "I. Am. Happy."
Okay, so here's the deal. This past week has been awesome. My mood is just through the roof, and I think it's partially because I've been getting a full night's sleep lately and actually watching what I eat. Haven't done either of those things since this past summer, and the difference is noticeable. On Wednesday, I actually woke up smiling...at 6:15 in the morning. Who the hell wakes up at 6:15 in the morning with a smile on? Seriously, I don't like questioning good things, but I'm just gonna have to let this one slide.
Anyways, not much to say here other than "I. Am. Happy."
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