Another wonderful concert happened on June 8 at the beautiful Croasdaile Auditorium. I was very happy with everyone’s performances in the two sections. First we had the guitar solos, and singers accompanying themselves, then a short break, and the pianists, recorder player and classical singers. Thirty-two students from my studio, Flourishing Muse, performed; nine were not performing this time. One former student graciously returned to play for us.
See below for a few comments on each performer. I am putting up some audio files and and video links today but might need a consultation with my resident technical expert to get it finalized! I also want to thank Jerry and Barbara Porter who have an amazing nine foot Steinway grand (1904) and who so generously allow my advanced students to come and practice on it. Myles could not have completed his composition without this facility.
On the summer and fall schedule pages you will see my various schedules. Please let me know as soon as you can if you want to make changes in Fall as I have a waiting list of students who want the hours from 4-7 pm. You will see I have one 4 pm time on Monday and two 3:30 times Thursday and Friday. I am not going to teach Tuesday and Wednesday mornings to leave time for other work.
My comments:
Corbin – sounded great on his new red electric guitar. He reads two types of musical notation and has learned all the basics about guitar playing, Corbin is now graduating from my studio to learn the intricacies of electric guitar, something I cannot help with!
Sydney – has only been learning guitar this year and did a great job with her Bach Minuet. Very brave to go up on stage and play so well.
Eddy – is amazing the way he has mastered music reading in two notational systems, as well as chords and accompanying styles. He has now graduated like Corbin and will be learning electric bass with another teacher. Even with no lessons so far, he played bass for the guitar group, and held us all together as basses are wont to do.
As I said at the concert, I wish I still had groups of guitars and various instruments like I had when teaching school, so I just had to have one group item! Trouble is we can never rehearse properly but we did it all the same.
Will – learned the Japanese song at school and helped his teacher play the accompaniment for their concert. He had Alex helping with the singing. Will has not been learning guitar for very long and this was terrific – accompanying singers is hard – I know!
Emma and Ramona – Ramona has been learning ukulele this year and she did a great job with singing and playing Rocky Mountain, accompanied by her sister Emma on guitar.
Sadie – also learns ukulele and already reads regular music notation and can sing a number of songs very well – great work Sadie!
Steven – Some people commented that Steven’s singing of What a Wonderful World was one of the highlights of the concert – excellent singing Steven. Steven has studied guitar with Flourishing Muse but wants to continue with his singing.
Kedric – amazing to have achieved such good arpeggio playing – it is a hard style to master – and Kedric is singing really well – I believe he is in demand with several bands!
Alex – is only in grade 5 so to get up and play and sing a Taylor Swift song is very impressive.
Lee – what a big sound from a little girl with a big heart! This is the song she is going to sing later this year at her family reunion. I am sure it will be a highlight!
Jolan – terrific performance, accompanying herself, singing with such style, – very hard song to bring off – well done Jolan.
Sophie – I loved your singing and the misty tone of your voice – I know the braces don’t help with the diction but all the same a lovely job. (F barre chord is very challenging but you did it!).
Alexandra – only came to learn enough to help with an audition – Alexandra is a dancer – but then she finds this voice and this song – amazing interpretation!
Reagan – I am so sorry about your guitar running out of battery – you sang beautifully and you actually play beautifully as well in that difficult arpeggio style – you must sing it again so I can make a good recording!
Jake – is my composer and arranger! He learns the songs I give him but his love is making mash-ups of popular songs he likes – confident handling of the piano!
Henry – missed the last Soiree so this is his first – well done Henry!
Andrew – great job Andrew – I like the way you played all the scale passages evenly.
Ken – how appropriate that a Japanese boy played a beautiful Japanese song – have to really look for more like this! Well done Ken.
Rutendo – perfect playing Tendo – you are very attentive to accurate piano playing.
Carina – sensitive playing of a lovely sad piece – Carina really plays with a big range of expression.
Emerson – accurate playing, note perfect – achieved I understand in less than a week! no-one would have known except me!
Zoe – you did it! perfect playing and very sensitive – very well done Zoe.
Subi – also excellent playing from the sister of Zoe – you did the goldfish mouth well!
Chloe – this was a very, very good performance Chloe – from memory of course. You got all the parts perfectly including that nasty fast passage at the end of page 2!
RuRu – you played the gavotte with great style RuRu, I really like your touch on the piano.
Janelle – everyone loved your jazz playing so we will have to find you a jazz solo as well as the classical pieces you are working on.
Ashley – wonderfully spirited playing of one of my favorite pieces of music, thank you!
Myles – this was an amazing performance – very impressive composition especially considering it was only composed recently. You command the piano with authority.
Steve – you did it! Conquered the nerves and playing and sang really well. Beautiful arrangement in the accompaniment. You and Ashley are my finale and theory experts! Congratulations!
Richard – it was a pleasure to accompany you singing this lovely song!
Elijah – I thought you played the difficult Beethoven sonata really well, even though you didn’t think so – we are often our own worst critics. Looking forward to the Brahms.
Chelsea – thank you for coming back and playing for us – Chelsea you have made leaps and bounds in one year with Dmitri Shteinberg, your teacher at UNCSA. Grillen was dark and moody and the Shostokovich bright and playful!
