The Good Musician

Please bear with The Good Musician for jumping out of chronological order–came across this tidbit when organizing trip brochures (yes, I collect all that stuff–the arts administrator Web/print schizoid database mind).
Notenspur Music Trail opens fall 2008. It’s a 4.7 km signposted walking trail through musical wonderland. Sort of a pilgrimage to experience the homes and churches of an exceptional musical city. Leipzig was home to so many greats, poets as well as musicians and artists. But the city excels in nurturing music.
This relatively small area–the centrum being only a few dozen blocks or so, is lush with …read more

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Budapest is an old dowager, still grand, but crumbling about the edges. Many old palaces, homes, and historical buildings have been sold to other countries in order to support the country’s administration and government.
If the general municipal buildings are a bit shabby, the cathedrals and churches are kept in excellent repair and more likely to receive funds for renovations. Singing in these venues was a joy. Hungarians take their religion and accompanying music very seriously, and we are the beneficiaries of their love for both.

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OK. So what in the heck do you pack for a ten day tour in Central Europe? One bag allowance, which has got to hold music and concert gear. Not a lot of options after that, it’s purely a priorities and puzzle-solving game. Official papers and coin of the realm in my bum bag. Hmmm…

1 digital camera, batteries
1 pr. black Birkies
1 pr. black Footsmart closed shoes
1 pr. black knee his
7 pr. various undies
2 long-sleeved cotton shirts
4 short-sleeved cotton shirts
4 pr. trousers, casual to dress
1 journal
6 pens/pencils
2 thick paperbacks, sci-fi, historical NZ
3 qt. sized baggies of essential mini-toiletries, medication
5 pr. …read more

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Lois Perkins Chapel, on the Southwestern University campus, was a little bit of heaven for serious music lovers last Friday evening. An enraptured audience participated in a Cathedral Evensong service much like Felix Mendelssohn would have experienced. Bishop Joe Wilson celebrated with a slightly abridged version of the 1853 Anglican Book of Common Prayer, and the audience enjoyed a sonic and cerebral treat in the performance of new scholarly editions and rarely heard Mendelssohn works for chorale, boy soprano, and organ.
Organist John Schmidt chose the Sonata in A Major, Op. 65, No. 3 as the prelude to the evening. AVAE, …read more

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Image details: Mendelssohn served by picapp.com
Neighboring Georgetown is building a nationally recognized mega-festival of the arts. The Georgetown Festival of the Arts is an exemplar of community involvement producing a highly educational, thoroughly interactive, fun place to be for all ages. Kids can explore an instrumental petting zoo, learn the history of the dulcimer, and play along during a performance. Art in the Park ran May 31-June 1, and featured two days of fine arts shows and sales in the lovely San Gabriel Park. Georgetown even has it’s own Festival Pyrotechnician.
This coming weekend, June 5-8 is all about Mendelssohn in …read more

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If The Good Musician were to travel due north from Budapest, she would cross the Polish border and explore Warsaw, birthplace of Anton Rubenstein. I was privileged to hear him in a 1963 concert, a high school graduation gift from my parents.
Actually, I was thinking of Bo Diddley, saying a fond farewell to an icon of my pre-teen and teen years. His music always made me get up and dance.
Somehow that led me to Rubenstein, and my night at the concert. He did a Beethoven concerto, several fiery Latin composers, one of my faves, Heitor Villa-Lobos, and …read more

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Jacobi Handl (Lat. Jacobus Gallus Carniolus), 1550-1591, is perhaps the best known Slovenian composer. Writing primarily masses and motets (374 of those mamas), he worked with a printer in Prague to ensure his compositions were printed before his death. Pretty remarkable in any period.
Here is a fascinating Web site that gives a run-down on Slovenian church music during the Reformation and subsequently a run-in with the Communist regime.
Composers of that time made their living as many do today–writing secular pieces, forming secular instrumental and vocal groups, and teaching in addition to the court duties to produce masses for …read more

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So you have a Handel oratorio alto part to learn. Whether it’s in two days or two weeks, it never hurts to drill til there are no surprises. Here’s a site for audio files for each voice part, which can be a big help in nailing the notes, or smoothing out tricky turns or skips in a run.
You will have to take the no frills-execution of the mechanical keyboard and shape it into real music. This is where the musicianship comes in. What is the emotional context of the music? If you’re singing Handel, Bach, the Baroque, it will …read more

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I was thrilled to see that my new friends, the White Oak Trio, now have two videos up. This is exciting, because now every Good Musician can hear what a piano trio is supposed to sound like. Not only that, one of the videos interposes an interview with the group and live performances. Listen, and you’ll learn oodles about what goes in to making good music, and good music being made! This is a group to follow closely…

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If you take musical instruction, here are five tips to keep your teacher happy.
1. Show up. This should go without saying, but you’d be surprised at how ditching just one lesson can mean the difference between a so-so musician and a good musician. Even if you can’t play or sing, you can talk through the music with your teacher.
2. Be prepared to play or sing on the dot. Arrive early enough to soak your reed, warm up your instrument, or vocalize–whatever you need to do to be prepared to get right to the music. Make the most of your …read more

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