Monthly Archives: August 2016
Mame
Mame presents the story of an upper-crust woman who gains custody of her nephew after the death of her brother. The family clearly had money – the boy and his nanny arrive in the New York party pad of Auntie Mame and first meet her as she’s hosting a soiree combining prohibition booze, top entertainers […]
A Lesson and Vibrato
I had a lesson yesterday – my first in three weeks. I’ve been playing well enough recently, but I was out of town for a long weekend just prior to the lesson, so I worried about being rusty. Happily, rustiness wasn’t much of a problem. I’ve very nearly memorized the Seitz concerto, the first piece in […]
Dissonance
Northalsted’s Market Days is one of the biggest street festivals in Chicago. Now, straightaway, I want to admit to having a complicated relationship with Chicago’s many summer street-fests. On the surface, they are a source of pride and fun for many of the city’s neighborhoods, offering local businesses and artisans a chance to strut their […]
Tzigane: Ravel and French Impressionism
Maurice Ravel was a French composer living in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, regarded as one of the greatest ever to come out of France. He was also a classically trained pianist, though he apparently never distinguished himself on the instrument. I learned more about him yesterday reading Wikipedia as I listened to […]
Brain Acting Out
Last night as I warmed up with scales I was not getting the notes. I would play the G major scale and play C# instead of C. Conversely, I would play C instead of C# in the A major scale, a basic reversal. Then, while playing the C major scale I’d play F# instead of […]
Ryan Libel 