Micek Music Blog

Meeting about working at Marsh Theater in S.F.

2012-01-20T23:30:00.000-08:00

This afternoon I rode a BART train to North Berkeley to meet with Emily, the Program Director of the Marsh Youth Theater in San Francisco. She had contacted me about the possibility of working as music director for a show at the Marsh this summer. The show is a staging of "Jip, His Story", which is based upon the book written by noted children's author Katherine Paterson.

We went over some of the music from the show. I played several excerpts to demonstrate my comfort with different musical styles. Then we hashed out the calendar - rehearsals don't begin until June and performances will be held the first three weekends in July - as well as the compensation I can expect to receive. I was uncertain about whether to take this job or not, but after today's meeting I feel convicted that it's an opportunity I should not pass by.

This June promises to be an exceptionally busy month for me, but I look forward to meeting and beginning work with a new creative team.

Jesse

New March Diadem music

2012-01-14T02:13:00.000-08:00

Here's a cliche: "Writers who teach can never find the time to write themselves." And so a dream dies; a flame flickers out.

As a teacher (and now a parent of a young child), I find it more difficult than ever to carve out time to compose music, or even practice music I'm passionate about. It's a daily/weekly/monthly battle. More than a year ago I recorded the music that comprises my latest solo endeavor. I call the project March Diadem, and I titled this collection of songs "Enemy Apathy".

As a way of explaining the content of the music, here's an email I sent to a friend last week, providing a link to the music:

Alek -

I think I neglected to send you a link to recently completed music from my solo project March Diadem. Here's the link. I composed the songs and played everything.

My parents met each other through a Christian ministry and I grew up going to church every Sunday. My Dad was usually the teacher. This music project is my way of trying to merge my upbringing with my work as a musician. These are "songs from scripture", as the site banner says. Thought some background might be helpful.

Last time we met up, you asked me if I've been writing songs. This is what I've been doing lately.

Jesse

Memorial Service @ St. Benedict's Church, Oakland

2012-01-10T23:30:00.000-08:00

I was initially reluctant to take this gig because I watch my son every weekday morning, and the memorial was to start at 11am. But Linda, the vocalist I worked with today, convinced me to sign on. She has a daycare set up in her home and it would be available to leave the boy there. After being assured of all the details regarding his care, I assented to play for the service.

I had difficulty putting my suit on this morning -- the little guy was underfoot and really wanted my attention. I had to step around him and his outstretched arms several times lest we be late. I packed him and all his gear - bottle, extra food pouch, diapers, wipes, and a change of clothes just in case - and we headed off to Linda's house in the Oakland hills.

Linda and I rehearsed together at her home prior to departing for the church. She doesn't have a piano. Instead, I played on a funky 61-key keyboard. Some of the keys on the instrument were splattered with paint (care of one of Linda's daughters). It was a funny setup. We ran through our three songs: "Amazing Grace", Schubert's "Ave Maria", and "I'll Be Seeing You". All was smooth.

Arriving at the church, we found the deceased woman's body laid in an open casket in the building's entry. This is a crazy way to "meet" a stranger. I shuffled on in, past the mourners and toward the piano. From afar, the instrument looked to be a standard Yamaha grand piano. But upon closer inspection it revealed itself to be some bizarre digital/acoustic hybrid. I opened the lid and found no action therein: no strings, no hammers. Only a black felt cloth covering the area I expected to see standard innards. On top of the cloth was an abandoned bottled water container. This contributes to the sound? I don't know; I'm new to this venue. I discarded the plastic container.

The piano is plugged in to a Peavey speaker that sat at my left foot. I performed the memorial service with this monitor blaring upward at my left ear. It was not an ideal setup - I had no idea how well I was projecting around the room. I played a bunch of mellow hymns for prelude music. My three pieces with Linda were presented within the proceedings. I closed with a stately rendition of "When the Saints Go Marching In".

It was a simple gig. Music can be comfort and solace. I picked up my son back at Linda's and he was a happy boy. It was clear that he had been well taken care of. We said our goodbyes to our new friends and then headed back home.

Jesse

January 2012 Teaching Schedule

2012-01-01T23:30:00.000-08:00

-- My teaching schedule for January will be uninterrupted.

-- Here are the Theta Music Trainer exercises I'd like students to work on in January:

Melody -- Parrot Phrases

Harmony -- Tone Trees

Rhythm -- Rhythm Puzzles

Sound -- Dango Brothers

The top Theta Music achievers for the month of November were:

Carissa, Emma, Katie, Alex, and Kaitlyn T.

-- As a reminder for students enrolled in CM, here are the CM dates for this spring:

* Performance evaluations will be held on the weekends of March 3 & 4 and March 10 & 11.
** Theory testing will be conducted on the weekend of March 3 & 4.

Happy 2012,
Jesse

D.M.T. Chorus rehearsal & performances

2011-12-18T23:30:00.000-08:00

The year 2011 has hit me like a ton of bricks. I feel as though I've aged five years in the span of these mere twelve months. I had my first child this year, and that has certainly played a big part in the fatigue. He's lovely, but he's also hugely challenging; I'm sure any parent can relate.

I lacked the energy to properly document the D.M.T. Winter concert proceedings this time around. I will say that ultimately all went well. Pam was again the guest director and she did a fine job picking the program and bringing ample gusto to every rehearsal and performance.

Just like last December, my workload at the piano was immense. In total, I learned 22 unique pieces of music for these 4 performances. Only a couple we're especially challenging. But still, my brain was swimming. I developed a habit: midway through the 2nd half of each performance I would turn to the bassist Aaron and marvel/complain "There's so much music in this concert!"

The work passed in a blur and now I had two weeks off to pause and reflect.

Jesse

Recital w/ sax & clarinet students @ Community of Christ Church, Fremont

2011-12-11T23:30:00.000-08:00

"Excuse me, Boss?"

"Hey, Boss?"

I turned around to face the person hailing me. I was in a hurry to enter the church as I was only barely arriving on time.

"Yeah. What's up?" I replied.

"You know you can't park here. I have this whole row of spots reserved," he said, waving his arm to demonstrate his area of parking lot dominion.

"I'm only going to be here an hour," I protested.

"I need this spot clear for customers," he insisted.

I promised I would be back out in one minute to move my car. Inside the church the recital prior to us was running extremely late. Ultimately, the pieces I accompanied began a full half-hour late. Clearly, some music teachers don't bother to time their student's performances. I can imagine these teachers sitting docile in the quiet hours of the night, all the while inwardly exulting, "We'll go as long as we need to - every one of my precious students will play their piece... and I don't care who we keep waiting!"

As I moved my car to another spot far, far away I reflected to myself, "Why is that Christmas tree vendor calling me 'Boss'?! If that's what he's going to call me, he should at least offer me a proper parking spot!"

The recital was fine. Some of the students I accompanied had never worked with a pianist before. They dropped beats from a measure here, dropped full bars there, forgot how to tune their instrument. All in a day's work for me. No matter what happened, I endeavored to make the student look and sound good.

Jason, their instructor, introduced me as "One of the finest pianists in the Bay Area." I smiled and chuckled to myself when I heard that.

Jesse

Subbing @ St. Augustine's Church, Oakland

2011-12-08T23:30:00.000-08:00

I accompanied the Feast of the Immaculate Conception service this evening. I always forget how much worse traffic is going out to Oakland on a weeknight, so I arrived a few minutes later than planned. Carol, one of the stalwart sopranos of the church choir, was waiting for me in the church cafeteria. We rehearsed an arrangement of "Ave Maria" that she was to sing, deciding on the lower key from our two printed options. Then a rush over to the church.

Seated at the piano bench, I skimmed through the music binder. Tonight I performed the program of music with no prior rehearsal. I was familiar with some of the selections, but several I had never played before.

At the end of our rendition of the responsorial Psalm "All the Ends of the Earth" I found myself hung out to dry. It is traditional when performing these Psalms to sing twice through the refrain at the beginning and then twice through the refrain again at the end after singing all the verses. Expecting this tradition to be upheld today, I laid down a decisive V7 chord (A7 in this instance) to lead the cantors back around for one final refrain. They didn't go with me. I found myself stranded. As I played an instrumental version of the refrain I started having doubts about what was supposed to come next. So I determined to myself, "Oh, I forgot that they wanted to sing an additional verse... I'll go to the verse section once again after I finish with this refrain." That was the wrong move. The cantors response to my veering back for another verse was to walk back to their seats. I was humbled. No icy stares afterward, or anything like that; we just didn't connect.

These things happen. I've learned to not dwell on the blunders. I constantly try to teach my students this vital lesson about performance: if you make a mistake, just move on. People will forget about it almost instantly. Few people in this world have a heightened musical perspective. If the performer just moves on, the majority of listeners never even realize a mistake happened.

Jesse

Rehearsal w/ sax and clarinet students @ C & L Music, Fremont

2011-12-04T23:30:00.000-08:00

Jason B. is a saxophone & clarinet teacher. He got my number from the musicians directory in the CSUEB music department. Both of us attended college there. He enrolled toward the end of my tenure. Flash back to ten years ago and perhaps I would be able to place him. It's been awhile, and when he called a few weeks ago I couldn't put a name to a face. But he remembers me, and he asked me to accompany his students for their recital next Sunday.

The teaching studios at C & L are in a sad state. The one I rehearsed in today contains a dilapidated, stained sink and has a big window which looks out on a deck festooned with a tall, abandoned lamp and a bunch of 2 X 4's on top of a tarp that's covering... something. It is not an ideal learning venue, in my opinion.

We rehearsed from 11am - 2pm. I stayed a half-hour later because the last student of the day arrived quite late. I am kind, so I stayed longer than I had planned so that he wouldn't be cut from the recital. When he arrived he seemed stoned, or at the least blasé, so I'm not sure how much my charity was appreciated.

Most of the music placed in front of me today was at an intermediate level. No real problems. Each of the five students had an allotted half-hour for rehearsal time. We ran the pieces through twice in most instances and then one of the parents would record me playing the piano accompaniment alone for the student to rehearse to this week.

Jason said several times, "Yeah, these aren't too difficult, but David my last student is playing a Heiden Sonata that is quite challenging." Every time he said it I thought to myself two things:

1) Okay, so he's playing a Haydn Sonata. What's the big deal? The reading shouldn't be too difficult.

2) Did Haydn really compose a Sonata for saxophone & piano??

I was in the dark. It wasn't the famous classical-era composer Franz Joseph Haydn that Jason was referring to. There's a 20th century composer named Bernhard Heiden (1910 - 2000) who wrote this particular saxophone Sonata. And it is quite difficult: atonal and pretty wild for a high school student to be performing.

What a misfortune that that kid showed up so late this afternoon. This resulted in minimal time to rehearse what is by far the most difficult piece of the bunch. Upon parting I assured the student, "Listen, I'll practice my part this week. If you get your part in order we should be fine next Sunday." We'll see how that goes. Thing is, it's the kind of music that even if you play it right it kinda sounds like a mess, so we may just fool everybody with it, including ourselves.

Jesse

D.M.T. Chorus rehearsal & Recital group rehearsal

2011-12-03T23:30:00.000-08:00

This morning's chorus rehearsal at the Douglas Morrison Theatre was uneventful. I arrived five minutes late and was pleased that no one called me out for that. It was a relaxed atmosphere in rehearsal this morning, but still there was a lot of music to get through.

I only gave the packet of tunes a cursory glance prior to today. Only a few of the selections will be especially difficult. My biggest challenge for these concerts will be No. 21 from Bach's "Christmas Oratorio" - "Glory to God in the Highest". I absolutely massacred it this morning. It may get better by performance time, but for now it's a mess. In most measures there's a chord change on every 8th note. Both of my hands are bouncing all over the place, sometimes hitting the right notes. I did practice this piece at least half a dozen times prior to this morning, but still no joy. It is difficult music.

During the break one of the small groups had previously reserved my time to run through their revisions to an arrangement of the Christmas standard "All Through the Night". It was totally straightforward; not much to go over, really, but I'm sure they feel more secure now.

Straight after the D.M.T. rehearsal I jumped in the car and drove to RHL rehearsal studios in Fremont. Every recital I try to program a number of group songs where students collaborate with one another on some well-known pop or rock standard. I am never compensated for my role in organizing all this and being present at the rehearsals as an instructor. It's funny how none of the parents or students every questions it. It is a unique individual who would approach me saying, "Hey, you're clearly working here. What fee should I pay you for this rehearsal time?" Never happened yet. I need to sort this out in the future and at least charge a minimal fee so that I don't descend into bitterness.

A mere 10 minutes into rehearsing the Metallica song "For Whom the Bell Tolls", I strapped on an electric bass and plugged in. Josh, one of the guitar students, gave me a 2-minute primer on the iconic bass riff that features in the introduction of the song and then we were off. I'll be performing the bass part for the song.

For next weekend's recital I was able to corral students of Jason, a guitar teacher and regular collaborator of mine, as well as Brandon, a drum instructor who I've been working for a while now to bring into the fold. I had a bass teacher on tap to bring some of his students on board as well until he bizarrely ceased returning my phone calls. So that part of the dream for this recital died. I'll be playing electric bass on one song, synth bass on two other songs, and then Jason will play bass on the fourth group song.

When I woke up this morning I was not looking forward to the amount of work facing me. But the afternoon rehearsal turned out to be a lot of fun. It's been years since I've been a member of a band. It's fun to turn students into collaborators. They're helping me relive something I've missed, even if only for a few fleeting hours on a Saturday afternoon.

Jesse

December 2011 Teaching Schedule

2011-12-01T00:26:00.000-08:00

-- I will not be teaching during the latter half of December. Here's a rundown of my schedule for the month:

Monday students: I will see you twice, 12/5 and 12/12

Tuesday students: I will see you twice, 12/6 and 12/13

Thursday students: I will see you thrice, 12/1, 12/8 and 12/15

Sunday students: I will see you twice, 12/4 and 12/11

There are a number of students I will be scheduling make-up lessons for due to various conflicts of mine. I will contact you directly. If you do not hear from me, then follow the schedule above.

-- There is a recital fee of $15 for every student participating in the recital. For families who have 2 siblings enrolled with me, the fee is $25. Please include this amount with your payment for December lessons.

-- The next student recital will be held on Saturday, December 10 between noon - 4pm at CSUEB. Click here for all important info about the event. And here is a list of performers and which group they will be in.

Have happy days,

Jesse

December 10 Recital -- Details & Directions

2011-12-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

The recital will be held December 10 in the CSUEB Music Building in room 1055.

For a CSUEB campus map, click here (the Music Building is the donut-shaped building on the far left of the map, abbreviated as "MB").

**You will have to pay for parking on campus even though this is a weekend event.

There will be 2 groups of performers:

- Group 1 starts at 1pm

- Group 2 starts at 2:30pm

Each student will know ahead of time which group they are a part of.

Performers:

- please arrive 20-30 minutes early!

- dress code: no jeans, t-shirts, or tennis shoes (nice casual)

For a Google Map of the CSUEB Hayward Hills Campus, click here

For detailed driving directions to CSUEB from anywhere in the bay area, click here

Each student's pre-paid recital fee of $10 provides admission for 2 adults. Any additional adult guests will need to pay a $5 admission fee at the door. For all kids (18 and under) there is no admission charge. No tickets required for this event -- all are welcome.

Still have questions? Email me at jessemicek@yahoo.com

Group 1 & 2 Performers List

2011-12-01T00:00:00.001-08:00

In no particular order:

Group 1

Start time: 1pm

- Alex

- Anna

- Waldon

- Valerie

- P.J.

- Rachel

- James

- Kaitlyn G.

- Mary

- Jimmy

- Sean

- Geremy

- Jacob

- Ben

- Kaitlyn T.

- Jonathan

- Christopher

Group 2

Start time: 2:30pm

- Steve
- Aditya

- Emma

- Katie

- Aniruddh

- Allyn

- Carissa

- Debalina

- Jessika

- Sriya

- Linda

- Barry

Subbing @ St. Augustine's Church, Oakland

2011-11-23T23:30:00.000-08:00

I'm writing this post well after the events It chronicles. My life is unhealthily busy these days and at times things feel out of control. I'm working on it.

My abiding recollection of the mass I subbed for on the evening of Saturday 11/19 was performing a rousing gospel tune called "Ride On, King Jesus". The arrangement required me to play a forte two-hand octave descending line as a four-bar introduction. If the congregation was roused, they sure didn't show it.

I am always inspired by Jim's seeming lack of concern that the church attendees rarely seem moved by his daring musical programming. It seemed that tonight no person in the pews was moved, but I was on board. At the close of the service I said to Jim, "That was fun!"

The Wednesday, 11/23 evening choir rehearsal was the worst type of rehearsal an accompanist will encounter: a tedious hour and a half of plunking out parts for the choir. I could have left one hand at home. Since this rehearsal fell on the night before Thanksgiving there were several notable absentees. The choir evidenced gaping holes in a couple of its sections (i.e. only 1 tenor and 2 basses).

Several women from the chorus had attended the Rita Moreno show at the Berkeley Rep. They had some warm remarks for me. It's a cool thing to have been part of a show that literally thousands of people from the local community attended. I have never been part of a musical project that everyone so openly enjoyed. It's a sad statement, that.

Jim always conducts good-natured banter with Rose, an elderly soprano in the choir. Tonight he joked with her, asking, "Do you even know how to pray the rosary?" Here's the thing: even I know that Rose is all about the rosary -- she's always trying to get regular rosary services started up at the church. She's one of the most faithful Catholics I have encountered.

Every time I sub at a chorus rehearsal, Rose asks Jim, "Who is this?" (pointing at me). Jim replies, "That's Jesse; he's been here before". Then Rose thinks for a few moments before saying, "I have a son named Jesse." He's a lawyer.

Jesse

"Life w/o Makeup" at The Berkeley Rep Theatre, my fifth week of shows

2011-11-13T23:30:00.000-08:00

Wednesday
My brother, his wife, and several family friends attended the show tonight. Caught up with them afterward in the theatre lobby. Musically, everything was on point this evening.
Thursday
These Thursday 2pm matinee shows are so strange. They always feel odd and everyone in the band is extra groggy. Again a good show. Nothing special to report.
Friday
Tonight my parents attended the show with a couple of their friends. They graciously offered me a ride home. It was lovely to avoid the BART routine.
At the close of tonight's performance, after the final curtain had dropped, Ms. Moreno approached the bandstand and jokingly said to us, "When are you guys finally going to learn the show and get things together?! Schedule some more rehearsals or something!" It was all in jest. Everyone feels the end of the production drawing near.
Again, an excellent all-around performance this evening. The audience was rowdy and up for it.
Saturday
When commuting the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, BART is better. Hitched a ride with a family friend after the matinee show today and we were hung up in all manner of Berkeley street traffic. Not pleasant. I would have been home 30-45 minutes earlier had I caught a BART train instead. Wouldn't have bothered me at all except I had rescheduled a student's lesson for this evening and needed to get home promptly. I am forced to conclude that despite a transit system that has obvious drawbacks, BART is better!
My wife, several members of her family (including her visiting grandmother Anne, who is a big Rita Moreno fan) attended the show today along with several family friends. It was a big group for me to address out in front of the theater after the show. Everyone in the group seemed to have had a good time. That makes me happy, because I hate having people come see me be a part of something that they decide is rubbish. That's the worst!

Anyone I've spoken to after seeing "Like w/o Makeup" raves about how much they enjoyed it. This is a rare occurrence for me; I've never been part of a production with such universal appeal.
Sunday
The day of the final performance. And it was a great show. The curtain that has shrouded the bandstand for the entire run of performances was lifted tonight during the bows. I looked to my left briefly, catching a glimpse of the rapturous crowd. This produced a vertiginous effect for me. I'll never be a stage actor; I do not desire to face hordes.
The after-party was held at Rita's incredible house in the Berkeley hills. It was a lovely, intimate time.
This has been a strange sojourn for me. I would do this show again in a heartbeat, but I do feel like I've lost myself in the project. The last month and a half of my life has consisted of me constantly being on the run. This afternoon my wife had prepared a sandwich for me prior to my departure and I only had 3 minutes to eat it before I had to zoom off to catch a BART train. Many of my meals have been like that. It's not the healthiest existence. I have memorized the afternoon and evening departure times of Richmond-bound trains from the Bayfair BART station (3 minutes after the hour on weekdays, 12 minutes after the hour on weekends).

I have had some great musical experiences. I worked closely with Rita Moreno, a bonafide legend of the entertainment industry. I shared the stage with a group of outstanding musicians. And I worked with a cast and crew that were all top-notch. Despite my happiness at the run concluding, there remains a strange feeling of a family being disbanded. My next couple weeks will feel curious - no BART trips, and no more need to dress in all-black.
I said to my brother after the Wednesday evening performance, "If this proves to be the peak of my career as a musician, I'm okay with that. I'm not out for glory; this is enough."
When I had to depart the party this evening, I shared a warm embrace with Rita and we exchanged kind words. She is a remarkable woman. I feel privileged to have had this opportunity.
Jesse

"Life w/o Makeup" at The Berkeley Rep Theatre, my fourth week of shows

2011-11-06T23:30:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday
I felt overwhelmed this week and could not muster the energy to type my thoughts on each performance at the close of the days. So instead I'll attempt to paint a picture of the week as a whole.
This is my fourth week performing "Life w/o Makeup" at the Berkeley Rep Theatre. The first week of November held alluring promise in that this week would only feature 5 performances rather than the usual 6. Next week will be the same.
Despite the let-off, fatigue was a big problem for me over the course of these days. I've been having a hard time concentrating on the bandstand. Making musical errors in spots where I never had any problems before. Sweating a lot. Feeling unhealthy. I need some time off.
I am running short on reading material. That has been a hindrance to me - I need diversions! I struggled through a few issues of Smithsonian magazine, but I'm finding a lot of their content to be drab. I did read an interesting article this evening about rhinoceros poaching in South Africa. One scientist has discovered how to extract DNA material from a rhinoceros' horn in order to match an extracted horn to its previous body. This is a new way of connecting smugglers to recent poaching crimes. So there's that. The story included a photograph of a deceased rhinoceros whose horn had been shaven off by bandits. That was extremely unpleasant to see.
Earlier in the week I was thumbing through the latest Musician's Friend catalogue and coveting the new George Harrison Gretsch Duo Jet electric guitar. It's a beautiful instrument:

But I already own a black electric guitar: a Gibson Les Paul studio. And in truth I don't play that instrument nearly enough, so the idea of me purchasing the Gretsch guitar above is strictly fantasy. (Not to mention its hefty price tag: $3500!)

The show is swimming along nicely, I guess. Lately I am finding it hard to keep track of what day of the week it is. I scarcely feel anything anymore when I play the tunes in the show. It's like I'm living in a curious alternate reality: Robot Mode. I spring into action when the relevant cue line sounds in the stage monitor next to the piano bench. Then soon we're starting the song. When the number concludes I rustle for reading material again and resume something resembling "sleep mode". My working life is weird.

Last week Dave and Alex, the drummer and saxophonist in the band, told me a tragic story about a pianist they played with in the past. This gentleman worked as pianist for 5 years in a San Francisco production of the show "Phantom of the Opera". After accruing a decent cache of cash, he determined that he would finally leave the show and retire to "play all the music I've been unable to make while stuck playing this show." Within months he was stricken with cancer and died.

I don't even know what to make of that story, but it sticks with me. What's the lesson to be learned? Carpe diem? Be thankful for what you have now? Don't stop working or you might get cancer and die?!? Recollections of the horrid film "Mr. Holland's Opus" spring to mind. The character Mr. Holland is a beleaguered high school band instructor all his adult life and never has enough free time to progress in his own composing endeavors. Finally when he's old and gray, he has a premiere performance of his work, his "Opus". And unfortunately, it's rubbish. Saccharine and over-blown. Well, at least that's how I remember it. So what's the moral of that?

Ms. Moreno's co-star from "West Side Story", George Chakiris, attended the performance tonight. She brought him up on stage at the end after all the bows were completed.

Mr. Chakiris has beautiful brown hair! I don't know what portion of it is natural, but credit to him if he's rolling like that in his late 70's! Sascha and I exchanged puzzled looks with one another when he strode onto the stage. Who is that young man emerging from stage left? Oh, it's George Chakiris.

Looking forward to closing out the show next week. I'm determined to play my best for the final 5 shows.

Jesse

November 2011 Teaching Schedule

2011-11-01T01:08:00.000-07:00

-- My teaching schedule for November will be mostly uninterrupted. I am not be teaching on Thanksgiving Day holiday, of course. I need to shuffle some Thursday and Sunday students to different times this month due to my ongoing performances in Berkeley. I will communicate schedule changes to everyone on an individual basis.

During the first two weeks of November I'm continuing my work with actress Rita Moreno's one-woman play "Life w/o Makeup" at the Berkeley Rep Theatre. If anyone is still interested in seeing the show, you need to get moving: Sunday, 11/13 is the final performance.

-- Fees for Certificate of Merit students are due with November lesson payments.

As a reminder, here are the CM dates for this spring:

* Performance evaluations will be held on the weekends of March 3 & 4 and March 10 & 11.

** Theory testing will be conducted on the weekend of March 3 & 4.

-- The next student recital will be held on Saturday, December 10 between noon - 4pm at CSUEB. Save the date

-- All of my students have now had a full month to explore the Theta Music Trainer website and work on the exercises there. During the month of November and in months to come there will be a more structured Theta Music assignment for students. Here are the exercises I'd like students to train on for this month:

Melody -- Tone Drops

Harmony -- Chord Locks

Rhythm -- Flash Rhythms

Sound -- Speed Pitch

There will be prizes awarded to top student Theta Music achievers this month! (Yes, that is a bribe.)

I'll check in with each student at the beginning of December to see how they have progressed.

Personal note: I have quietly ascended to the 2nd ranking among top Theta Music users. See for yourself. I only need to pass 2 more levels of "Speed Pitch" and then I will have achieved the highest ranking currently possible. Hurray for me.

-- The Song of the Month for October is "Stereo Hearts" by Gym Class Heroes.

Have happy days,

Jesse

"Life w/o Makeup" at The Berkeley Rep Theatre, my third week of shows

2011-10-30T23:30:00.000-07:00

Tuesday
Back on the bandstand. I learned tonight that "Life w/o Makeup" has added one more performance at the end of the run. So now our final show will be Sunday, November 13.
We had some laughs behind the curtain prior to showtime talking about Kenny G. I don't how he came up in conversation. Sascha and Alex proceeded to rip into him. I have no problems with Kenny G. He seems to have become a totem for all that ails the music business (i.e. "That guy is such a sell-out. In his songs, he's playing constantly but he never says anything. His whole act is cheesy showboating.") Whatever. I don't care for any of his work but I respect his ability to make a living as a musician. Some people are more ready to sail down that "sell-out" route than others. Credit to Kenny for being able to sleep at night and for hauling in sacks of cash over the years.
Sascha told a story about how several years ago he received a last-minute call from a booking agent asking if Sascha could fill in on bass in Kenny G's band for a concert in Mountain View. Apparently the regular bassist had taken severely ill. Sasha contemplated his decision for a few moments -- he admitted that weighing heavily on his mind was the question "What will my musician friends think of me if I take this gig...?" -- before turning it down. He was already booked for another job that evening, so that made his decision easy.
Wednesday
I made the mistake of bringing up the "Occupy Oakland" protests with one of my bandmates this evening. On my BART commute home last night the Oakland City Center/12th St. station was closed due to civil unrest. Police had surrounded the "Occupy" encampment at Frank Ogawa Plaza (which the protesters have sagely rebranded "Oscar Grant Plaza") and were rooting protesters out of their campsites.
Living in a small town like Castro Valley (small by CA bay area standards, anyway) one can be insulated from all manner of protest movements. People don't participate here; instead they raise their families quietly, for better or worse. So I got on the computer last night to see what the hubbub looked like. I found plenty of photo galleries and it all looked familiar.
[Editor’s note: I wrote this entry before learning that protester and Iraq war veteran Scott Olsen suffered a skull fracture Tuesday night via something tossed by a policeman. The OPD P.R. department now have a lot of questions to answer. Why do they continually make horrendous errors in such high-profile situations?]
The police are being viewed as villains for doing their job. Yes, ultimately they deployed tear gas canisters on the mob. But I feel little sympathy for the protesters because 1)they were warned repeatedly that if they didn’t disperse teargas would be deployed on them 2)their motives and desires are vague and 3)a lot of their statements sound like whining. I firmly believe that everyone has opportunity in this country. I also believe that many people who live here are unthankful for all manner of daily blessings. They take fruit for granted.
Amongst the dozens of photos I viewed last night the one that arrested me (pardon the pun in this context) most was one of a young female protester holding a handmade placard that read thus:
"All my heroes kill cops"
I'm sorry occupiers, but like any team endeavor, your movement is only as strong as your weakest member. And it appears that we may have found her. A poor, unfortunate soul indeed. Her ignorance is hardly worthy of a riposte. But I'll say this: I know a man who is an Oakland police officer. He walks those streets every day, and I do not wish to trade places with him. He is an honorable man and I respect him immensely.
I made the mistake of saying to my bandmate, "I have some sympathy for the cops. They are just doing their job in a difficult situation." He was quiet for a few moments, before responding, "I have no sympathy for cops." And then he said no more.
The brusqueness of his statement leveled me. And later I wondered, "Then is he an anarchist? Are we to live in a lawless society?" Whoever would say that we U.S. citizens live in a police state is an utter fool.
This short pre-show conversation left me feeling shaken. I don't know why it hit me so hard. Perhaps because I was tending to a whining baby all day. Perhaps because I haven't been eating well lately. Perhaps because I'm away from home 7 days a week every week this month.
Sometimes in performance I can feel my body letting me down. My finger slips off a key, I don't turn a page briskly enough, I forget where the music is headed next. My body was letting down me tonight and it makes me wonder whether I have the stamina for this. I wasn't meeting my standards, and that is always frustrating.
Thursday
The days are blurring together and it becomes difficult to distinguish one performance from the next. There are minute differences, but they are difficult to recall after the fact.
When I arrived at the theatre Ms. Moreno summoned me because she wanted to experiment with a different key for the ballad song that closes the show. After a brief rehearsal we decided to keep the key the same as we had transposed it to last week. She will adjust her approach to the song vocally, singing her second entrance lighter so that she springs up to the highest note without blasting. It is a sentimental tune and singing with full chest voice probably doesn't suit the mood.
Friday
The highlight of tonight's performance was a laugh that the band shared with Rita. Earlier this week she told the guys in the band a story about how when she worked with comedian Milton Berle he always insisted that the band on the bandstand behind him act like they were enjoying the show. He beseeched them to respond enthusiastically to his jokes, whether they had heard them 100 times already or not. His suggestion to the band: when I hit the punch line, all of you shrug your shoulders up and down to make it look like you're overwhelmed by laughter.
There is a choreographed joke in the first act of the show where Rita speaks to the audience. Dave, the drummer always plays the classic snare drum/cymbal crash response to her joke. She usually acknowledges his accompaniment by looking back at the bandstand and laughing with him. Tonight when she looked back she caught Alex and Dave doing the silly shrugging shoulders gesture from Milton Berle's act, and it cracked her up. I cherish unscripted moments like this.
Saturday
Some friends of mine attended the performance this evening. After chatting with them for several minutes in the courtyard adjacent to the theatre I had just enough time to run through the musical cues with the sub on bass tonight, Michael. He had played the show once or twice before I joined the production, so it wasn't all new to him. Still, there are some things we can tighten up with a little rehearsal prior to our performance tomorrow afternoon when he will be subbing again.
Tonight was good. We're starting to tick down the days until "Life w/o Makeup" is over. Eleven shows to go.
Sunday
I'm tearing through magazines here. I have toppled recent editions of these periodicals: Spin, Mojo, GQ, Details, Smithsonian, Entertainment Weekly, Wired, and Rolling Stone. I learned years ago that one must shield oneself from the soul-crushing repetition inherent in theatre jobs. But if you only have 10 minutes between songs here, and then 20 minutes there, diving into something weighty can be difficult. Books with lengthy chapters are a no-go. So magazines are my chosen diversion. Usually magazine articles are no longer than 8 pages. That's the perfect length.
This show has taken over my life in a way that is either beautiful or disturbing. I feel hollow these days, like my primary purpose in life is to act as a vessel for "Life w/o Makeup". My days are filled with running. Trying to catch a BART train, or trying to figure out which day of the week I rescheduled this or that student to. It's dizzying. Yet it's a great opportunity for me to rub shoulders with a legendary entertainment. Ms. Moreno has been an absolute delight to work with. The musicians I'm playing with are awesome. They have welcomed me and encouraged me from day one.
The life of the Working Musician is one of inconsistent opportunity. It is filled with mental challenges. These are tempered by the occasional burst of sheer joy. This is my life.
All the other musicians in the band are hustling just like I am. Our banter sounds like this: "Oh man, I just played 6 gigs in 3 days." "Tuesday is my first day off in weeks." "Okay, so this show ends in mid-November... that means I just need to find some work for December now." It's a tough life, but I'm not complaining. I'm just sharing the facts. The last day of October is tomorrow and I didn't have a single day off this month.
Jesse

When Practice Isn't Enough

2011-10-26T12:00:00.000-07:00

From an article by Corinna Da Fonseca-Wollheim, published in the Wall Street Journal 9/29/11:

Performance psychologists are invited into music departments nation-wide, as educators recognize the need to prepare musicians for the competitive, high-stakes world of classical music. In the past, performance anxiety was rarely discussed; if anything, it was seen as a Darwinian way of separating those fit for a solo career from those doomed to teach. Today, performance psychologists advertise their services as coaches, not shrinks, providing musicians the same concrete tools and drills offered athletes and CEOs.

-----

Fear is not the problem: If you want to do well, you will probably experience fear. [The newer approach] is to build up the mental skills needed in a performance, like courage, trust and a focus on higher-order qualities: artistry and expression for musicians, strategy for athletes. Much of this involves [mental training] ... In addition, [performance psychologists coax] teachers and musicians to incorporate performance-like play time into each practice session and lesson.

Read the full article here.

"Life w/o Makeup" at The Berkeley Rep Theatre, my second week of shows

2011-10-23T23:30:00.000-07:00

Tuesday
The show's bassist and drummer, Sascha and Dave, were speaking before the performance tonight about how this job has become a "union gig". I am not a member of the local musicians union. I have never felt compelled to become entwined in that. Apparently some of your pay goes to a pension account with the union. There are other benefits, too, I guess. It's a bit murky. I am not going to join the union unless I start doing shows like this on a monthly basis.
The music went well tonight. Ms. Moreno is battling an allergy which affects her speaking. No big problem; she just takes a couple more breaks in the show to sip some water and clear her throat. It does affect how she sings her ballad tunes, so I was listening carefully this evening whenever I accompanied her for the slower numbers.
Wednesday
There was a sub in the drummer's chair this evening. I caught an earlier BART train so that I could arrive at the Berkeley Rep with plenty of time to rehearse cues with him. The sub did fine. It's funny to me that this show has only been in my life for nigh on two weeks and now I'm the expert, teaching other musicians the ins and outs of a performance. It has been a swift assimilation.
I'm not having fun on BART. The ride to the theatre tonight was one of the most claustrophobic I have ever experienced. One of my fellow passengers mumbled to no one in particular, "This train at this time of day is usually a 6-car train." We were squished into 5 measly cars. I was thankful to have snagged a seat.
On my return ride at the end of the night I was sat behind a gentleman who wanted to chat. He asked me how my day was. "Alright," I replied. "How about yours?" -- I felt compelled to ask. "Today was my day off. I always spend money on my day off!" But he wasn't happy telling me about spending his money; he was rueful. He finished by saying, "I'd rather have worked today and not spent money." I didn't press him as to how he'd exercised his spending power, but it's fun to imagine he had just purchased a second hot tub -- one to keep in the bed of his truck... you know, just in case -- or something odd like that. He and I embarked the train at the Bayfair station and walked our separate ways.
Thursday
The days blur together. One performance follows swiftly after the last. Tonight was unique, though, because 15 minutes into the show we experienced a 3.8 magnitude earthquake. (I learned later that the nearby UC Berkeley campus was the epicenter of the quake.) The theatre rocked and swayed. I could see the stage set undulating on my monitor screen at my feet next to the piano. Ms. Moreno improvised some banter with the stage manager, initially doubting his assurances that everything was alright for us to carry on. I believe she flipped him off from the stage. The gesture was as light-hearted as flipping the bird can be.
At the end of the night I missed my regular BART train and had to wait 20 minutes in the catacombs of the station waiting for the next one to hurtle through. That was a drag. Getting home at 11:30pm feels a lot different than getting home 11pm, especially when I've been away working this show day after day.
Friday
Tonight's audience was up for it. One can have a pretty clear sense of how the day's show will be based on how rapturous an opening ovation Ms. Moreno receives when she first strides onto the stage. Tonight she was washed with waves of affection. Things proceeded swimmingly from there. Every comedic moment felt amplified, and I could hear Ms. Moreno alter certain bits of her dialogue slightly to give this audience a little bit more. They earned it.
The band is sounding great. I haven't had to do much besides slotting in my part to complement what the other 3 musicians were already doing.

Sascha and Dave have an ongoing chess match that they resume at every intermission. The board and pieces are left out in the break area upstairs each night, in good faith that no interloper will pass by and shuffle their construct.
My wrists have been hurting this week. No fun. I've been resting between performances - no making music these days, except at the Berkeley Rep Theatre. There's not all that much playing in the show. But there are several instances where we have been sitting for 20 minutes and then kick into a very physical piece. It doesn't feel healthy, but there's no alternative.
I caught my BART train, barely. Had to sprint down the stairs again.
Saturday
The cast and crew of a theater production become joined as one in the course of a run of performances. If one member of this larger body falters in performance, others pick up the slack. This afternoon Ms. Moreno missed a vocal entrance for one of the songs. She called out to the band behind the curtain, "Oh, I'm so sorry - I missed it. Can we try that again?" We quickly ascertained where she wanted to restart, and the show proceeded from there without a hitch.
At the end of the performance Dave was marveling at Rita, saying repeatedly "She's such a class act." It's true. She could have thrown the band under the bus and somehow blamed us for the missed entrance. But she copped to her error, and we appreciate that.
I caught a car ride back home with my wife at the end of her afternoon errands. I thought I was in for a luxurious escape from my BART routine. Instead we got stuck on highway 580 as police spent hours trying to clear a crazy accident that happened in San Leandro. I learned later that a driver of a para-transit van had purposefully rammed and killed a Hell's Angels biker, dragging the unfortunate cyclist for miles. Uggh. Police cars streamed past our rows and rows of inert automobiles, broadcasting the words "Get off the freeway!" to us through their loudspeakers. We would have loved to get off right that moment. But instead it took hours to reach an off-ramp.
Sunday
I should have eaten more food prior to the show. My energy faded badly in the second half and a dip in my concentration accompanied the low energy. My playing on the final ballad number of the performance felt and sounded particularly stilted and lame. A day away from the Berkeley Rep tomorrow is much appreciated. Time to recharge.
My method of tolerating the repetition of "Life w/o Makeup": bring lots of magazines and bury your head in them whenever there is a break. This has been working for me. My ears perk up at important cue lines that let me know a song is near. Then I cast the magazine aside and help ready the band.
Jesse

"Life w/o Makeup" at The Berkeley Rep Theatre, my first week of shows

2011-10-16T23:30:00.000-07:00

Tuesday

I am assimilating. Ms. Moreno was kind enough to offer me encouragement at intermission. "Wonderful - everything sounds terrific" she said as she walked toward her dressing room. Gave me a lift, and everything proceeded swimmingly from there.
Wednesday
For this evening's performance there was a sub for the regular reed player Alex. Occupying Alex's chair for the night was Tim. I first met Tim when I was a student at Chabot College. He was a teacher there at that time. Very kind fellow; nice to catch up with him. My last recollection of him is from when he conducted a production of "Cabaret" with me in the pit. The show's director had convinced him to dress in drag. It was a seedy gig. Good to encounter him in musician's standard dress: all black. Leaves me with a better lasting image of the man.
Thursday
I was sleepy for this matinee performance. Lots of sitting and waiting. The playing is coming to me easily enough. Staying engaged and on point is proving the greater challenge.
Just after the show ended, bows complete, curtain down, Rita approached the piano requesting a key change for her final ballad. I was caught off-guard since I was already packing up to go home, so I stumbled with her transposing request initially and couldn't figure out what she wanted. She told me to take a few minutes to figure it out and then we'd meet upstairs at the upright piano there. The tune in question has a passage of the melody that travels by half steps above and below the starting note. That's where I was getting stuck. So I rehearsed it for a minute or two, readying a version a half-step higher and then also a version a whole step higher.
Before ascending the stairs, Michael the stage manager needed my driver's license expiration date to complete payroll paperwork. Before he walked off he mentioned, "I asked Rita a couple days ago how she thinks the show is going and she went on for for several minutes about how much she enjoys your playing." Hearing that from him was an unexpected gift.
I sat myself at the crummy upright piano upstairs and worked through the key changes one more time. A woman was waiting for Rita there; I think they are old friends. She asked me where I lived (I think the question was actually "Where do you come from?"). "I live in Castro Valley," I replied. "How come I've never heard of you before?". "I guess I stay undercover," I replied.
Then she told me what she called her "one joke about female singers":
A woman asks the band at a nightclub if she can sit in and sing a number. "What song would you like to sing?" the bandleader asks. "'Lush Life'" she replies. "What key would you like it be in?" he replied. The woman answered, "I'd like it in B ... is that too fast?"
Just as she finished telling me the joke, she left abruptly.
Rita joined me at the piano. She decided she likes the change to a half-step higher. That settled, she offered me further encouraging words prior to departing: "I love how much feeling you get from the instrument. From the first rehearsal when you joined us, everyone has immediately pleased with what you bring to the show." So there it is -- we're in the midst of a love-fest.
Friday
I've never played a show with more than 4 performances a week. 6 a week feels like a big leap beyond that threshold. I taught a lesson in the late afternoon and then took a short nap prior to enacting my BART routine. I ran from my car at the Bayfair station and barely caught my intended train. The evening had synchronicity about it because post-performance I found myself running down the stairs of the Downtown Berkeley station to catch my return train. Not much to speak about musically.
Saturday & Sunday
The shows are going well. I'm tired.

On my BART trip to the BRT on Sunday evening, a drunken grizzly bear of a man boarded the train. Guess who he decided to sit by and then converse with? You guessed it: me. His opening gambit: "I've been drinking all day." (Later in the ride he checked another box in the roundup of stereotypes when he pulled a paper-bag sheathed beverage from the inside of his filthy black leather jacket and proceeded to take a monumental swig.) Then he told a disgusting joke that I only heard fragments of due to his slurring. Then he asked me some question about the Hell's Angels. There was more, too, but it was indecipherable. I eventually shut my eyes to seek solace in the black of my eyelids.
Jesse

"Life w/o Makeup" at The Berkeley Rep Theatre

2011-10-08T23:30:00.000-07:00

My head is cloudy. The last 6 days have been a blur. So first let me offer a brief chronology:

A couple months ago I was in the running to take over as musical director of actress Rita Moreno's solo show "Life w/o Makeup" at the Berkeley Rep Theatre. Cesar, a conductor I work with regularly, was intimately involved in the conception of the show. He wrote all the arrangements for the band and was present at all the rehearsals and early performances. I told Cesar, "I can do the show. Just let me know if I get the gig." Weeks passed. Eventually he got back to me. I was on a family vacation when Cesar left a phone message telling me that the production had decided to hire a pianist from New York City. The guy has a bunch of Broadway credits and copious experience conducting a band. I was disappointed, but I moved on. Fast-forward to:

Sunday

I woke up late and turned on my cell phone. I had a message from Cesar. "Things have changed -- the pianist we hired is leaving." I'm paraphrasing his words, but you get the gist. I called him back minutes after listening to the message. "Are you still available?" he asked. This show is a big time commitment: there are performances 6 days a week, every week 'til mid-November. Without much thought I told him, "Yes, I can do it."

Cesar emailed me pdf files of the 2 most difficult musical selections Sunday afternoon. I pulled them up on my computer and saw that yes, they are difficult. But I concluded that I can handle it. I called him back and reiterated my interest. By late afternoon, someone from Berkeley Rep had called me to confirm the schedule for this week. I would be taking over as musical director.

Monday

At the end of a full day of teaching I received a call from an unfamiliar area code on my cell phone. It was Jason, the pianist I'm replacing. He was talking a mile a minute, trying to get me up to speed. He proposed we meet at my house Wednesday afternoon to talk through the whole show and work through some of the music. Then I would observe a performance (some of the other musicians in the show call this an "audit" - i.e. to "audit" a performance) on Wednesday night and Friday night. Also on Friday we would have a late afternoon rehearsal: me playing with Rita, the band, and the dancers. Then Saturday night I perform the show. What a whirlwind.

While I was teaching Monday afternoon, Cesar had emailed me pdf files of the rest of the music in the show. I was up late Monday evening, printing out and then arranging in order said music. I stayed up even later practicing everything.

Tuesday

Another lengthy, late evening practice session after wrapping up my teaching for the day.

Wednesday

Jason and I spent two hours talking through everything in the show. He is very thorough, and I appreciate that. He's leaving the Berkeley Rep show to pursue an opportunity on a new Glee-inspired television show called Smash. He decided that that was an opportunity he could not pass up. So this Sunday is his final show at the BRT.

Wednesday evening I sat through "Life w/o Makeup" for the first time. Arriving at the Berkeley Rep Theatre this evening was perhaps the closest I'll ever feel to being a new kid at a school where everyone else already knows each other. The cast, crew, and musicians have already been doing this show for a month. And then I appear. I felt awkward to no end. Everyone I met was exceedingly sweet to me, but my nerves were still jangling.

This is a big gig. I told my brother in a recent email, "I feel like I've just been called up from the minor leagues." I've toiled for years to be in a position where I would even be considered for a job like this. It's strange to finally have the opportunity arrive. The other members of the band are casual and stress-free. They've already been doing the show for a month, and also these guys have some serious credits to their names. The notches on their résumés read as totemic and mighty. I struggled to come up with a bio for the Berkeley Rep program that would have deliver any heft. I opted for a succinct, three sentence offering. The others are not so concise. And rightly so. If I was a touring member of Huey Lewis' band and had film scoring credits for a dozen different television shows then I would certainly bring that to light.

Wednesday evening I wrote many notes in my score.

Friday

I rehearsed with Ms. Moreno in the late afternoon. After a brief introduction, we set about rehearsing her ballad numbers in the show. She is very particular about a quick, aggressive rolled chord that announces one of the ballads. We rehearsed that roll for more than five minutes. Both Jason and Cesar had already warned me about this chord. I struggled to deliver what she was looking for.

We ran down the ballads without too much stopping. I'm still getting a feel for the material. Rita has a particular style of delivering a lyric. She is not interested in doing the exact same thing night after night. I appreciate her interest in reacting to the feeling of each new moment of performance, but it makes my job more difficult trying to find and follow her. I'll get it.

The band arrived a half-hour later, at 4:30pm. It is my responsibility to count off and conduct most of the songs in the show. I have literally no conducting experience. Thankfully, the conducting requirements are minimal, but still there were many failures on my end. It is not fun when members of the band are laughing at you and your inability to deliver readable hand conducting gestures. I just had to eat it and try to improve. This will be a massive learning experience for me. The playing is proving to be the easy part of this show. I need to work on my conducting basics and then we'll be able get where we need to be.

I have yet to mention the configuration of the band on stage. I am seated at the Yamaha grand piano, stage left. Next to that is the bassist. Next to the bassist and at a higher elevation on the bandstand is the drummer. And way, way over stage right is the reed player. He and I can't see each other. So my cues to him are delivered via a camera, which is mounted on the right side of the piano's music stand. He has a monitor set up on his stand. He interprets my conducting the count-offs and cut-offs in his monitor. So that makes my job even weirder. I'm conducting to musicians who see me and then one who is camera-based.

At the end of the rehearsal Rita came over to the piano and said, "Not bad for a firstie."

Friday night's performance made more sense. I'm gaining a better understanding of where the musical cues appear. There are at least a half-dozen loooooonnnnng interludes between playing, in which Rita takes us through another passage of her life. Back behind the curtain, it's easy to get lulled to sleep. I'll need to stay engaged, whatever it takes.

Saturday

The big day finally arrived. But by now everything is blurry. I've been staying up very late every night. We're replacing the rain gutters at my home. I helped my wife and parents with that job as much as I could, but my mind was elsewhere. Eventually, I retreated back into the house. My son was napping in his crib. I grabbed a pillow and blanket and laid down on the rug in his room. Rather than practice the music more or obsess over musical cues I just needed to rest.

Anyone who has ever been to the Berkeley Rep Theatre knows that it is located mere footsteps away from a BART station. It's the "Downtown Berkeley" station, to be specific. I'm interested in being a good citizen of the earth - I'm down with public transit. But almost every BART train I've been on this week has been delayed in some way. It's hard to not start thinking about how much of my day is being lost to a meandering transport system. I'm working with BART, but they are letting me down. We're not breaking up yet, but I'm considering seeing other vehicles.

I won't lie - I was anxious about tonight. I want everything I'm a part of to be great.

Things turned out okay. Jason was present this evening, offering final suggestions as needed. I nailed just about all the musical cues, and my playing was decent.

After all the bows, and after the final curtain hit the floor, Rita approached the piano and said encouragingly, "That was excellent!". I optimistically replied, "Things will only get better from here." The guys in the band offered praise at the end, as well. Meanwhile, I'm dazed.

A mountain of work. A show learned and then brought to performance in less than six days. Another assurance of what I'm capable of. Now I just have do this 28 more times!

I'm back on the bandstand Tuesday night.

Jesse

Jazz Trio @ The Bistro & Event @ St. Rose Hospital (both in Hayward)

2011-10-01T23:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon Aaron, Linda, and I rehearsed together at my home studio in preparation for the gig at the Bistro this afternoon. Aaron is a bassist I work with all the time and Linda is a vocalist who I have been helping for the last couple months. She hired me to accompany her for weekly sessions preparing a set of jazz standards to perform. This afternoon was the culmination of our work.

When I walked into the Bistro I was assaulted with the drone of the cover band who were set to follow us. They are called "Forces of Nature". I think that is a great name for a cover band. So they were blasting, doing a "sound check". Really sounded more like bludgeoning-by-way-of-these-instruments-in-our-hands. Thing is, it's nigh on impossible to get a good group sound inside the Bistro. A soundcheck is almost pointless; the room is a model of acoustic brutality. It's no surprise that Bistro patrons process outdoors whenever there is a loud group on stage.

Our trio - vocals, piano, bass - was blessed with a rapt audience. I think Linda packed the crowd with friends and work colleagues. What a rare thing for me nowadays: playing a gig where people are actually listening!

It took me a few tunes to warm up. With improvisational music it's very common for me to feel like I've got nothing to say musically on particular tunes. Yet the onus is always on me to take a solo, despite my qualms. I always find it refreshing to hear a jazz group perform a set wherein there are selections that do not feature every single member of the ensemble taking a solo. The typical format - everyone solos! on every single song! - gets tiresome. But I digress...

A couple hours after the rehearsal yesterday I was lying on my couch reading when I received a call on my cell phone. I didn't recognize the number of the caller. I decided to pick up on this occasion. It was a caterer named Rick calling me. I worked for him years ago for a couple of his events. They were always lavish and well-paid.

Rick quickly filled me in on the details. He told me he needs a pianist for an upcoming event. I asked him, "When is the event?" He replied, "Tomorrow night". After checking my calendar and confirming my availability he gave me a few more details and we agreed on a fee for my time. I was looking forward to a night off tonight, but I feel compelled to take legit work like this when I get the call.

The event was an annual gala at St. Rose Hospital in Hayward. I think it is held in honor of the hospital's top donors... but I don't know. Take a look at the picture above, from a past year's party. The catering company erects a huge white tent in the hospital's parking lot. They settle on a color scheme and general theme and then get wild with extravagance.

The color scheme tonight was purple. Some of the funny details of my role for the evening: they had a shirt (purple) and tie (purple patterned) for me there. This much was explicitly stated to me over the phone: "We will have a shirt and tie for you here." Okay. Also, I was playing on a rented white Yamaha grand piano. It felt a bit campy, but I was there to do a job. I pushed all thoughts of any resemblance to Liberace to the back of my mind. Grit your teeth, get on with it.

I played an hour of jazz standards then took a 10 minute break. Then I played a second set of no more than 20 minutes prior to some leaden speakers (AKA human beings who are drab at speaking on stage in front of an audience) taking over the stage.

Then there was a magician. After that, I thought I was going to play more, but word came via one of the catering staff members that I was done for the night. Then a pop-rock cover band took over the stage and I changed back into my own shirt while they sought to bring new life to Madonna's timeless classic "Holiday". They are dreamers.

It was a unique night. I was happy to arrive home just before my son went down to bed. The pianist arriving home by 9:15pm -- that's a good gig.

Jesse

October 2011 Teaching Schedule

2011-10-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

-- My teaching schedule during the month of October will be complicated. I have been hired to take over the pianist chair for actress Rita Moreno's one-woman play "Life w/o Makeup" at the Berkeley Rep Theatre. My first performance will be the evening of Tuesday, October 11.

The play runs through the entire month of October and then through the first week in November. There are shows Tuesday through Sunday every week. I will be calling and emailing parents and students in the next few days to discuss lessons that will need to be re-scheduled.

-- I have scheduled the next student recital. It will be held on Saturday, December 10 between noon - 4pm at CSUEB. More details are forthcoming.

-- The 2011-12 Certificate of Merit cycle has begun. Fees for participating students will be collected with November lesson payments. Here are the CM dates for this spring:

* Performance evaluations will be held on the weekends of March 3 & 4 and March 10 & 11.

** Theory testing will be conducted on the weekend of March 3 & 4.

-- I have decided to pay for a yearly subscription to Theta Music Trainer. This allows all of my students full access to the music drills and games at that site, with everyone having their own username and password in order to track progress. I am encouraging every student to complete one session of the site's "Basic Ear Training" course each week.

Personal note: I have quietly ascended to the 6th ranking among top Theta Music users. See for yourself.

-- The Song of the Month for October is "For No One" by The Beatles.

I hope you are well, and not as busy as me this month.

Jesse

Subbing @ St. Augustine's Church, Oakland

2011-09-28T23:30:00.000-07:00

Tonight's choir rehearsal was a breeze. Jim did throw me for a loop when he requested that I modulate up a half-step for the last verse of one particularly lengthy hymn. I should be able to handle requests like that... It's just that my son was extra grumpy most of the day today. I was fatigued/frazzled/dazed as a result. I was able to execute the modulation, and doing so snapped me out of my torpor.

I was subbing tonight at St. Augustine's for their usual pianist. I don't play these Wednesday night rehearsals on any regular basis. When I am called in, the rehearsal essentially serves as a paid practice session for me. So that's nice. Plus everyone in the choir is lovely and Jim usually selects interesting repertoire. It's all good.

Jesse

Musicians’ Brains Stay Sharp as They Age

2011-09-26T12:00:00.000-07:00

From an article on FYI Living, published 6/15/11:

"Engaging in musical activity for most of one’s lifetime significantly helps remember names, and enhances nonverbal memory, the ability to work based on what one sees, and mental agility during old age. The habit of physical exercise, in addition to musical involvement, further adds to mental lucidity in old age. Starting musical training early and continuing it for several years have a favorable effect on metal abilities during old age. Musical training also seems to enhance verbal prowess and the general IQ of a person."

Read the full article here.

Important Dates: Next Recital & C.M.

2011-09-21T23:19:00.000-07:00

A quick post here to alert students and parents of some important dates for the upcoming year.

The next Student Recital will be held on Saturday, December 10 between noon - 4pm at CSUEB.

The 2011-2012 Certificate of Merit dates for the spring are also in:

- Performance evaluations will be held on the weekends of March 3 & 4 and March 10 & 11.

- Theory testing will be conducted on the weekend of March 3 & 4.

Jesse

MTAC General Meeting in Castro Valley

2011-09-21T11:36:00.000-07:00

I watch my 7 month old son on Wednesdays. I'm getting to know his ways. It seems highly unlikely that he would be able sit quietly and not disrupt an hour-long MTAC meeting. So I've been planning all along to not attend this yearly "welcome back" meeting for Southern Alameda branch MTAC teachers.

It's lovely for me that these meetings are held at the Castro Valley Center for the Performing Arts, which is located about 3 blocks from my house. I strapped the boy into his Ergo baby carrier and walked to center. Picked up my teacher packet, signed up for the requisite spring CM job, and then walked right out. I was like a phantom. "Hey, where'd that guy with the baby go?" Straight back home.

Preparations for Certificate of Merit will begin ramping up with my students soon. I'm not looking forward to the added workload. But it's something I'm committed to offering. I won't back down. So let's do this.

Jesse

Tips for Buying a Used Piano

2011-09-17T16:13:00.000-07:00

Another informative video from Robert Estrin and Living Pianos. The best advice I would give to someone who is strongly considering purchasing a particular used piano: hire a piano technician to come with you and give the piano a thorough examination. Don't spend thousands of dollars purchasing an instrument that turns out be a lemon! Bring a piano technician (aka piano tuner or piano restorer) to the instrument first. Their cost will be small in relation to the greater cost of the instrument and will deliver you peace of mind about your purchase.

Had my piano tuned today...

2011-09-14T23:30:00.000-07:00

My piano is on an every-6-months check-up schedule. To have one's piano tuned twice yearly is common. Due to the heat of the summer, my home instrument had predictably veered sharp in pitch.

New realizations:

- My regular tuner Linda saw when she entered my studio that I had my piano's keyboard covered by the key lid. She suggested I avoid encasing the keys this way on a regular basis because it will cause them to yellow more quickly as a result of being exposed to less oxygen. This was news to me. Instead, one can shield the keys from collecting dust with a felt piano key cover. Here's an inexpensive option sold by Amazon:

- The humidity levels in my teaching studio are too high and this climate problem will affect my piano's "health" in the the long-term. That is, unless I take action. I was convinced to finally take the plunge and have a Dampp-Chaser device installed on the instrument prior to my next tuning appointment. The Dampp-Chaser is a climate-controlling device for pianos.

Here's the regular PSA ("Piano Service Appeal") that I'll always include at the end of my piano tuning blog posts:

If you are an active pianist, student, or teacher it is essential that you tune your piano at least once yearly. This may strike some readers as excessive, but it is not! Regular piano tunings will increase the longevity of your instrument. Also, annual service on your piano will keep maintenance costs lower. The longer a piano waits between tunings, the greater the work required to restore the instrument to its best functioning. More work = more cost. Make the sensible decision.

The piano tuner I call upon here in the CA bay area is Linda Kay. She provides excellent service and reasonable rates. You can click on her name for her contact information.

Foo Fighters: Back and Forth

2011-09-08T12:00:00.000-07:00

The Foo Fighters were an important band for me. Their first album was released in 1995. I devoured it. I can recall a long drive with my family from the state of Washington back home to California in which I played my cassette copy of the Foo Fighters debut on repeat. My Walkman must have felt exhausted by the end of that trip.

Dave Grohl is the frontman of the Foo Fighters. He is also an amazing drummer. His first taste of fame was as the drummer of Nirvana. I was a couple years late to discovering Nirvana. By the time I had immersed myself in fandom of that band, the frontman Kurt Cobain had committed suicide. What a waste.

But what a joy, then, to discover Dave Grohl's awesome songwriting talents. The documentary "Foo Fighters: Back and Forth" chronicles the first 16(!) years of the band. In his interviews, Mr. Grohl has an unfortunate propensity for the "F word". His inability to speak articulately on camera unfortunately renders many of his remarks void. His multitudinous band mates -- several were fired or quit along the way -- are also interviewed, but their insights are secondary. It is clear that Mr. Grohl is captain of this ship.

My interest in the film waned once the events around the making of the band's 3rd album had been depicted. I'm not a big fan of what the Foo Fighters have become; they are now an arena band and belong to hordes. Still, their first three albums remain on my shelf. We had our moment, but now that moment is gone. My tastes have changed, Grohl's tastes have changed. Watching "Foo Fighters: Back and Forth" felt like visiting a past love interest: soon enough, you run out things to talk about and want to go home.

September 2011 Teaching Schedule

2011-09-01T23:30:00.000-07:00

-- My teaching schedule during the month of September will be uninterrupted, save the observance of Labor Day on Monday, 9/5.

-- The Summer Film Scoring project is nearing completion. Several individuals have already composed and recorded their contributions. Others need to really buckle down and get to work during the upcoming weeks, because September is the final month for this project.

-- I am planning to offer a wider variety of music web games to my students in the upcoming year. In particular, I'm eyeing the Theta Music Trainer and Music Learning Community offerings. More details are forthcoming.

-- The Song of the Month for September is "Someone Like You" by Adele. The chorus sounds like it would fit in perfectly with this song medley by Aussie comedy outfit Axis of Awesome (hint, hint).

Have a happy day,

Jesse

Jazz Quartet at San Francisco Art Institute

2011-08-30T23:30:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago I got the call for this gig from Aaron, my bassist friend. I had to decide whether to take the job and cancel/reschedule several of my Tuesday students or decline and take the easy out: "I can't... I'm teaching that day." A difficulty of being a private music instructor is that sometimes performance opportunities come up on days that students' lessons are normally scheduled. This is a reason many teachers let their performance chops go by the wayside: the live gigs come along less consistently, and teaching offers that rare thing for a musician: a steady paycheck.

I became passionate about music not because I had a drive to teach other people how to make it themselves. I wanted to find some like-minded souls and be in a band that performed all the time. It never really happened for me and now I'm in a different space in life where I balance the teaching with more occasional gigs. Unfortunately, much of the performance work I'm offered is soul-crushing. Often it's healthier for my emotional state to turn things down. But in this instance I decided to take the S.F. Institute job. I was able to reschedule 2 of my 4 Tuesday students to Wednesday. Lately I only have the opportunity to play jazz in a small group setting about half a dozen times per year. I feel it's vital that I seize these opportunities.

Aaron and I decided to carpool. He is currently housesitting at a multi-million dollar manse in the Berkeley hills. The house tour was overwhelming. The residents appear to be so wealthy; it strikes me as comical. Traffic on the Bay Bridge was light, so we were at the front steps of the S.F. Art Institute in no time.

I met the saxophonist and drummer for the first time an hour before we started playing. These jazz pickup groups always deliver a feeling of uncertainty. How will the group gel? In this instance, though these two were delightful fellows, they didn't exactly singe me with their musical spark. In situations like tonight, often I'll play more demonstratively in an attempt to shake my bandmates from their torpor. I always hope that it doesn't make me sound like a jerk, forcing things to happen. Tonight my efforts yielded little. But I still had an alright time.

Our host -- I don't even know what event we were playing for... a reception for new students? -- was extremely enthusiastic and loved whatever we wafted from our instruments into the air. He was our champion, our biggest fan. Tonight was the kind of gig that feels almost impossible to screw up. So long as we produced sounds that weren't too offensive for about 2 hours we were all good. It was easy; we barely broke a sweat.

Perhaps in the future I'll commit more energy to memorizing a few dozen of the most common jazz standards that are called on jobs like these. I play these jazz gigs so infrequently lately that my motivation to memorize is low. Yet when I have the changes in front of me I find that I have them memorized by the 3rd or 4th chorus. I tend to avert my eyes after that. I'm finally getting to a point in my playing where it makes more sense to abandon the chart.

Drove Aaron back to his luxurious confines and then I headed home soon after.

Jesse

Talmage Farlow

2011-08-23T12:00:00.000-07:00

Tal Farlow (1921-1998) was a remarkable musician who revolutionized jazz guitar playing and then disappeared. He abandoned the plaudits, the fame, and the limelight for a quiet life in a town called Sea Bright on the Jersey shore, returning to his previous occupation as a sign painter. But he never stopped making music.

This 1981 documentary reveals the quiet life Farlow led in Sea Bright and features many interludes of his jaw-dropping exploits on the guitar. Farlow proves warm-hearted and winning. His remarkably huge hands reached intervals and chord shapes on the fretboard that are impossible for nearly all guitarists. He was physically gifted to accomplish special things on this instrument. That's not to say it was easy for him. Just like any other musician he had to graft and toil to achieve his skill set. It's a joy to see Farlow contented, flashing grins at his fellow musicians while in the midst of a jam session as they execute musical derring-do.

It's interesting to consider that Farlow's virtuosity inevitably will leave casual music fans behind. They can't countenance his quest. To them his work either sounds like background noise or something curious and unworthy of sustained attention. This is a quirk of jazz: it is the most difficult music to perform and yet it is the easiest for an audience to tune out.

Two quotes from Farlow interview sessions in the documentary compelled me the most. Each is a rumination on the act of performance:

"Jazz musicians, I believe, play for their co-players on the bandstand. They play for each other as much or sometimes more than to the people in the audience. Often there's more educated listening going on on the bandstand than there is out front. It's sort of a musical conversation. The back and forth of that I think is what makes a good jazz performance."

---

"There's an intensity that the good performer feels, and the business of getting it together and presenting it in a way that he's happy with can be almost painful, in a way. Physically painful. And sometimes he neglects his health. Many brilliant jazz musicians didn't live to the age of thirty-five, which is a tragedy. I think in many cases they reach for something to make them less sensitive to that feeling that they have, which is very uncomfortable. It's sort of a feeling that you're not doing what you're capable of. You probably remember back to a time or situation where you performed where you thought you did pretty good. And then that's the level that you must not drop below. And when you do, which you certainly inevitably will, it is painful then. I suppose it's about the possibility of failing, and maybe failing badly. It has never happened to me, I don't think, but it just seems to me there's enough of a possibility there to create a little worrying."

Subbing @ St. Augustine's Church, Oakland

2011-08-20T23:30:00.000-07:00

There was a guest priest presiding this evening. The main thrust of his presentation was that we should make Jesus Christ "Numero Uno" in each of our lives. (Kind of gimmicky, but I don't begrudge his fervor). He was very adamant. Also, his sermon was very short. I'm convinced that shorter sermons are the way to go; everyone is surprised when you end so soon, and that causes them to contemplate the few words that were shared with an enhanced interest. "Why did he/she wrap things up so soon? Did I miss something?"

The selected Psalm musical setting tonight was stunning. Psalm 138: "Lord, Your Love Is Eternal". It's a wonderfully languorous piece, blessed with Satie-like simplicity.

Jesse

Sitting in w/ Fleeting Trance @ The Bistro, Hayward

2011-08-17T23:30:00.000-07:00

My friend Manny again invited me to sit in with his band for their once-monthly gig at ye olde local pub The Bistro in Hayward. It seemed to me like a good idea to make some music on a night when I would otherwise have just stayed in. So after helping my son fall asleep and become settled (for the first leg of the night, at least... parents of young ones will understand) I drove the short distance over to the Bistro at 9:30pm to join the band for their final set.

Compared with last month, there were a few more people actually listening to the band tonight. I wouldn't put that down to the group's promotional efforts. It's just a quirk. In instances like this I'm beyond caring much about whether there is an audience or whether the audience is entertained. I'm not getting paid a cent and I don't care if anyone is listening. It becomes more about brotherhood with the guys on stage. Along the lines of, "At some point we loved this so much that we're still doing it now."

At the close of the last song half-hearted announcements are issued from the stage about CD's for sale and a website address. No one cares. The night moves on. After I depart the band divides $30 or so between the 5 of them and over the next few days we all pretend our ears aren't ringing just a little bit.

Jesse

Subbing @ St. Augustine's Church, Oakland

2011-08-13T23:30:00.000-07:00

Tonight's proceedings were soured by a drunken man who apparently is a regular at St. Augustine's. Let's call him "F". The man was mentioned by name from the pulpit, but I like to think that withholding his full name from this forum will be a cosmic step on the road to F re-discovering dignity. Or something.

F stumbled into the church mere minutes before mass was to begin. He announced his presence by yelling something incoherent to no one in particular. The associate pastor managed to calm him down for the first half of the service and for some reason he was allowed to remain. But then she had to deliver the day's sermon, which meant there was no one to mind F.

He took it upon himself to wrestle the spotlight back. F strutted purposefully toward the front pews of the church, then turned back for a moment. He probably forgot what his plan was. Then he seated himself on the end of a pew near the front. There was a palpable sense of discomfort amongst the congregation. What is this guy about to do?

F was mostly quiet until after the sermon and during the profession of faith, when he refused to go for a walk with the associate pastor. When she stretched forth her hand for him to clasp he began lasciviously kissing it and then refused to move. Then the priest interrupted the profession and had to physically interfere to help drag F out of the church.

At the close of the mass, I walked outside to a scene of Oakland police officers surrounding F on a gurney. F was shouting every obscenity imaginable at the cops. I saw them shrug and smile sheepishly in response. F was a mess. Inebriated and stupid. The cops placed a weird, bee-keeper like hat upon his head prior to rolling him into a waiting ambulance. The hat subdued him somehow. He was saying some vile things, so I'm glad the bee-keeper hat worked.

I was an up-close witness to all this because F's gurney was blocking my car. I waited a few minutes and then when the area had cleared I backed up my car extra carefully so as to avoid smacking a police car. F had provided them with enough grief for the day - I had no intention of adding to that.

So how'd the music go tonight? My playing was a bit rubbish, but the musical selections were all straightforward so I got a pass. I need to structure more practice time into my weekly routine; I feel like I'm slipping.

Jesse

British Invasion cover band at Sarah's Vineyard, Gilroy

2011-08-06T23:30:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I heard that my brother in law was looking for a band to play at his wedding reception. After some thought I decided to offer my services to him. I told him I would put a band together and that it would be good. I achieved my objectives.

Five or six years ago I was a member of a 1960's British Invasion cover band. We went by the moniker "The Invasion". Our set lists always featured Beatles, Rolling Stones, Kinks, The Who, Yardbirds, and Animals songs. In addition to these we performed many more obscure fare from the same era (read: songs by The Creation, The Chocolate Watch Band, and The Syndicate of Sound). I played rhythm guitar, keyboard, and sang backing vocals.

I love this music, so the gigs were usually a blast. There were occasional rifts among members of the band, but those were rare. As happens pretty much always (I'm a pessimist when it comes to bands staying together; the phrase I've coined to epitomize my years of frustration is "Bands form to break up.") we drifted apart. One of the guys moved to L.A. One of the guys was always voicing his dissatisfaction at how much (how little, in his eyes) we were getting paid. And I got married. It was a time of change.

This wedding reception offered a great opportunity to get part of the group back together and have some more good times playing music. I opted for a different drummer this time, and I also called in my brother to join us. He is an excellent guitarist.

We had our work cut out for us: get together two lengthy sets of music in a short amount of time, with almost zero rehearsal. We committed about 40 songs to memory. Granted, some of these early rock and roll tunes are unsophisticated and a breeze to play, but others -- especially some of the Beatles tunes and one of the Yardbirds songs we worked up -- have much more nuance and the changes are less obvious.

We convened for our only practice together at the drummer's rehearsal/teaching space in Fremont on Friday night. 4 of the 5 members of the group have children now. Life is different, no doubt. The rehearsal was a great time. I stayed seated at the keyboard, playing a mixture of organ, electric piano, and piano parts while also covering whatever tambourine parts I could. Tambourine is everywhere in these tunes! I was singing backing harmonies also.

The gig on Saturday night at Sarah's Vineyard in Gilroy was a lot of fun. Everyone in the band dressed up a bit (per our custom) and we pulled it off just fine. I arranged for Matt, a friend attending the party who just happens to be a karaoke champion, to join us for several songs in the 2nd set. The lead guys in our group were happy to have the vocal break.

We closed the 2nd set with an encore (requested by an ardent few from the dance floor) of The Rolling Stones song "Get Off of My Cloud". I'm hoping to arrange more performances for this group. From my conversations with the other guys it sounds like I'm going to have to take the lead in this; no one else is willing to put in the time. So I need to craft a game plan. Anyone want to hire a 60's cover band?

Jesse

August 2011 Teaching Schedule

2011-08-01T00:28:00.000-07:00

-- My teaching schedule during the month of August will be uninterrupted.

-- Effective August 1, the lessons fees will be raised for my Fremont students. Please note that I have not been consulted with regard to this fee rise; the store I rent a space in one day a week in Fremont sets the rates for all the teachers who work there. I will continue to work hard at providing the best service I can.

**Lesson rates are unchanged for my Castro Valley students.

-- The Summer Film Scoring project is up and running. I have about 20 students participating and it has been an educational experience for all. I'm learning more of the features of the iMovie program. Students are learning about the joys and challenges of linking music and sound to visuals. This project will continue through this month and then to at least mid-September. Everyone will receive a copy of their work in some form when the projects are complete.

-- There will be no Song of the Month for August. There's already enough going on. We'll resume with a new song to learn in September.

Enjoy the last month of summer,

Jesse

D.M.T. Chorus - Friday, Saturday, and Sunday performances

2011-07-31T23:30:00.000-07:00

I'm writing this post a week after the D.M.T. concert series. Life is busy. In the midst of last weekend's performances my mind was traveling in a thousand different directions. My focus on the music was far from absolute.

These are the types of concerts where my versatility as a musician is especially helpful. The title of these concerts was "Bach to Bepop". That's shorthand for a catch-all. Or, to be more specific: that title is permission to perform any musical selection from approximately the year 1600 to 1970. So the music could be just about anything, really. We performed a couple Bach pieces, a couple bossa nova selections, early rock n' roll, and jazz. I like to think I was equally strong performing everything, no matter the range of styles.

Perhaps my favorite was a two-voice choral piece by Claude Debussy, "Beau Soir". It's short but possessed of sublime chord progressions. E Maj. to Dm6 to E Maj. to Gm and then back to E Maj., anyone? The man was a singular innovator. I love all his music (excluding the instances when he ill-advisedly employs the whole-tone scale for minutes on end... but I respect his passion - we all have our loves. Thelonius Monk agreed with Debussy; he was devoted to the whole-tone scale, too.).

Directly after the conclusion of Sunday's matinee concert my Dad picked me up to drive together and join the rest of our family for a week's vacation at a house near Yosemite. It was a good time of relaxation, jamming on a plethora of British Invasion tunes with my brother, and further attempting to teach a 5-month old how to sleep at night.

Jesse

D.M.T. Chorus Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Rehearsals + sitting in at The Bistro in Hayward

2011-07-21T23:30:00.000-07:00

Everything is proceeding swimmingly. The musicians are clicking, the choir is sounding good, and everyone seems content. Aaron is again the bassist for the upcoming concerts. Drummer this time is Scott, a musician I've know for awhile but haven't played with in quite some time. He is excellent.

It seems that every Wednesday night rehearsal prior to the Friday night performance features a good deal of "are they or are they not angry at each other... ?" banter between the conductor Cesar and the theatre sound man Michael. Yesterday evening's rehearsal was no exception.

Here was one entertaining exchange between the two. Regarding a discrepancy in the onstage keyboard volume level from song to song, Michael said:

"The board doesn't agree with you... [that the volume had changed]"

Cesar replied: "I thought you were the boss of the board!"

This goes on for awhile, then some members of the chorus chime in with some bickering about how they can't hear the piano or that the microphones at the front of the stage sound like crap. And then everyone moves on or forgets about it and all things work out fine.

My friend Manny and his band Fleeting Trance played at The Bistro in Hayward Wednesday night. A couple weeks ago he invited me to come by and sit in. I went directly there once rehearsal had concluded at the D.M.T.

In my college years I felt like I had a residency at The Bistro. I would play there a couple times a month, every month (at least that's my recollection). It became a "home" venue. Interesting to visit the place having been away for awhile. Such a sad state of affairs that the venue decided to permanently install a flat-screen TV! Lame to perform music while a television blares images of sports highlights on an endless loop mere arms lengths away.

Manny tends to write simple songs with simple chord progressions and structures. So I just sat down at the piano, waited for him to start a song, then joined the rest of the band when I had figured out the key and progression by ear. It was fun. The old upright at The Bistro is a funky piece of junk. The best complement I could give the instrument is this: it's got character.

Cool to catch up with Manny and Scotty, the band's lead guitarist. I've played in several bands with those guys over the years. They are two of the most kind-hearted, righteous dudes I've ever encountered in life. Worth keeping in touch with. A lot of fun to play with a band again, too. That's another thing I've missed terribly.

Jesse

Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin' About Him)?

2011-07-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

Watched this documentary knowing full well the turn of events: immense talent descends into self-destructive behavior -- booze, drugs -- and dies young. "Who Is Harry Nilsson?" isn't an amazing film portrait but it does provide an entry point to the musical offerings of said raconteur.

Nilsson was probably most well-known as The Beatles' favorite artist in the late 1960's. After the Fab Four had issued many public remarks upping Nilsson's work, Nilsson struck up enduring friendships with Ringo Starr and John Lennon. During different periods, each served as Nilsson's "wingman" when Nilsson would set out on his regular, wild binges. One is struck by what an angelic voice Nilsson possessed yet squandered due to misbehavior. His last wife remembers him with a smile and a laugh, which is lovely to see. What a long-suffering woman!

Another takeaway for me from this film is Nilsson's likeness to a more recent depressive singer-songwriter who flamed out: Elliott Smith. Some of the Nilsson songs presented here reminded me of some of Smith's work. Each man was blessed with a non-traditional rugged handsomeness, so there's a physical comparison to be made as well.

I've tried before with Nilsson; I still don't particularly care for his music. But others certainly do, and I have no doubt that "Who Is Harry Nilsson?" will add numbers to his fanbase.

Just purchased: Pedal Extender

2011-07-20T15:17:00.000-07:00

The Piano Pedal Extender I ordered last week arrived in the mail on Monday and I placed it straight into use with a couple of my younger students on Tuesday. The pedal extender attaches easily to the piano, "extending" the piano's two vital pedals upward, thus allowing more height-challenged pianists to begin work on their pedaling technique despite their feet not yet reaching the floor.

I've been meaning to purchase one of these for awhile and finally made it happen. The extender will be a fixture in my home Castro Valley studio. I purchased the extender for a very reasonable price from CPS Imports. Great service, great product.

Jesse

D.M.T. Chorus Rehearsal & Subbing @ St. Augustine's Church, Oakland

2011-07-16T23:30:00.000-07:00

If you had asked me to predict which piece of music would kick off the D.M.T. chorus rehearsal this morning I would have said: "The fast Mozart one that is a string reduction and thus contains many non-pianistic parts that I am asked to perform while also executing several awkwardly-placed page turns." Yeah, that one. My prediction would have been correct. The conductor Cesar tends to favor up-tempo classic pieces as concert openers.

I showed up to the Saturday morning rehearsal groggy from lack of sleep. No warm-up time was available to me as the choir warmed up. Then we were off to the races with the Mozart piece. Seems like Cesar is always hard on me at the first rehearsal of a concert cycle. He usually mellows out by the time we hit the rehearsal's intermission, but I wish that he would hearken back to my track record. I don't think I've ever let him down musically in a past performance, and I don't expect that streak to end. Any mistakes/errors I made in today's rehearsal will be corrected by Tuesday evening. There's no need to draw further attention to them - I'm on it.

My grave misstep regarding today's meeting is that I hadn't hole-punched my packet of music and placed it in a binder. The past several months have been among the busiest of my entire life. I just didn't get to arranging the music in a binder. I was harangued for this. Rightly so, I guess. I'm tired lately; I lack the energy to mount a defense.

---

In the afternoon I worked with a couple students at my home studio.

---

I arrived at St. Augustine's around 4:30pm. As I walked into the church, I heard sounds emanating from the piano inside. Through the glass of a side entry door I could see a figure seated at the piano. Turned out it was the regular Saturday evening pianist. There had been a miscommunication, and he was there to play for the same mass as me. These things happen. (I have since re-checked my email inbox and found that yes, I was supposed to be at the church to play today).

But this awkward moment ended up great for me. The other pianist had just arrived back in town after a trip to San Diego; he was ready to go home! In fact, no sooner had I arrived than he had his luggage in hand and was walking out the door, thankful for the reprieve. Excellent for me, since I wasn't looking forward to the half-hour drive back home with the possibility of no income for my time.

After that, everything went fine. My eyes felt heavy at certain points in the service. I regret that my tempo on a couple of the slower pieces probably sagged. My energy was low.

This is a challenging period for me. As my wife says occasionally, "Hopefully we'll become regular humans again soon." Parenthood is a massive test. I'm planning to pass the test, but the tunnel is long and this little dude is grumpy a lot.

Jesse

Playing Melodica at my brother's wedding in Boise, Idaho

2011-07-13T00:02:00.000-07:00

I'm writing about this event after the fact. My trip to Idaho last weekend felt like a whirlwind. I'm only beginning to recover now, a couple days later. The same can be said for my 5-month old son, who did remarkably well on his inaugural plane flight but has had a cranky couple days trying to get settled in back at home in Ye Olde Castro Valley, CA.

My youngest brother (I have 2 brothers, no sisters) was married last Friday to a woman who grew up in Boise, Idaho. The wedding and related festivities were all conducted in Boise. It was first time visiting that city. Homeowners there have huge garages and/or barns. These structures practically an invitation to the protagonists of the History Channel show "American Pickers". I love that show. But I digress.

A couple months ago said brother asked if I would learn and perform a song called "Glory Bound" by Wailin' Jennys for his bride's walk. I procrastinated, then eventually listened to the song and figured it out pretty quickly. I wanted to perform the song on an accordion but at the last minute I decided against traveling with that bulky an instrument. Instead I brought my melodica.

Here's where things start to get sappy.

I love this instrument. I've had the above pictured melodica for maybe 5 years now. It's laid out like a piano, but to produce sound you have to blow air into the mouthpiece while pressing down one or more keys. You can play single-note melodies as well as chords. It is so portable you can just about fit it in your back pocket. Every time I travel, no matter where I'm going, I bring along my melodica. It is a friend; a salve against boredom. I highly recommend everyone buy one; they're inexpensive and joyful.

I paired with my middle brother for the wedding performance - he accompanied me on a borrowed acoustic guitar. We had a scant amount of rehearsal time so he and I selected songs we were mutually comfortable with for the half-hour of prelude music. Our choices were drawn from two bags: 1) church hymns we grew up hearing and singing all the time or 2) 1960's rock songs. Here was the list of tunes we played together:

1) The Weight (The Band)

2) Two of Us (The Beatles)

3) Eight Days a Week (The Beatles)

4) You Make Me Feel Good (The Zombies)

---

5) Amazing Grace

6) How Long Has It Been?

7) In the Garden

8) Farther Along

I can honestly say this was the most fun I've had playing music in a long time. The melodica is essentially a children's instrument, so it's fun to break it out in a performance setting and defy its limitations.

Jesse

Marc-Andre Hamelin: No Limits - The World of the Piano, Vol. 2

2011-07-07T12:00:00.000-07:00

Marc-Andre Hamelin is an outstanding Canadian-American concert pianist. This documentary film presents Hamelin as he prepares for a solo concert, checking in with him several times in the months and weeks leading up to the performance. His insights into the music he's practicing - selections by Haydn and Debussy, among others - are always revealing. We witness him sight-reading the Haydn work for the first time. Many would mistake his playing for a finished performance, but it becomes clear immediately that Hamelin maintains exceedingly high standards for his work. Also included on the DVD are the concert and an hour long sit-down interview in which Hamelin is probed by a staid French journalist. Hard to get through that interview, but the rest of the package is golden.

MTAC Convention 2011 - Day 3

2011-07-03T23:30:00.000-07:00

I am attending the annual Music Teachers Association of CA (MTAC) convention at the Marriott hotel in downtown Oakland this weekend.

Here's a summary of the events I attended today:

"Practicing Performing" lecture by Fred Karpoff:

- Mr. Karpoff's whirlwind presentation this morning focused on wisdom he's gained from two prominent performance coaches: Don Greene, Ph.D. and Robert Caldwell. I say that the presentation was "whirlwind" because Karpoff was allotted a mere 45-minutes to deliver a bushel full of material. He was speaking so fast at times that I thought steam would begin surging from his ears. Unfortunate that he was forced to rush, because he had much vital material to share.

Upon reflection, the most striking thing he said this morning was that we spend too much time practicing the wrong things. We should seek to stimulate performance scenarios more frequently in order to become more comfortable with the tense sensations inherent in that endeavor. It's a fact that too many seasoned (and unseasoned) musicians have developed an unhealthy relationship with the act of performing music for an audience. So how to combat this malady? Read on.

*Don Greene insists (as do many other teachers and coaches I've heard speak) that a performer needs to channel their nervous energy into exciting performances. Nerves are normal. It's up to the performer to decide what to do with them.

*A Greene quote: "Risk is essential to success."

*The greatest threat to a successful performance: muscle tension. We must learn to relax!

Thus, here is Karpoff's/Greene's suggestion for how to prepare for a performance. This is essentially a meditation exercise:

Pick a focal point below eye level (this is proven to reduce left brain activity, which is a great distraction)
Think about a slow, full breath. Inhale through nose, exhale through mouth.
Scan key muscle groups: allow head and neck, shoulder, arms, torso, hips, legs and feet to be very loose.
Define your "center" (somewhere on your person - your body). Direct your energy downward.
On final exhalation, open eyes, find your focal point from step #1 and then begin to focus energy outward.

The Drill: Practicing Performing

Leave the practice room and turn on your recording device.
Elevate your heart rate to approximately 100 bpm (simulating the nerves inherent in a real performance).
Center yourself (see above meditation steps).
Finally, re-enter the practice room, play your best.
Evaluate your recorded performance afterward with positive feedback. Don't fall into the trap of continually beating yourself up!

Two Vital Skills of Great Performers

How well they begin a piece
How they handle a mistake

*More miscellany: Two days before a performance: "Carbo load" (i.e. big pasta dinner) and go to bed early. This is your energy base for the upcoming performance.

*Robert Caldwell is the author of the book The Performer Prepares. This book examines the many factors that elevate powerful performers to their lofty heights of achievement.

Caldwell's 4 Stages of Performance

Planning
Rehearsing
Performing
Afterwards (this stage is too often overlooked; how will you greet people afterward? will you rest peacefully that night?, etc. Prepare!)

"Silent Film for Composers Workshop" by Donald Sosin:

- After the lunch break (today I ate my bag lunch on a bench I found across the street from Ogawa Plaza; Ogawa was too depressing for me yesterday and I wasn't ready to go back there) I returned to the Marriott to take in the first of three sessions on accompanying silent films. The presenter Donald Sosin is remarkably talented. Throughout the presentation, he demonstrated ideas at the piano. He is a wellspring of pianistic styles and a brilliant improviser. No wonder he often tours Europe as an accompanist at silent film festivals. I will be unable to attend the second and third sessions of the workshop tomorrow, so I was glad to catch this one.

*When accompanying a silent film, the music has to tell us what sort of a day it is, since there is no audible dialogue. The action onscreen can be completely neutral, but the music tells you what's going on emotionally.

A (brief) silent film timeline:

Circa 1895: Silent films at this time were not always accompanied by music. Often there would be a musician on hand to perform interludes between screenings of unaccompanied silent films. This musical performance would fill the time while the projector changed the reels. The music would also help to draw more customers from the street into the theater.
Circa 1905: Theatres begin to see the immense valued in adding live music to all film screenings. Musical accompaniment becomes standard.
From there, things developed quickly and accompaniments became more elaborate. In 1907, for example, Camille Saint-Saens wrote a full silent film score for a 7-piece ensemble.
1927-28: Massive theatre organs become fixtures in fine cinema establishments, but this development occurred just as the popularity of silent films began to wane.

Considerations for a Silent Film Accompanist

First there is silence and a blank screen
Once an image appears, the musical parameters begin to emerge
Sometime the musical choices are obvious
Decisions about music are crucial to one's response to a film (this statement is true for silent films as well as modern motion pictures)

Further considerations for the performer:

- Tempo

- Pulse

- Rhythm

- Melody vs. Accompaniment

- Style

- Library music vs. Original music

- The regular division of the phrase vs. Unpredictable phrase length

- Repetition and Memory

- Quoting other material

- Tone color, orchestration texture

- Improvising and live performance with regard to audience

- The space of the performance

etc. . . . .

Mr. Sosin had 8 piano students at his disposal. Several of the students volunteered to try live demonstrations, accompanying fragments of scenes from projected films. Each was remarkably talented and not one student floundered - it was cool! Tomorrow evening each student will be present their own live accompaniment to a (very old) Disney short cartoon selected by Mr. Sosin: "The 4 Musicians of Bremen".

The predominant piano styles of silent film accompaniment are styles from the period the films were made: ragtime, stride piano, foxtrot, and early jazz. I don't have a love affair with any of these styles, so I don't know if the road to further silent film music exploration will be long for me. I feel spread so thin in my work and family life already that it's difficult to imagine having the time or energy to dig deeper into this musical realm. Still, the future is unwritten, so who knows?

Not sure whether I'll be attending the final day of the convention tomorrow, but if I do I'll post about it.

Jesse

MTAC Convention 2011 - Day 2

2011-07-02T23:30:00.000-07:00

I am attending the annual Music Teachers Association of CA (MTAC) convention at the Marriott hotel in downtown Oakland this weekend.

The city of Oakland is a great tease. It seduces you with its grand history, cultural diversity, and urban attitude. But just as soon as you let your guard down it buffets you with some harsh reality. For many Oakland residents I'm sure the first blow is a personal encounter with crime. I can attest to this sensation from my years living in Oakland: when my car was stolen, I experienced a loss of innocence coupled with a feeling of violation. I love Oakland, but now that I'm almost two years removed from living there I understand better why it's best for me to reside elsewhere.

On my lunch break today I was saddened at the number of homeless people sleeping on the ground in Ogawa Plaza at midday. Adding to my melancholy was the amount of rubbish on the ground in the plaza. Trash was everywhere and it was not a pretty sight. My Jamba Juice smoothie provided little comfort. Despite my being surrounded by a bevy of modern skyscrapers and impressive architecture, I felt little hope.

Here's a summary of the events I attended today:

"How Can A Wrong Note Be Perfect?" lecture by William Westney:

- I arrived a little late to this 10am presentation, but I don't think I missed anything. I think I got all the meat. Mr. Westney's remarks were largely informal and seemed off-the-cuff. He developed a nice rapport with his audience. Westney is author of the book Perfect Wrong Note - Learning to Trust Your Musical Self. He has developed an interesting philosophy regarding the actual value of "mistakes" in practice and performance.

Soon after I found a seat in the conference room, he presented this quote:

"If you are cursed with perfectionism, you are absolutely sunk... There is no end to the self-nagging, the self-castigating. It hides under the mask of 'self-improvement'. It never works."

- Frederick Perls, Gestalt Therapy Verbatim

Other notes I jotted down:

*Mistakes - or "wrong notes" - have nothing to do with us personally. Don't respond to a wrong note with fear or shame. Mistakes always provide us with good information on how to make corrections.

*We don't start with accuracy; accuracy is the destination, not the starting place.

*Start out playing a piece loudly and forcefully. Then over time, and once greater comprehension has been gained, add more subtlety to the performance.

*When correcting a mistake: 1) Ramp up the energy (play more loudly, forcefully) 2) Pay attention 3) Let your body figure it out (via repetitions)

*Practicing and performing are not the same. Practicing is not performing slowed down... practicing is an entirely different process.

*An observation of my own: Westney's musical demonstrations at the piano were unique. In demonstrating his practice techniques, he rarely played in tempo but instead played in a halting style, with numerous stopping points mid-phrase. He played loudly, often devoid of a steady pulse. He was showing us the process of his fingers becoming comfortable with the stretches, shapes, and patterns required of them. He made this remark toward the end of his speaking: "Practicing things you're just learning at a mezzo forte dynamic helps the fingers become more secure and settled."

*Practice musical elements in small, small pieces - don't be afraid to chop up a portion of a phrase or motif for practice purposes - pausing frequently to sustain, relaxing the wrists and becoming grounded in the required technique.

*A Zen quote: "Give up control to find control".

*When learning a piece strive for zero tension. Structure practice techniques based upon the pursuit of this goal.

*Our top criteria as performers ought to be: "How can everything I'm playing feel great?" If this criteria is met, the music will follow.

Things to master first, and be consistent about:

Arm gestures
Fingering
Understanding (but not playing) the rhythm

Things to introduce later (and NOT do all the time):

Dynamics and Tone Color
Playing the Correct Rhythm

"Coaching Teachers" led by Scott Smith & William Wellborn:

- This was an interesting presentation in which two brave teachers taught a "lesson" to one of their students up on stage in front of an audience. "Master" teachers Mr. Smith and Mr. Wellborn would interject their thoughts and comments every few minutes, in the hope of enhancing the student-teacher process and eliciting better results from the students. The session was hit-and-miss in my view, but still, a unique thing to witness and there were insights to be gleaned.

Mr. Smith was outfitted in a leather jacket and had spiked his hair, while Mr. Wellborn wore a conventional 3-piece suit, his hair combed and parted. They could be a great comedy duo, based on appearance alone.

I did take a few notes:

*Students learn better if they learn with big muscles first (i.e. forearm motion) and then transition the movements to smaller muscles (i.e. fingers).

*According to a study by the U.S. Department of Health and Education, students are 7 times more likely to learn and retain concepts if they speak/verbalize the concepts during the learning process.

"If you miss a note you either don't know what the note is or you don't know where the note is."

- Theodor Leschetizky

*With longer, more difficult pieces it's best to learn the music in small pieces, with a minimum of 10 repetitions on each section per day between lessons.

*Rather than ask a student to play 3 times accurate, and then move on to the next phrase/section, try for 5 accurate repetitions (hopefully with each repetition becoming more musical).

*This weekend I've witnessed many reminders about scale technique that I need to integrate into my own teaching. When performing scales begin softly, crescendo to the top, and diminuendo on the way back down. Technique exercises can - and should - be performed musically, with nuance and thoughtfulness.

*This last note is difficult to articulate but still I'm going to include it here because it's a good teaching reminder about an essential pianistic skill: When turning the thumb under there's an anticipation required of the thumb. When turning, the thumb should be in line with the note prior to the one the thumb lands on. For example, with an Ab Major scale the R.H. thumb mid-turn should be in line with the Bb prior to its landing on the C.

I'll post again tomorrow.

Jesse

MTAC Convention 2011 - Day 1

2011-07-01T23:30:00.000-07:00

I am attending the annual Music Teachers Association of CA (MTAC) convention at the Marriott hotel in downtown Oakland this weekend.

I couldn't rouse myself from sleep for any of the early presentations this morning. June was a challenging month for me, and now it's July 1st; this convention snuck up on me. I'm going to do my best to glean insights from the weekend's events, despite my fatigue.

Here's a summary of the events I attended this afternoon:

Meeting the authors of the "Just The Facts" Theory books:

- Any parent or student of mine knows that I swear by the "Just The Facts" music theory books. Almost all of my students work from this series of books. They are absolutely the best I have found. A couple months ago I was placing a phone order with them and the woman helping me, Regina, mentioned that they'd have a booth at the MTAC Convention this year. I promised I would come by and meet her then.

I doubt she remembers me from our phone conversation, but when I found the "Just The Facts" booth in the Exhibit Hall I started doling out my plaudits straightaway. Regina was at the booth and later her co-author Ann stopped by. I told them repeatedly, "I'm your biggest fan!" and purchased a couple books that I needed. It was a cool experience; I interact with their work 3-4 days a week, every week. Fun to now be able to say that I've met them.

"Teaching the Romantics to Young Pianists" lecture by Dennis Alexander:

- Mr. Alexander offered many excellent insights in his presentation. He is not only a piano teacher but also an oft-published composer. Nearly every musical excerpt he performed to demonstrate his points was from one of his pieces. So that was interesting. Thankfully, it never felt like he was urging us audience members to buy his books. He seems a genuine, sweet individual.

Some assorted takeaways:

*Decide what "picture" is being painted by the music. Students should sometimes be asked to actually draw a picture to better express the sound of a piece they're playing.

*A general performance practice: when ending a piece, hands should float up, wrists first and then hands slowly return down to one's lap.

*When performing a piece requiring hand position changes, float wrists above the keyboard on the way to the new position, with the wrists in motion in time with the pulse of the music (hard to express this point in words here without the visual demonstration Mr. Alexander provided).

*Where is the "heart" of each musical phrase? Have student draw an actual heart above these moments - 1 heart per phrase. In performance you move your body slightly toward the instrument when the "heart" is reached, to add emphasis, and then pull away thereafter.

*Words to employ when teaching rubato: hug, stretch, flexible, tenderly, elastic, love, bend (i.e. "'Hug' this note when performing this passage").

*The presentation ended with this excellent quote from another music educator:

"When we play the piano, we create a dance with our bodies, and the keyboard translates that motion into sound."

"Care and Maintenance of Your Piano" lecture by Gavin English:

- Gavin English is an employee of Steinway pianos and his lecture veered dangerously into "Steinway propaganda" territory -- he was pushing his products heavily -- but still he offered many excellent insights. His presentation was broken into 5 parts:

Cleaning Your Piano

- Use a thin cloth, lightly dampened with water

- No waxes, no polishes

- Piano keys should be cleaned with a lightly dampened cloth. Avoid getting moisture on the side of the keys.

- Do not clean a piano using paper towels! Use a cloth instead.

- To whiten ivory keys: use a small amount of peroxide on a cotton swab

Tuning - the best maintenance

- If you have purchased a newly manufactured piano, the recommendation is: tune your piano 4 times in the first year. Tune the piano 2 times a year in subsequent years.

- The main factor in a piano's tuning fluctuating is humidity.

- Try to maintain a climate of 35-50% humidity -- without wide swings of temperature -- in your piano room. To measure humidity in the room, buy a hygrometer at a home center.

- Best time to tune a piano? Two or three weeks after a seasonal change, so that the instrument has already settled in the new climate.

Voicing

- Voicing a piano controls, to a large extent, the tone of a piano and is separate from tuning. Technicians can adjust the characteristics of the piano's hammer felts to affect the range of tone that can be produced by the piano.

- Voicing is based on individual preference and should be discussed with a technician. Considerations such as wanting a "bright" sound vs. a "mellow" sound from the instrument are some of the common discussion points.

- As a piano is played, the condition of the hammer felts will change. For normal home playing, voicing service is recommended every 2-3 years or so, as you perceive changes in the instrument's tone.

Regulation

- Regulation of the piano action adjusts the overall touch and consistency with which each note responds to your playing. Your piano "action" consists of approximately 7500 parts manufactured primarily with wood and felt. As the felt compresses over a period of time, the evenness of touch will change.

- For normal home playing, regulation is recommended every 2-3 years.

Environment

- Avoid positioning your piano in the path of direct air from heating/cooling vents, or in the close proximity of a humidifier.

- Try to maintain relative humidity of 35-50%.

- Avoid exposure to direct sunlight as it will bleach the finish of the piano and adversely affect tuning stability.

- A cheap insurance policy: monitor your piano room with a hydrometer, which will measure the relative humidity in which your piano resides.

I'll post again tomorrow.

Jesse

July 2011 Teaching Schedule

2011-07-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

-- My teaching schedule during the month of July will be fragmented. Please read the following:

Monday students: We'll have 2 lessons in July. We won't be meeting on the July 4th holiday. I'll see you on the 11th and the 18th. We will not meet on the 25th because I will be out of town.

Tuesday students: We'll have 3 lessons in July. I will see you on the 5th, 12th, and 19th. We will not meet on the 26th because I will be out of town.

Thursday students: We'll have 2 lessons in July. We will not meet on the 7th because I will be out of town. I will see you on the 14th and the 21st. We will not meet on the 28th because I will be out of town.

Sunday students: We will have 2 lessons in July. We will not meet on the 3rd, 10th, or 31st. I will see you on the 17th and the 31st.

Please contact me if you have any questions! Sorting out the above schedule has required a lot of brain power; I hope I have all the details right.

-- July is my first month teaching Tuesdays at my home studio in Castro Valley. Hooray! Welcome to my new Tuesday students.

-- I am attending the MTAC convention in Oakland this weekend and will be blogging about the events I attend.

-- The Summer Film Scoring project will kick into gear with select students in July. Though the selected short cartoon is only 3 minutes long, I think the length is intimidating for students who have never undertaken such a project before. So my new plan is to divide students into "teams" of 2, each taking a share of the composing work. More details are forthcoming.

-- The Ear Power song for the month of July is "Twist and Shout" by The Beatles. Download link below.

Musician Antony Hegarty sounds off on technology

2011-06-29T00:25:00.000-07:00

"The Internet might be useful for creating revolution, but all it's creating in the Western world is more passivity, more disconnection. It's a nightmare.

When I was 20 years old in New York City, do you think you walked into a coffee shop and saw 40 people staring at $2,000 purchases all made from the same company? And those are all the artists!

I talk to young musicians now, and they're just happy to be making records that get released. They don't even consider that, in the old days, they could making a living by selling records. They don't even get paid for their work. All that money just goes to Apple and they're happy to just have people going to their shows. It just took two generations for Apple and similar companies to convince artists they don't deserve to get paid and that they should just be grateful for the tools that Apple is providing us to make our work, as if we need them to make our art. It's very, very [messed] up."

Summer Film Scoring Project

2011-06-21T23:30:00.000-07:00

This is a project I've wanted to present for awhile now, and I think this summer is the time to make it happen. Here's the short animated film I selected to inaugurate what I hope to be an annual project for my students. Mute the sound and imagine the possibilities:

Participating students will compose several short instrumental pieces to accompany the above video. We will work together to record the music and then place the musical cues in the appropriate places, linking sounds to the images. The deadline for completion of this film scoring project will be the end of September. More information can be provided upon request.

This project is not for everyone -- some of my students are too young for this type of work and others won't be able to make the time commitment required -- but those who get onboard will enjoy a unique, rewarding musical challenge.

Jesse

"Balls of Holly" Audio

2011-06-14T23:30:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to the music I composed and recorded for the short film "Balls of Holly" last month. Enjoy.

Subbing @ St. Augustine's Church, Oakland

2011-06-11T23:30:00.000-07:00

I wore a red shirt today. Little did I know the decor inside St. Augustine's today would be festooned with all kinds of red banners and draped cloth. I think the color scheme was in celebration of the Feast of Pentecost(?). I fit right in.

As I entered the church and strode toward the piano I noticed two men clutching ukuleles, each swathed in a red Hawaiian shirt. There was a lady standing a couple feet from them wearing a flowing red dress and a flower in her hair. I learned later that these three would be performing a Tahitian song in the "Presentation of Gifts" section of the mass. Very random. I perused the English translation of the song's lyrics and didn't find any relevance to a Catholic service. I only found a bunch of lines about admiring the beauty of birds and nature. I don't know who gave this song a "pass", but at least the performers dressed the part.

The "Glory to God" piece early in the mass almost always flummoxes me. Jim favors a tough arrangement of that common text. It is very quick in tempo and the figures in the keyboard part are not pianistic, requiring improvisational adjustments on the spot (I think it was written with an organist in mind). But I just about nailed it in the performance today, that is, until I reached the final page of the piece. Someone had written in thick sharpie pen on the opposite side of this page. The ink bled through the thin paper, obscuring large portions of three systems of music. I mashed one or two wrong chords in the heat of the moment as I tried to see around/through the sharpie pen madness. That was a bummer.

Also, I played a wrong musical cue just before the priest's homily. I was supposed to play the "Alleluia" refrain once more prior to him addressing the congregation but instead I played the introductions to "Springs of Water", the song sung while everyone renews their baptismal commitment while the priest walks around lightly spraying everyone with water from a shaken palm(?) branch. Jim quickly shook me off, and then came over to the piano to apologize for not reminding me that we'd be performing the "Alleluia" chorus once again. These can be complex productions.

Despite the above quirks, I played well tonight. I haven't been able to devote much time to legitimate piano practice recently, so it's nice to be given the opportunity to get my hands warm, shake off the accrued cobwebs, and get paid while doing so.

Jesse

Flute Recital @ Logan H.S., Union City

2011-06-09T23:30:00.000-07:00

Tonight's performance came off with nary a hitch. My work was simple -- accompany four flute students midway through the recital program and then head get on the road back home prior to the program's conclusion.

It was unfortunate our audience was so scant this evening. There were no more than twenty audience members strewn about the massive theatre.

The Logan Performing Arts Center is stunning. The main theatre is laid out like a classic movie palace, with an upper deck of seating and a wide, deep stage. The backstage area is littered with flat-screen televisions mounted to the walls. They serve as monitors, delivering the perspective of a camera whose gaze is trained on the stage. This is a high-tech affair. By all appearances, no expense was spared. They even have a room dedicated to "Wood Storage". It has its own title placard! The school's theatre teachers must be in heaven. Everything is new, unblemished by careless adolescent hands.

I was curious to play the school's fabled Steinway grand piano. Unfortunately none of the selections this evening allowed me to truly test its sonic potential. It felt like I was driving a fancy sports car that I wasn't allowed to rev beyond 20 mph. No matter; I was there to serve others and not myself.

The Doppler piece "Fantasie Pastorale Hongroise, Op. 26" (don't worry - I had never heard of it before either) had a couple tricky piano interludes that I was concerned about but I managed to perform them fine tonight. The flute student I accompanied on that one, Catherine, proved to be the M.V.P. of the recital. In addition to her solo piece and a flute trio she also accompanied to other students at the piano. She's a talented one.

Fun to work with young musicians who are earnestly striving. Everyone I worked with was without guile. This was a refreshing experience.

Jesse

Keeping Score: The Making of a Performance: Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony

2011-06-09T12:00:00.000-07:00

I must confess ignorance regarding Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony. I'd never heard the work prior to viewing this concert/documentary film. I'm sure strains of it have passed my ears at some point in years past, but my recollection is foggy. No matter -- Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor of the San Francisco Symphony, is a masterful tour guide to the uninitiated. I hope to see more of the films in his "Keeping Score" series. These are illuminating for both experienced musicians and novices alike. There's something for everyone. Very exciting to witness snippets of the rehearsal process and see the conductor playing piano at home, rehearsing from his weathered score. All the while, M.T.T. is ebullient. His attention to detail in preparing the S.F. Symphony's performance of this symphony is remarkable. Even after the performance has ended he's still thinking about ways he could have elicited more emotive power from the music and from his musicians. This is a hallmark of truly passionate musicians and artists: never complacent, always pushing on to greater heights.

Recording Drums at Home

2011-06-04T23:30:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine named Brian happens to be a drummer. Weeks ago we booked today and next Saturday as days to track drums at my home. Brian is the 3rd drummer I've attempted to bring in to help me complete recordings of songs I recorded November-December of last year.

I'm tired of people letting me down, and I'm thinking again that I need to do everything myself.

Brian arrived an hour-plus later than we had planned for. This compromised the day's work even further than it was compromised already. We worked for just over 2 hours in the afternoon - that's the limited amount of time we had - and just managed to finish 1 song.

No one was home besides me today, so I set up my drum kit in my living room. Microphones and cables splayed around it. It was a lovely scene.

Crazy how projects like this take so long to complete. I'm to the point where I don't even hear the music anymore. I've heard all these songs too many times; they've lost their potency. I just want to finish this so I can move on.

Brian informed me at the end of our time that he just found out he has to work next Saturday. He doesn't know the next time he'll have a free weekend. I'm frustrated that I've waited this long to get together with him and that I haven't accomplished anything more myself. Waiting for people to come through and show desire and enthusiasm is one of the worst kinds of waiting. I don't know why it is so, but this project is hamstrung.

Jesse

Accompanying Flute Students @ Logan H.S.

2011-06-03T23:30:00.000-07:00

Anita is a bay area flute recital. I met her for the first time last summer when she called me asking if I would be available to accompany her students at their recital. I was available and the performance went well. I'm happy that she called me again this year to participate in the latest edition of this annual event.

The Performing Arts Center at Logan High School in Union City was the site of today's rehearsal. It is an incredible complement of facilities. It easily trumps the music building at Chabot College in Hayward, and it rivals the music facilities at Cal State University East Bay. I don't understand how it came to be that this high school in Union City has such an amazing asset.

The rehearsal this afternoon was in one of what appeared to be a myriad of band rooms. I will seize the opportunity to explore the layout of the arts center further at the recital this Thursday night.

I am accompanying four students for the performance. Many of Anita's other students have procured their own accompanist - some friend of theirs who plays piano. That's fine by me; I'm busy enough with all my students and other performances. A lighter workload is a blessing.

My work today was straightforward, save for one piece. It is some 15 pages long, with at least a dozen tempo changes. Complicated stuff... so much so that we devoted an hour of rehearsal time to just this one piece. In that amount of time we were only able to do one full run-through. The rest of the hour was spent working on some of the thornier passages and tricky transitions. I'm hopeful that the performance of this one will come off alright. The piece presents many challenges.

Thursday evening will provide an opportunity for me to play Logan's fabled Steinway grand piano. This Steinway cost the school/district $70,000(!). At today's rehearsal I played on a sad, out-of-tune Yamaha upright. An upgrade is in order. I'm looking forward to having a posh experience.

Jesse

June 2011 Teaching Schedule

2011-06-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

-- My teaching schedule during the month of June will be uninterrupted.

-- June will be my last month teaching on Tuesdays in Fremont. From July going forward I will be teaching on Tuesdays at my home studio in Castro Valley.

-- I have a few plans in the works for special Summer activities in my teaching studio. These are still taking shape. I'll reveal them when they are more fully-formed (i.e. soon).

-- The Ear Power song for the month of June is "King of Anything" by Sara Bareilles. Download links below.

Have a happy month,
Jesse

P-Star Rising

2011-05-26T12:00:00.000-07:00

This PBS documentary film tells so many stories. It's a New York story. A story about the quest for fame & wealth. The story of a single father. A story about drug addiction. A story about child entertainers. A story about the crumbling music business. A story about how quick and easy it is to spend a paltry $10,000 record company advance! All these tales are presented in this outstanding film about an up-and-coming rapper named P-Star.

The documentary follows P-Star from age 9-13. She's usually billed as "The youngest girl in the game". Her skills on the mic are undeniable -- we see many scenes of her performing in the studio and on stage. Her father had a career in the music business decades previous and is integrally involved in his daughter's rise. Complicating matters, he is a single parent raising two daughters with no help from their mother. They live in a small apartment in Harlem.

"P-Star Rising" is gripping from start to finish. It's a family drama encompassed in a story about ambition and dreams. The filmmakers are never exploitative; this is to their credit. They always allow their subjects time and space to breathe and be truthful. Through it all, P-Star herself is a charmer, overflowing with gumption. You will root for her to succeed.

Jazz Workshop Performance @ Community of Christ Church, Fremont

2011-05-22T23:30:00.000-07:00

The music store Ben teaches out of reserves this church once or twice yearly for student recitals presented by teachers who work at the store. I'm not one to disparage churches, but this one is really odd looking. One side of the parking lot is neighbored by mounds of dirt, completely undeveloped. The structure itself is the perfect embodiment of the term "unremarkable". It's a building you look at and wonder, "Who gave this design the green light!?". I can't even begin to imagine how to improve it; I think they ought to just tear it down and start over.

The performance of the Jazz Workshop groups was scheduled to begin at 2:15pm, but the preceding recital went way over time. I don't think we played our first chart until around 2:45pm. I heard Ben remark conspiratorially to another musician that the teacher of the preceding recital (who happened to be his ex-girlfriend) was just running late to torment and spite him. I don't know all the facts, but I do know that she was exceedingly inconsiderate of we who were waiting.

When the stage/pulpit finally cleared we enacted a hasty setup. I brought my own Korg Stage Vintage keyboard for the songs Ben wanted me to play a Rhodes sound on. I did a ton of research before purchasing this keyboard. I'm so happy with my purchase; it was a big investment but I'm certain now after owning it for a few month that it's the right instrument for me.

The church has a Baldwin grand piano which sounded pretty good, so I alternated between that and my keyboard. Always a drag when quarters are so cramped that you have no choice but to set your amp in front of your instrument. It's difficult - nigh on impossible - to monitor your sound in that configuration. More ideal for me is to place my amp slightly behind and off to the side of my instrument, but I was cramped into a corner and didn't have that choice.

We all probably sounded better at the rehearsals, but this afternoon was still fun. I ended up stretching out on a bunch of my solos. It seems I turned into the *star player* of the hired guns. I was getting lots of love for my playing. The audience was subdued but I guess that's what you typically get with jazz audiences.

During the brief intermission the drummer started telling me about his beloved cat Atom. Soon enough the second group/set began.

Since we started late we ended late. I had to pack up my gear immediately and rush back home because I re-scheduled a couple students for early this evening. There was no time for post-gig schmoozing. As I departed the hall, the next teacher was anxiously waiting to present a recital featuring her gaggle of guitar students. What a jam-packed day of music.

Jesse

Film Scoring - "Balls of Holly"

2011-05-20T23:30:00.000-07:00

My friend Shaun shot and edited a film directed by a classmate of his, Beatriz. The short film is titled "Balls of Holly". There is nothing related to Christmas in the content. The story-line involves a woman named Holly who is scorned and then determines to plot her revenge.

Shaun stopped by last Friday night with a DVD copy of the film. It was a rough edit, but it provided me more than enough to work from. I watched it once with Shaun that night and then put it away until Wednesday night. I've been swamped with work.

Wednesday night around 11:30pm I was able to sit down and devote some time to crafting a score. I came up with a basic main theme last Saturday afternoon while on a break at a rehearsal. The director Beatriz (who I may never meet or even speak to) had emailed Shaun three YouTube links to film score excerpts that she thought fit the mood of her film. The links provided me a basic template.

The three links were these:

1) "Winter" from Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Characteristics: strings, fast tempo, distinctive harmonic section moving around in 4ths and 5ths (highly technical language, I know, but worth noting in detail because I sort of ripped it off)

2) "The Whistle Song" from the Kill Bill soundtrack. Composed by film scoring impresario Bernard Herrmann for original usage in some early 60's movie. Notable for its repeated whistled melody. I can't whistle, so any inspiration I took from this was more abstract.

3) A random section from the main theme to the Nicole Kidman movie Stepford Wives. It featured strings, bells/chimes, and cooing female voices, all in waltz time.

So the above is what I had to work from. No time cues, no suggestion of where music ought to be placed or ought not be placed... almost no direction at all. I set to work.

Wednesday night I was able to work for an hour and a half. That's all the time I had available. I crafted 8 separate pieces of music, each no longer than a minute and a half. I've developed a crude system where I can begin recording a track in GarageBand and then click over to the DVD player in the same screen, playing along to get the timing right and approximate length required for the music. It seems to work out okay.

There's a pivotal scene toward the end of "Balls of Holly" involving baking and poison. A lengthy musical accompaniment was necessary there. I made a pass at it on Wednesday night but wasn't happy with the results.

Thursday night after wrapping up teaching I took a fresh try at it. I hit a wall for about half and hour; nothing was working. Ultimately, I ended up with some sort of bizarre NIN-esque synthesizer scramble. (I heard later from Shaun that Beatriz liked the work that I did for that section. So hooray.)

Two and a half hours of work later -- a completed score for a 10-minute short film. I will post links to the music when I have more time.

All the tracks have been passed along to Shaun for him to edit in. I wasn't sure I would be able to complete this work given my busy schedule this week, but I'm glad I took it on. Teaching takes a lot out of me and sometimes I am too depleted from that to undertake any creative projects of my own. It requires determination to not let that flame burn out entirely. That said, I need to make a living and support my family, so until these things start yielding me real income my priorities are clear.

Jesse

Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould

2011-05-19T12:00:00.000-07:00

Glenn Gould is probably the best-known classical pianist of the 20th century. This is down to his immense technical ability and also his set of idiosyncrasies. When out in public, he would rarely remove his thick wool gloves. He always performed and practiced the piano seated on a modified chair which sat extremely low, at an unorthodox height. He retired from concert performance at the tender age of 31. The list goes on. "Genius Within" is probably the best film portrait of Gould yet to be released. The first half is gripping. We watch this young upstart from a small Canadian town capture wild plaudits after his debut concerts in New York. Then he reaches an even wider audience after his masterful recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations sees release:

Gould brought a vibrancy and fresh approach to the rather obscure Goldberg Variations. His playing on that record is a delight, a marvelous blend of precision and panache.

The latter half of the film "Genius Within" does drag. It's difficult to bring Gould's private years to life on screen. He became an isolationist and mostly retreated to the recording studio, putting down on tape his singular interpretations of keyboard classics. During his later years he also produced an occasional scripted radio program, and painstakingly documenting every one of his bodily tics (Gould was a notorious hypochondriac). There's more to be explored here; unfortunately "Genius Within" does a poor job explicating this period of time.

And then Gould was gone, deceased far too soon. He leaves behind him a vicious wake. He life resembled a fireball: burn bright, scorch the landscape, and then keep on moving.

Jazz Workshop Rehearsal @ Irvington H.S., Fremont

2011-05-14T23:30:00.000-07:00

The drummer arrived almost a half-hour late to rehearsal. He said his wife was sick and that he was getting sick now, too. I believe him, but it would have been cool if he had called ahead to let Ben know of the situation.

After he finally arrived, he was setting up his cymbals and at one point leaned back and knocked over the soda he had placed on the amp behind him. His day wasn't getting any better. I jogged to the bathroom and grabbed a bunch of paper towels to help him clean up. We all have times like these; today I determined to do what I could to make it better.

Speaking of better things: while we were waiting for said drummer to show up, I was rummaging around in one of the Irvington band room closets and discovered an old Fender Rhodes Mark II Stage Piano. Anyone who knows me well knows that I'll play a Rhodes any opportunity I get. This one was in remarkably good condition. It sounded great once I finally found a functional instrument cable amongst the messy tangle on the floor of the closet. Some of the gear in this band room is being terribly mistreated.

In addition to hiring the pro rhythm section, Ben hired three pro trombonists to fill out the big band sound for the concert next weekend. These three were at the rehearsal today and added a great deal.

I switched back and forth between the upright piano and the Rhodes. The more modern tunes are getting the Rhodes treatment, while the traditional jazz standards will feature a piano sound. I'll be bringing my keyboard to the gig next Sunday, so I'll have tone options aplenty.

Again it was a lot of fun playing jazz: comping behind soloists, improvising. It's like being let off a leash. You can choose to play or not play what's written, so long as you maintain the chord progression. There are instances where specific figures in a chart are required to be played, but much of the time I have great flexibility.

At the end of rehearsal, Ben remarked to me, "Jesse, you sound great. I'm going to keep calling you all the time for these things - I'm in love with your playing." To which I replied, "Oh, thanks a lot. We should start a bro-mance."

Affectionate banter? Check. We're on our way.

Jesse