What fun to hear everyone's first performance this fall! Everyone bravely played their piece(s) and listened respectfully to each other. It was fun to meet new piano friends and reconnect with old ones. Here's a recap of our class time. You can ask your student about more!
1. Teams Bach, Beethoven and Brahms tried their hand at Piano Trivia! Did you know that the piano was invented in 1709? The modern grand has over 10,000 moving parts? The most expensive piano ever made was The Crystal Piano built for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, $3.5 million? That the piano has a range larger than ALL of the other instruments?
2. A number of students brought in wonderful lego and artistic creations representing their piece! It was impressive and fun to see another creative side to them. Pictures posted below.
3. We got to hear everyone's exciting performance. Each student also did a fabulous bow, announcing of their piece, and even some historical background to their piece and composer. Such a great way to hear other repertoire and for performance practice! The Elem/Middle class got to hear the very first performance of the "Don't Stop Believin" Quartet! Phew, it was close, but they made it through!
4. Our composer focus was Claude Debussy of the Impressionistic Era. We listened to Clair de Lune from Suite Bergamasque and learned about his life. What an amazing artist!
5. Of course, we had to have a musical snack - cookies to represent half and quarter notes. Students who brought in art/legos also took home freshly picked apples from Bellewood Acres. Students were given a piano challenge for this month - hopefully many of them will take it on!
Our next Group Performance Classes will be:
Nov. 15 (concerto students, 4-5pm), and
Nov. 21 (non-concerto, 4-4:30pm). Here's an exciting announcement. For our Nov. 21 class (4:30-5:30pm), after performances, we will have local composer, Jennifer Bowman, come and share about her pieces and her compositional process! I'm so thrilled to offer this opportunity to meet a real live published composer! I think this will be very inspiring for everyone, as we prepare for our annual Piano Pal composition project.
It's such a great group of young piano students, we are off to a wonderful year of learning and sharing our music!
Students from the Elementary class show off their artistic and lego creations! Pieces about Rubik’s cubes, sunsets, a pony and a dog, Tchakovsky, and a Chopin Waltz were all represented.
The “Don’t Stop Believing’ Quartet” - first performance!