I played the celesta for the first time in my life in a large concert hall, Strauss Alp Symphony. I enjoyed playing a lot. I am wondering whether there are some compositions for celesta solo? I would like to explore this instrument more.
Hello,
I am a woman, 53.
Started tripping 2023, with a peak 2025 (2 broken arms), only 3 times so far this year.
No other symtoms evoking ALS.
Neurologist found the following:
* bilateral hyperreflexia
* bilateral Hoffman
* left central facialis
* left Babinsky
conclusion: signs of upper motoneuron damages
Clean brain and neck MRI
No lack of B12
EMG not done yet, probably in November. What can it be?
Albéniz: Asturias
Anonymous: Forbidden Games (Jeux Interdits)
Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach: Solfeggietto
Johann Sebastian Bach: Aria (Goldberg Variations), Air on the G string, Arioso, Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, Wake, Awake for Night is Flying, Minuet G major No. 4, Minuet g minor No. 5, Minuet G major No. 7, Little Prelude C major, Little Prelude c minor, Prelude C major, Prelude e minor, Siciliano, Allemande (French Suite No. 5), Gavotte en Rondeau (Violin Partita No. 3)
Bach-Marcello: Adagio
Beethoven: For Elise, Moonlight Sonata, Pathetique Sonata, Tempest Sonata
Brahms: Lullaby, Symphony No. 3, Waltz A major
Charpentier: Prelude (Te Deum)
Chopin: Nocturne, Raindrop Prelude, Sadness, Waltz a minor
Clementi: Prelude
Debussy: Arabesque No. 1, Clair de lune, The Girl with the Flaxen Hair, The Little Shepherd
Delibes: Flower Duet, Waltz (Coppélia)
Dvořák: Largo (New World Symphony)
Elgar: Love Greetings (Salut d’ Amour)
Fauré: Pavane, Sicilienne
Franck: A Doll’s Lament
Glinka: Russian Polka
Grieg: Arietta, Morning Mood, Anitra’s Dance, In the Hall of the Mountain King, Solveig’s Song
Haendel: Chorus (Judas Maccabaeus), Lascia ch’io pianga, Passacaglia, Sarabande, Water Music
Liszt: Consolation No. 3, La Campanella, Love Dream
MacDowell: To a Wild Rose
Mascagni: Intermezzo
Massenet: Meditation (Thaïs)
Maykapar: Lullaby
Mendelssohn: Wedding March
Mozart: A Little Night Music, Lacrimosa, Lullaby, Minuet, Sonata Facile
Pachelbel: Canon
Paganini: Caprice
Ponce: Little Star
Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf
Purcell: Rondeau
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 3, Vocalise
Rameau: Menuet en Rondeau
Ravel: Bolero, Pavane for a Dead Princess
Rimsky-Korsakov: The Young Prince and the Young Princess
Rodrigo: Adagio (Concierto de Aranjuez)
Saint-Saëns: The Swan
Satie: Gnossienne No. 1, Gymnopédie No. 1
Scarlatti: Sonata d minor
Schubert: Ave Maria, Lullaby, Serenade, The Trout
Schumann: Melody, Little Etude, Lullaby, Of Foreign Lands and People, Dreaming
Shostakovich: March, Walz a minor, Hurdy-Gurdy, Waltz No. 2
Sibelius: Finlandia
Smetana: The Moldau
Strauss II: Emperor Waltz, The Blue Danube
Tchaikovsky: Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, Waltz of the Flowers, June, October, Garland Waltz (Sleeping Beauty), Rose Adagio, Swan Lake, Dance of the Little Swans
Vivaldi: Largo
Wagner: Bridal Chorus
Williams: Hedwig’s Theme (Harry Potter)
Self-explanatory
Baroque music is surprisingly a good match for kalimba. This piece is also easy and suitable for beginners. Hope you enjoy it!
Summer is traditionally a period for summer academies all over the world. I would like to give you some warning signals about that one.
In European terms, super expensive (3500 Eur incl hotel) => 95% participants are teens/kids from the US with Asian descent, typical youtube prodigies
Not possible to study with a single teacher, lessons are split between teachers of very varying quality without any information before hand
Some lessons take place in hotels conference rooms without any sound proofing. Almost impossible to have a normal lesson when you hear everything on the other side of the wall
Only 2*5 hours of practice in a shop in rooms with untuned pianos, without aircon nor windows
no time for serious orchestra rehearsal, only playthrough. Concert piano also detuned
Contrarily to what is stated in the program, opera production not free for festival participants
Impossible to get video recording money back (350 eur extra) even though the concert never happened
Only 1 piano in classrooms, which is not the expected standard for masterclasses especially if you work on concertos
Today I was supposed to play a concerto in a festival which participation was costly and based on a video selection. When I understood that the other participants would be 100% Asian kids and teens from the US, I started being uncomfortable about it, as I am a pure hobby pianist over 50. However my teacher and the organisation reassured me "nobody will judge you", "you play like professional" etc. This morning was the rehearsal and I did not cope with my nerves. The conductor went to the organisers and said I can't play, it was too bad. How can I handle that failure?
I performed it today. For those who don't know me, again I am a non self-taught hobby pianist, returnee in her 50's after 20 years complete gap, with very little experience performing. I know what went well and what did not, nevertheless happy I made it through.
Hello, I have a career in banking and a degree in piano performance. After a long break (career, family), I found the time, helped by the pandemic and teleworking to pick up piano and I am active in the amateur circuit. Next projects include: amateur competition in Cologne, playing celesta in Alpine Symphony (Strauss) in Stockholm radio concert hall with amateur orchestra, chamber music salon membership in Stockholm (association created in 1848 originally for string players), hobby pianists masterclass in Hamburg Musikhochschule, concerto with amateur orchestra in Frankfurt, masterclass and concerto competition in Fort Worth, Chopin amateur workshop in Warsaw. I would be delighted to meet people like me :)
When I decided to return to piano 4 years ago after a true 20 year break, it was excruciatingly difficult. Thanks to many professional encouragements I am now back on track including memorywise, which I had honestly given up - very thankful to a teacher who didnt give up and forced me.
Now, I am thinking of bringing memory earlier in the process, as soon as I can play the piece somehow fluently (after around 20 readings through, currently working on Rondo a la mazur) even though not everything is technically settled. This, in order to force myself to actively instead of passively memorise, which can I believe shorten the whole learning process and make me more aware of all the text earlier. My question is for professionals: when in the process do you start memorising?
Have you ever reflected that 50% of pianists bios contain the sentence "one of the leading pianists of his/her generation".
How many pianists can actually lead a generation?
Then follows a long and boring list of conservatories and teachers, most of which have only been met 1 hour during a masterclass and which name is often totally unknown to the reader.
Then follows a long and boring list of competition merits, where sometimes the only fact to have been admitted as participant is mentioned.
It is quite amazing that all these mostly supertalented people are unable to write a text which actually helps them differentiate from others and gives the reader the appetite to listen to them.
Doesn't the conservatory help you writing proper bios?
What do you think of this AI composition?
Yesterday, I posted a controversial post about the relative absence of Italian composers from the romantic and 20th century period. UK is another giant absent. Yes, I have heard (of) Britten's piano concerto but there seems to be little piano music worth to be played coming from UK. The big names such as Elgar, Vaughan-Williams, Holst have not gone to posterity thanks to their piano works. Am I being wrong? some important thing I missed?
In 2001 I played this unfinished concerto for the first time in Paris (Chatelet theatre). Thought you may be interested in this rather unknown piece.
Think about other major European countries, Germany (Schumann, Schubert, Brahms), France (Debussy, Ravel, Saint-Saens), Spain (Albeniz, De Falla, Granados), Russia (Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Scriabin, Shostakovich) and smaller European countries (Chopin, Liszt, Bartok). What happened to Italians in 19th and 20th century? Eating spaghetti instead of composing?
There are so many... where to start (as a listener)?
I am a good amateur pianist who occasionally performs in professional contexts. I am definitelty not on concert pianist level at all but I am also very far from standard amateur level. Whenever I find myself in a professional context, and this will happen next week, I am terribly umcomfortable, because I know (or imagine) that everybody thinks I am extremely bad at playing. This systematically destroys all my enjoyment. Any tips how to handle that ?