Episode 106 - Music Background

Welcome to show 106 of Piano, finally. Have you ever thought about all the things that go into making a musical performance that aren't the music itself? This week, we explore the behind-the-scenes work that makes music happen, from setting up choir risers to baking a cake for a piano recital. What's been playing School is back for the final term of the year, and so piano and voice lessons have both started back up. For Devi's piano recital on 28 November, I've selected The Trumpet Tune and Wild Chase, with a possible addition of Leonard Cohen's Alleluia from the Rockschool Keys book. For my solo voice piece with Sussane, we've decided on Fireflies by Adam Young, dropped an octave so it goes from B♭2 to B♭3, which is quite comfortable. Essay - Music Background Music doesn't happen in a vacuum. Beyond the singing notes, there is much more of the behind-the-scenes required for a successful performance. For our choir, that means around seventy-five hours of in-person rehearsal for each concert, plus the physical work of assembling and disassembling risers. If you are part of a larger group, stepping up to do these background tasks is just as important as diligently learning your parts. Even bringing a plate of food to a recital helps make the whole experience for everyone a little more enjoyable. Step up and lend a hand, in the end every little bit helps. Learning - What's new Bill Hilton has put together a comprehensive list of resources for early adult learners for his Patreon subscribers: The Great Big Piano Beginner Resource List. It includes beginner method books, sight-reading practice books, and technical exercise books suggested by other members.https://www.patreon.com/cw/billhilton/membership I also used SpectraLayers 13 to do stem separation on the practice tracks for Fireflies, transposing the vocal part down by an octave. On YouTube, Matthew Cawood has a video looking at the theory behind learning music theory, demonstrating why understanding cadences and chord progressions makes learning the playing more effective:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDkq2whf6q4 Adam over at The Keys Coach has a guide to 7th chords, sketching out a graphical system for working them out:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ID3HrK OZCA And Tom Donald at the London Contemporary School of Piano is tackling chord progressions:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0F-i63cSBU Closing It is unlikely that there will be a show next week, as I am helping with the St Vincent de Paul van in western Sydney. If you'd like to contact me, email [email protected] or visit www.pianofinally.show. This podcast is produced on the lands of the Dharug and Gundungarra peoples, land that is, was and always will be traditional Aboriginal land. The contents of the podcast were entirely generated by David Reidy, but these show notes were created by Gemini. Send me a text message. You can contact me: via email at [email protected]; this is probably the best option the show website, www.pianofinally.show Instagram and Threads @pianofinally and on YouTube  all the podcast directories - list here's the RSS feed Some of the links to books and other items mentioned in the podcast may affiliate links for Amazon or other providers. If you use one of these links, a commission may be paid to me at no additional cost to you. Thank you if you use a link.  All reviews of products, websites and services are unpaid, and no sponsorship has been received for any content on this podcast.