Last spring I was having a discussion with one of my adult students about listening to live music. He was telling me how much he loves listening to live music because you get the visual of seeing the performers with their instruments and seeing a real person responding to the music. I must say, I agree with him. It’s nice to have the convenience of recordings, but they really can’t replace the beauty of live music.
Last weekend was full of live music for me! It was so wonderful to get to experience music with the actual performers. Here are the highlights:
-On Friday I visited the beautiful new performing arts center on the campus of my alma mater. They were celebrating its completion with a series of concerts. I went the concert featuring student and alumni pianists. It was the debut performance of their 2 brand new Steinways. It was fun for me to hear several pieces I had never heard before. A highlight was the final piece performed on 2 pianos, The Serpents Kiss, A Rag Fantasy by William Bolcom. The pianists were stomping their feet, knocking on the piano and clicking their tongues. This was definitely a fun piece to see performed live!
-On Saturday, I spent the morning and afternoon with TAMTA piano teachers. Jane Magrath from OU came to do a workshop for us. She played portions of almost 100 different intermediate piano pieces. She plays very expressively and gave a lot of great teaching tips to help students play more musically.
-Later that evening, I was at a potluck at friend’s house. My new friend, Dianna Burrup, brought her guitar and sang us a couple of her original songs. I was so impressed with Dianna’s awesome voice! You could really tell that she was feeling every word that she sang.
-On Sunday, I returned to TU to see Vintage Wildflowers. I was so happy to finally see my friend, Dana, perform on her harp with her band. Their music is so lively and fun! It was fascinating to watch the 3 musicians communicate together with their music.
-Finally on Monday, I attended a monthly musicale. There were 5 different groups performing all different types of music. I particularly enjoyed Appasionata Duo, which is a harp and viola duo. They played some beautiful arrangements of Elton John and Beetles tunes. The grand finale was a performance by The Claptet, a body percussion group. They were incredible! Check out their YouTube videos. It was definitely a treat to hear them live – the complex rhythms working together are so energizing!
Whew! A lot of music in a weekend! Hearing so much well-performed live music has left me inspired and energized! If you haven’t made a point to listen to live music lately, I encourage you to find some. Nothing compares!
