My Top 6 Favorite Classical Pieces

Ok.  A reckoning for you.  Despite my blog description, and the fact that I broke out of the classical cage long ago to explore other genres, I go weak in the knees when I hear certain classical pieces.  Obviously, my early compositions were inspired by classical influences, and I still compose and improvise in a very classical style (although I'm more jazzy every year).  Here are my favorite classical pieces.  I play all but the first on the piano.

1.  Samuel Barber:  Adagio for Strings.  Just when you think the phrase can't go on any longer (or get any more intense), it does.  Also featured in the movie, Platoon, I fell in love with this piece in high school; there is no piano but it is one of the most moving pieces ever written.  Close your eyes; be open and receptive to the sadness of this piece, and it will rip you to pieces.

 

2.  Gabriel Faure:  Pavane.  I'm a softie for anything de Francais, especially French composers.  Debussy, Faure, Saint-Saens, Satie...I love them all.  The joie de vivre is truly celebrated in French music, and harmonies are just more imaginative.  Just the right tempo is critical.  The mood is spoiled when this piece is delivered too quickly.   This duo has a nice moderate pace and the flutist has a lovely tone and phrasing.  (One of the most gorgeous pieces, I like to spontaneously arrange this on many gigs).

3.  Schubert:  Serenade (this is a particularly good version; I don't like it too slow, and I love Perlman's interpretation on violin.)

4.  Massenet:  Meditation from the opera Thais.  One of the most beautiful melodies ever written; Joshua Bell never disappoints.

5.  Beethoven:  Second Movement of Sonata Pathetique.  To listen to Beethoven is to experience a crazy cocktail of life's drama.  Quickly flipping from seething, violent outbursts to mournful meditations, there is never a dull moment in Beethoven.  I guess that's why I love him so much, and have two of his pieces here.  In this, one of Beethoven's more mournful meditations, the performer puts it all on the table for us:  blood, sweat, and tears.  I performed this movement in church just after 9/11.  I have enjoyed showing students Freddy's facial expressions in this piece.  His inner torment is palpable.

6.  Beethoven:  Third Movement of Moonlight Sonata.  (apologies - I posted the wrong video the first time).  This is my favorite movement of the Moonlight Sonata.  Sure, I love the first movement like everyone, but the electricity and passion of the third movement is hard to beat.  This piece makes me cry when I hear Evgeny Kissin perform it, but Valentina Lisitsa has chops.  Plus, I can't find a live recording of Evgeny playing it online.

Inspiring Duets: You're Welcome!

I'm a sucker for duets.  Two musicians with that special connection seem to vibrate at the same frequency; it's as if two hearts are beating as one.  It's a marriage of souls, so to speak, as two people journey through a song in perfect synchronicity and harmony.

Today I discovered that Kyle Landry has recorded quite a few duets on YouTube.  I play this Adele classic as well.  As I watch, I wonder how much of this is scripted, and how much is just improvised.  The players seem so focused and together.  Stay tuned to the end, where it gets kind of wild!  What a fun ride.

Adele:  Someone Like You (Kyle Landry and Frank Tedesco)

I cannot find a live recording of Chick Corea and Joshua Bell, but here is the recording from the CD: Musical Gifts (Joshua Bell and Friends).  It is a dynamic interplay of percussive jazz piano and passionate classical violin.  Very cool and partnership between jazz and classical.

Greensleeves:  Joshua Bell (violin) and Chick Corea (piano)

I love the unedited, pure, spontaneous quality of this duet, not to mention a jazzy violinist.  Check out some of his other spontaneous street improvisations on YouTube as well!  Random passers-by will just stop and play with Dotan.

Violin & Piano:  Spontaneous Street Duet in NYC with Ada and Dotan Nigran (Piano Around the World)

The Law of Attraction and a Sparkling Lure

A snippet of inspiration is all a child needs to hunger for music.  Teach what they love first, even if it's not in the plans.  Let them lead, and they will passionately practice.  They will want to learn. 

We were about to go to bed when Isaac, my 6-year-old, burst into song:

"This land is your land, this land is my land..."

A teacher had sung the song on morning announcements, and Isaac was hooked.  His mind had put the song on repeat.  This sort of obsession is the natural result of falling in love with a song.  It's like falling in love with a person.  You can't stop thinking about that person, or song.  You want to dwell in its embrace constantly.  On continuous loop throughout the day, its memory puts a skip in your step and a smile on your face.

"Mom, do you know this song?  Can you play it on the piano?"

As his mother and piano teacher, I knew my assignment.  I must drop what I was doing and teach this song immediately.  And I knew he would practice...relentlessly.

"Sure, I'll show you," I said.

My thumb on C, I played the song by ear.  Isaac jumped on the bench and smiled as he echoed my phrase.  He had resisted playing with his thumb before, but now, he saw the necessity of utilizing all five fingers, and he relinquished his stubborn ways.  I taught the next phrase.  He played the two phrases over and over and over, but it was time to go to bed.

"Mom, can you get me up at 5 in the morning so you can teach me the rest?"

And I smiled.  The joy of mothering is in moments like this; when my son has stumbled upon the joy of music, and I had little to do with it.  Sometimes, we let go of the reins, nature takes its course.

You see, the study and mastery of a musical instrument cannot be forced.  Nor can a fisherman force a fish to bite.  Our students, our children, are like fish in the water, and we must lure them in.  The right bait, in terms of the right song, is critical.  Even so, all fisherman know that there is more to it than the right bait.  There are factors beyond our control, like barometric pressure and tides, that have a bearing on how well the fish bite.  Likewise, there are musical experiences our children will have outside of lessons that can get them hooked on music.

We must teach from inspiration.  We must be in tune with the law of attraction.  Give them the bait of a good song that brings them happiness.  Allow the sparkling lure to draw them to the hook.  Show them how to play their favorite song.  And play them your own marvelous, dressed-up version, inspiring them.

And they will bite. 

They will be hooked. 

Technical hurdles can be paddled through painlessly when passion is at the helm.

The next morning, Isaac awoke a half-hour earlier than usual and tumbled downstairs to the piano.  He was ready to learn more.  And it was an hour before the school bus arrived.

This. 

This is why I teach piano.

And When You Need Inspiration, There's Kyle...

Kyle Landry.  Kyle Gets it.  The captivating delivery, the drawn-out phrase, the savored moment, the magnificent climax, and let's not forget his superior arranging skills.  Amazing, and all I need to get inspired and ready to play a wedding.....

Volcanoes and the Language of Love

There's no escaping the fact that I'm a hard-wired romantic.  Most musicians are.  That is why we are drawn to music.  Music is the language of love, after all.  Sadly, some musicians don't get it.  Or can't communicate it.  But the very best musicians know how to channel the emotion of love into their music.

It is the uncommon occasion that I have the privilege to bear witness to a young person with this ability.  And when I do, there are tears.  Sometimes, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and I am violently shaken as I listen to a particularly emotive student.

A truly gifted musician can rip daggers of raw pathos into our hearts, and shake out all the rubble of life's upheavals and disappointments.  I listen to a soulful, deep performance and suddenly -- I can breathe.  Pent-up anger is out in the boxing ring.  Release.  Sweet release of things I cannot always detect...until the demons are exorcised on a musical journey.  Thank you, music.  Thank you for this abstract language of love.  Of loss.  Of release.


Unwelcome Eruption


A Poem by Jennifer Warren-Baker
Copyright 2017


Sounds pulsate, gently caress,

The melody whispers its subtle entrance.

As a small branch on the river, I cannot resist your seductive current.

My heart, once hard and cold, is warmed by waves of sound.

Like a mother who rocks and strokes her child to sleep, your rhythm envelopes me in love.

Then,
    
     building,
    
            climbing,

                     volume grinding,

A simmer of sadness bubbles up.

Quickly, I am overwhelmed.

Oh music!  How you bring me to foam and spit and spew!

I resist.  But, no use.

Unwelcome eruption, I knew you would come.

A volcano can only lie dormant so long. 

Too long, and the heart's lava spews forth...

        years of firey mess.

As the crescendo peaks violently, I look for the exit signs.

I don't want to.

I don't want to feel that now; I don't want the lava to trickle out for everyone to see,

but it does.

As the tempo races ahead, tears of fire burn my face. 

Searing, hot, lava adulterates the sides of that pretty mountain, as I realize the truth.

Unwelcome eruption that music has caused, you expose my boiling guts.

I am disarmed and weak.

And you, sweet music, remind me --  of all I have lost,

as I resisted the current that pulled me.

Losses in love:

     Love, abridged.

          Love, forced.

                Love, missed.

        Love, denied. 

Love I have not let myself feel.

Oh river of love, I resisted your sweet current, and the ocean still eludes me!

Music! 

How you peel away the layers and lay me naked to the vultures, the gossips, and the critics!

And yet, this unwelcome eruption was necessary.

Thank you, music, for showing me the truth.

The truth I didn't want to see under my pretty flowered slopes and ledges.

My Retreat from Social Media and Smart Phones

Where did I go?

The best place.

I got back into the real world.

The world where the TV is off and the iPads are locked up.

The world where Saturday mornings are filled with children dancing to live piano music in my living room.

What have I been doing, you wonder?  (Especially since you can't prowl around on my FB feed.)

Well, I went camping with my family.

I took a good book for the car ride.

A book that shook me with weeping as its protagonist died in the arms of her true love.

A book that reminded me of my own mortality, and the pleasure of a good story.

I stared at the campfire and soaked in the glow, the crackle, the heat, and the soothing fog of smoke mingling with cool fall air.

I took my precious gift - my daughter who arrived late in life - on nature walks. 

We pretended the pine cones were corn-on-the-cob and the pine needles were spaghetti.  We had a meal on tree stumps fashioned into table and chairs.  

I went out for pho with an old friend. 

A steaming bowl of noodles on a cold day,

in the company of an old friend,

is far more pleasurable than a thousand likes on a Facebook post.

I called my parents more often.  The relations were better.

And...I was far more productive in the home and in my business.

Because, if you're always scrolling through your SM feeds, you really don't have time for much.

Whilst you were debating healthcare reform with your political arch-rivals, you could have been making zucchini brownies or securing new business.

Or scrubbing the toilet.

Or reading Captain Underpants to your son - with expression.

It's true.

Social media junkies don't really have time to clean, and they definitely don't have time to play the piano.

Well, I can't have that!

So.

I'm going digital-free. 

Social media and smart phones are no longer part of my life.  And I'm all the better for it.

GOOD BYE, DEVICE IDOLATRY!

FAREWELL, TECHNOLOGICAL CANDY!

I have been to the candy store and partaken of your tempting sweets.  And I found that they did more damage than good in my life.  Your sugar messed me up, even though your novel newness tasted good -- for a while.  And your peripheral damage to my family and friends was even more tragic.

So, if your social media causes you to sin, pluck it out.

If your smartphone causes you to sin, pluck it out.

Out of your life for good.

Instead of scrolling through rubbish, read quality writing.  

Instead of screens, read books.  Or write a book! 

Make music. 

Have lunch with friends because you love those friends, not because you need to document your pretty, drunk faces and martinis on Facebook.

Get on the carpet with your kids and build a ferris wheel with Kinex.

Make a beautiful leather scrapbook instead of smearing your kids' faces across the internet, seeking the approval of man.

So, yes, there was a divine directive.  And I heard it loud and clear.

I am back.

I am engaged.

I am focused.

I am present.

I am intelligent.

I am a good listener.

I am guided by higher principles rather than popular practice.

I am back to being a better piano teacher, pianist, composer, mom, friend, daughter, and sister -- without the distractions of addictive technology.

And that is why I left social media and smart phones.