In praise of amateur musicians

Since moving to Durham I have been looking for fellow amateur pianists, with some success: the inaugural 'Durham Amateur Pianists' group met earlier this month and another meeting is scheduled for October. I also attended 2 other amateur piano events.

Chris Jolley on the Yamaha piano

First up on Wednesday was Gateshead Piano Workshop, a montly event held at Caedmon Hall in Gateshead Library. The established workshop features teacher and performer Venera Bojkova. The programme, pre-announced about 2 weeks beforehand, included Brahms' Op.117 Intermezzo in Eb; andante from Sonata in C K545 and adagio in B minor from K540 by Mozart; and the last 4 from Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky. A really friendly and informative evening!

Something slightly different yesterday, as I went to Manchester for the UK meeting of online group The Piano Cloud. The Piano Could is a SoundCloud and Facebook group whose members encompass all genres and abilities including a lot of very talented composers and improvisers. I have been a member since April and this was the first opportunity to put some faces to names. Also in attendance yesterday were Chris (also website and Facebook), Kevin, Terry (also website and bandcamp), Luke (also bandcamp and Facebook) and Fivos (plus photographers Karen and Sara). 5 hours of truly wonderful and inspiring performances - including fabulous from-scratch improvisations. I brought along favourites by Massenet, Ravel, Maria Szymanowska and Ólafur Arnalds. One of my favourite moments was playing Arnalds' Erla's Waltz, around which the others then improvised. Amazing! Fivos, as well as other excellent compositions, also played an inspired boogie version on Für Elise. The room at the RNCM had 3 pianos: Yamaha baby grand and upright, and Blüthner baby grand. This was my first opportunity to play a Blüthner and it didn't disappoint. The oldest of the 3, the touch on this piano was a tiny bit uneven/sticky in places but the sound was just wonderful.

group improvisation - Blüthner on the right

From the 2 events my head is now full of inspiration and new ideas.

Au quatrieme fois..

A jaunt en masse down to the Coal Exchange last night (23rd) to see The Subways excel again. For once we weren't massively early (in some ways to avoid the queues of teenagers) so arrived part way through the first support band. They are called Wry, from Brazil even! They were decent and will probably merit listening to further. Best option the ubiquitous myspace . Eagerly anticipated the main support, The Sunshine Underground, of whom I'd heard good words... They more than lived up to their expectations, with my only real niggle about their sound... whether it was the singer's style or sound mix I'm not sure but their show was at parts ear-splitting - explains my slight deafness today! Otherwise excellent, not an easy band to categorise, but my impressions were somewhere between Alabama 3 and the Killers' Hot Fuss album; dancing music too. Well worth going to see - just take earplugs! (or in my case, actually go out and buy some). I believe one can listen to the...

Pigeon Funk

Notes on a very random purchase. Earlier today I acquired Venetian Snares 'Rossz Csillag Alatt Sz ü letett ' purely on the basis of the language and artwork. Its certainly something different - and most definitely not pop. After a bit of searching: Venetial Snares is, according to Wikipedia, the performing name of Aaron Funk, who seems to specialise in experimental tracks in odd time signatures. Article here . The sleeve notes for this album (whose title is Hungarian for 'Born under a bad star') poses the question: what if, for just a day, we could both be pigeons? Interessant. Apparently this concept (a day in the life of a Hungarian pigeon) is non-typical of Venetian Snares sound, but one could ask, does Mr Funk do 'typical'? On first listening, the sound of this CD mixes classical/traditional Hungarian sounds and breakbeats. but aside from that? Definitely a 'listen for yourself' artist; try the website , fan site or myspace .

Angela Hewitt Week, 14th-20th May 2012

I just received information from a friend about Angela Hewitt Week in Ottawa, 14th-20th May as declared by Mayor Jim Watson. Ms Hewitt is performing with Chamber Players of Canada on Friday 18th May; there will also be An Afternoon With Angela Hewitt on 20th May at the National Arts Centre hosted by the Canadian Friends of the Trasimeno Music Festival .

PrettyInScarlett

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