Piano orchestra

What do you do with 22 students in a classroom of just 15 electric pianos (2 of which do not sound) and one portable synthesizer for 3 hours?

1. Let them take turns at the piano, one at a time. Give a lecture to the rest of the class. Swap.
2. Put two students on each keyboard and have them play duets.
3. Put two students on each keyboard and conduct them like an orchestra.

When I googled “piano orchestra” I found a variety of piano concertos and questions about the role of piano in the orchestra.

Truth is, it is rare to see so many pianos in one room, unless they are all for sale, in which case you can’t play on them as you wish.

On day one, I asked my students to play just the black keys. I split them into several section. One section played successive quarter notes. Another joined with half notes. The third joined with whole notes. I then improvised on high treble.

My father used to play Chinese songs just on black keys. Pentatonic music (using just the 5 notes of the 5 black keys) blend well in any order in any octave.

Now is my chance to deconstruct my favourite works, be they classical concertos or pop songs. Assign the parts to the various pianists. This way, everyone gets to play. Doubling up is fine. The string section does it all the time.

What I want to get across is simple:

1. Most students of piano learn to play solo piano works. They advance to become soloists.
2. Some learn to accompany choir or other instruments or voice.
3. Others move on to become organists.
4. Whether you’re an accompanist or organist, you serve the choir or congregation. You’re not equal.
5. But when you play in an orchestra, ensemble, or chamber music group, it’s totally different.
6. String players know this. Wind players, too. Brass players. Singers in choirs.
7. But pianists in a piano orchestra? That’s nearly unheard of.

It’s hard to find pianos you can play in one place. It’s hard to move pianos into one place. It’s hard to find pieces written for many pianos.

But ah! such joy to play together! The full polyphonic sound of a piano orchestra!

[Note: this is my first blog post on an iPad!}

Solo piano sheet music: arrangements and improvisations

I would like to end 2011 with a welcome to 2012 by touching upon piano solo music that is interesting to play.

A few years ago I arranged “Ding Dong Merrily On High” for piano, guitar, and violin. While it was an assignment at conservatory, I nevertheless enjoyed the experience and hoped to see such Christmas arrangements elsewhere. I never got the chance to fully research this.

This Christmas, I needed music. So I began my search.

Borsendorfer, Utrecht Conservatory, Netherlands Photo credit: Olaf Hornes 2007

In preparation for the 2 hour caroling session on the new (old) grand piano at Roselani Place, I looked for Christmas carol arrangements that were atypical of the traditional SATB but interesting and pleasant to play. A good improviser only needs the melody and the chords to produce something fitting of the occasion. Christmas carol from church hymnals are one source for improvisers but not for those who like to read and play something different.

I googled and found Sally DeFord who has made her arrangements freely downloadable from her website at http://www.defordmusic.com She specifically wrote “making copies for non-commercial use is permitted.”

From the university library, I found an album of piano solo arrangements by Jim Brickman. He wrote “The Gift,” which a soprano from the Maui College choir sang to my accompaniment at Roselani Place. I played it again on Christmas Day as a postlude. The congregation at the Christian Science Church where I substituted as pianist for 3 services gave wonderful feedback about my selection. It was Christmas with a new age feel. Certainly, I enjoyed playing carols with a twist.

Daniel Ho, George Kahumoku, Tia Carrere, 15 Dec 2011 Maui

On 15th December 2011 at the McCoy Theatre at the Maui Arts & Cultural Centre, I watched the multi-talented Daniel Ho play guitar, ukelele, piano, and sing. He improvised while accompanying Tia Carrere and George Kahumoku, Jr. Or had he memorised his own arrangements? I couldn’t wait to meet him in person during the intermission. I asked if his improvisations were written down arrangements or actual improvisations he performed. The answer came in the form of an e-mail with a zipped folder of his published works for piano solo, piano with other instruments, ukelele, and slack key guitar.

Now that the Christmas festivities are over, I look forward to studying the arrangements and compositions of Daniel Ho. His book “E Kahe Malie: Hawaiian Piano Instrumentals” contains piano versions of 11 songs spanning 42 pages. His “Colorful Sounds” book presents his own harmonic method he uses in his compositions, arrangements, and performances. It will be the beginning of my quest for arrangements of traditional melodies (in this case, Hawaiian) in different styles.

Piano and slack key guitar: David Ho and George Kahumoku, jr

Everyone on Maui knows who George Kahumoku is. Uncle George, we call him. He led the parade in this year’s annual Maui County Fair, possibly the largest event on the island. He is director of the new Institute of Hawaiian Music.

Yesterday I interrupted Uncle George’s slack key guitar class at Maui College to ask him to sign a copy of his recently Grammy-nominated CD “Wao Akua.” I told him that Robert Bekkers was arriving next Thursday.

“I’ll be playing at the MACC that evening,” George said. “I have a couple of interesting guests….”

I didn’t hear the rest of his sentence, for I was already trying to figure out how to make it to that concert. I had been to that concert once before. George has different guests on every show each month.  I mentally calculated that I’d have to leave campus earlier than originally planned to pick up Robert from the airport and drive back to see Uncle George’s 7:30 pm  Masters of Slack Key Guitar show.

“Are you going to eat something afterwards?” I asked. It was as if getting together was more important than the concert. That’s how musicians relate. Hungry musicians have to eat. The first time Robert and I went to the concert, we did not join George and his guests for the post-concert dining out. We had only just met. It was Thursday 10th March 2011, the eve of the tsunami.

When I returned home last evening, I checked out George’s CD. Wao Akua means the forest of the Gods in Hawaiian. It’s a simple CD with 24  instrumental solos, either written by George Kahumoku himself or his rendition of traditional melodies. The small print in one corner says it’s produced by Daniel Ho — Daniel Ho Creations, copyright 2011.

Who is Daniel Ho?

Why does his name sound so familiar?

Is he a sound engineer? CD producer? a singer? a songwriter? a composer? a guitar player? a pianist?

All of the above. And more.

Tonight I saw a video clip of Daniel Ho on the piano and George Kahumoku on guitar. Piano and guitar. Piano and slack key guitar. Now that’s a combination I have not heard yet.

Watch the video of Amazing Grace with David Ho, piano and George Kahumoku, Jr, slack key guitar at the MACC

When I re-read the 15th December 2011 gig announcement, I saw that Daniel Ho is one of the special guests. It’s a show not to be missed!

George Kahumoku, jr Wao Akua - Grammy nominated CD

Allan Segall, composer, pianist, and playwright

How do performers meet composers and commission works from them?

I met Allan Segall during the intermission of a concert in Amsterdam in spring of 2004. The encounter left such an impression on me that I wrote an entry in my online journal. A few months later, I invited him to my Steinway welcome party in Bussum. He introduced a simple but sticky solo piano piece that I played and recorded for the event. As with most if not all compositions, Intermezzo comes with a story. I would love to include it in my solo piano project but I would need the score in electronic form.

Allan was intrigued by our piano guitar duo. He said that he enjoyed writing for “neglected ensembles.” By that, he probably meant rare combinations. We invited him to the premiere of the first piano guitar duo written for us. Afterwards, he declared that he would write a duo piece for us.

Allan’s output was a work that required several years of practice to get it right. I’m still not entirely sure that we got it right. “When J.S. Bach, Igor Stravinsky, and the Who met” is a terrifically difficult but exciting piece. It’s like time travel, with Bach counterpoint, Stravinsky harmony, and echoes of Tommy the rock musical. I daresay it’s the first time that the guitar is louder than the piano. We premiered it in Cortona, Italy in 2006. The USA premiere was on Maui in 2007. We finally released the CD of that Maui concert earlier this year. You can hear a short sample on CDBABY.

Cortona Contemporary Music Festival 2006: Anne Ku, Allan Segall, Robert Bekkers

Once allowed to flourish, creative people have no boundaries. Allan Segall has now expanded his powers of creation beyond music. He wrote the play “Detox the Dummy” which premiered in Estonia recently. I remember when he was working on it. Our friendship nearly suffered during the period he was going through “detox.”

Watch the TV video below for an interview (in English) with Allan Segall. Don’t let the unsubtitled Estonian language deter you from seeing clips of the play.

Detox the Dummy

Music: relationships between invisible, internal, hidden objects

On reading Karl Paulnack’s welcome address at Boston Conservatory, I am reminded of the reasons why I stopped my income-producing career midway to enroll in full-time music education for four years. Those were some of the best years of my life. — the passionate pursuit of beauty and perfection, art for art’s sake only, long hours of practice, insane obsession with finishing a composition, weekly lessons with multi-lingual teachers well versed in their art, …. living and breathing music 24/7.

Karl Paulnack recalls the Greeks seeing music as the study of the relationships between invisible, internal, hidden objects. “Music has a way of finding the big, invisible moving pieces inside our hearts and souls and helping us figure out the position of things inside us.”

Indeed music has a way of drawing out our emotions and soothing our souls. When I was sent to work in Houston in 1996, I rented a piano for my loft apartment. At first I merely wanted to play piano after a long day of number crunching. But something else happened. The memory of a dying friend triggered me to write. I felt the urge to compose. When I did, I couldn’t stop.

And then came a yearning. I wanted to know why, all of a sudden, I was composing. I sought out a composition teacher at Vanderbilt University when I was visiting Nashville, Tennessee in 1997.  As I sat outside his office waiting for my turn, I struck up a conversation with a lady my age. I asked if she was also enquiring about admissions to study music. She replied yes and asked how old my child was. Until then it had not occurred to me that I might be too old to study music.

Dr Michael Rose was kind to meet me. I was confused and needed direction. He looked at my piano solo composition “St Valentine” which I dedicated to my friend Hiroko who had passed away in December 1996. He suggested that I listen to a C# minor prelude of J.S. Bach. He then proceeded to tell me that a musician is a doctor of souls.

St Valentine by Anne Ku

Karl Paulnack’s welcome speech reminded me of that visit to Dr Michael Rose’s office in 1997. Two years later, on my first trip to Maui, I saw a woman dance to my impromptu piano playing at one of the hotels. She burst into tears when I stopped playing.

Indeed I have seen how live music affects the listener. It is ever so powerful when it connects the invisible, internal, hidden objects — things you did not know existed or had meaning or significance. Somehow music summarises it all.

But my own music has stopped. Like the chef in “Eat Drink Man Woman” who lost his sense of taste, I have lost that yearning to compose. Yet I must not forget my own journey to find myself in the music within. And this is why it does not make sense to question the economics of music making.

First international Alkema composition competition

While researching for my forthcoming paper on “call for scores” I came across an announcement in English and in Dutch, calling for scores for saxophone and piano, deadline April 2012.

I recognize Alkema, the last name of my late composition teacher Henk Alkema. I see the announcement is made by Matching Arts and Utrecht Conservatory. I recognize the name of one of the jurors, Jeroen D’Hoe who had also taught me composition at Utrecht Conservatory.

Once upon a time, a Chinese classical saxophonist from Szechuan (Sichuan) had shown me different effects of the alto saxophone to interest me in composing a modern piece for him. I did not write a solo work for saxophone. Instead I included the four kinds of saxophones in an ensemble piece as part of a composer-in-residence project. That’s when I learned of the saxophone’s range and versatility. Saxophones could sound like flute, clarinet, or French horn.

In my last conversations with Henk Alkema, he had urged me to start composing again. I see he has not given up.

The contest is open to composers of all ages and nationalities. I am glad to see that. During my four years at conservatory, I found that most competitions posted on our bulletin board had imposed age restrictions. I did not know then to look online. This contest has been announced in many composition forums and newsletters. I will for sure follow the results of this competition in 2012.

Chopin in the movie Margin Call

The movie “Margin Call” takes place in the space of 24-hours. In that time, someone is fired, a model gets completed, the results are communicated, decisions are made, actions are taken, reputations are ruined, and the financial crisis is triggered.

While waiting for dawn to break, head honcho Sam Rogers (Kevin Spacey) drifts off to sleep at his desk. We hear the second part of Chopin’s famous prelude, also known as “The Raindrop.”  It’s not the raindrops we hear but the growing sound of a storm coming. It starts low and builds in strength and range. When it finally reaches its peak, Rogers jolts from his nap and the headphones fall off. The music stops. He awakes.

Middle part of Chopin's Prelude 28 no. 15 "The Raindrop"

The piano solo score can be downloaded for free from the IMLSLP Library. Listen to Horowitz play this famous work.

Click HERE for a good analysis of the movie “Margin Call” and analogies.

Music in the movie The Lady who is Aung San Suu Kyi

Last evening I watched Luc Besson’s “The Lady” at the Maui Film Festival. I had read about Aung San Suu Kyi over the years but never quite understood why she was kept under house arrest in Burma and separated from her family in Oxford. The movie educated me to her cause and touched me greatly. I was particularly moved by her son Alexander Aris’ acceptance speech of the Nobel prize on her behalf.

The two classical pieces of music were played twice. Mozart’s piano concerto and Pachelbel’s Canon in D will now take on a new meaning for me. As I have been collecting different arrangements of the latter, which suffice material for a separate blog, allow me to indulge in Mozart.

The second movement of Mozart’s piano concerto number 23 (also known as the Adagio from K488) played by soloist Maurizio Pollini was poignant and at the tempo I preferred. I had heard it on a CD broadcasted at my late composition teacher’s funeral this past August and thought it too fast. If you haven’t heard of this concerto, compare the faster version of Horowitz with the slower of Pollini. See how the tempo affects the mood.

Theme from Adagio, 2nd movement of Mozart's Piano Concerto K.488

My duo has played our own arrangement on various occasions. The piano is the solo, accompanied by the guitar as orchestra. It’s one of my favourite slow movements of piano concertos. We’re always arguing over the right tempo for this piece. Note: Scores for full-orchestra, 2-piano version, and 4-hand duet can be downloaded for free from the Petrucci Library.

In the context of the movie, Mozart’s Adagio conveyed sadness and death. Earlier in the movie The New World, it conveyed one of unrequited love. For me, it will always be a beautiful work — one that can be played as a piano solo.

The road warrior like piano or guitar

As I admire my sister’s water color of piano and guitar on my wall, I can’t help noticing how different the two instruments are. One is transfixed to the location. The other is portable. One has 88 keys. The other has 6 strings and many frets.

Plink & Strum by Frances Ku, Copyright 2011, 16″ X 20″ Watercolor on 140 lb Strathmore, Cold Press

The players are different, too.

As a pianist, I don’t carry my instrument. But I have to adapt to the instrument at the venue. Sometimes it’s a pleasant surprise. Sometimes it’s not so nice. Nearly always I have to get used to it. Does the soft pedal work? Do I have to open the lid? How does it sound with the guitar? How does it resonate in the room?

As a guitarist, Robert always carries and plays his own instrument. He knows his instrument like the back of his hand. The only things he needs to adapt to are the piano at the venue and the acoustics.

Compare this analysis to road warriors who require computers to work. As convenient as laptops are, they still require carriage, taking out of the case, plugging into a wall socket, opening up, charging, etc. There is a risk of theft and damage. A laptop takes up space. For all these reasons, I prefer desktop computers. I carry a memory stick (flash drive) and/or I load my files on Google Docs or web directories. I can log into any internet-connected computer and get what I need. I am the quintessential pianist who would rather adapt than carry.

Meanwhile, the guitarist is accustomed to carrying his instrument. He will use a laptop or an ipad or an iphone.

This is not to say that I don’t use a laptop. I have a laptop — an old powerbook G4. It sits on my desk like a desktop.

A piano for Roselani

For Mother’s Day and Thanksgiving Day, I brought my 70-something mom to Roselani Place to celebrate with the residents. I played the electric keyboard while the residents and their guests enjoyed their chef-cooked luncheons. Music has an amazing way of uniting people when they recognize tunes they know and start humming. Some came up and thanked me afterwards.

I love looking for music to play for an audience. For both luncheons, I had borrowed several volumes of sheet music from the local library: music from the ’20s, ’30s, and ’40s. Because of the diverse ethnicities of the residents, I even included the popular “Sakura” and Hawaiian songs. I wanted to play them the way I prepared them on the grand piano I practised on.

Steinway concert grand in Maui

Unfortunately an electric keyboard, despite its bells and whistles, is not an acoustic piano.

Once the restaurant was filled, the people in the back could not hear me. I had cranked up the volume to the max. I tried fiddling with the instrument selection. A harpsichord sound was surprisingly louder than the “grand piano” selection. I tried synchronising a drum beat to it. I could not increase the overall volume.

When I first visited Roselani earlier this year, I was eager to try the upright piano in the reception area. I quickly learned that the entire treble half was long gone. Unstoppable, I moved to the bass half and continued to play. Somebody switched off the piped recorded music. The residents started to listen as if finally awakened from their reveries. The piano was different from the constant music coming out of overhead speakers. There was a person at the piano. Knowing that they were listening changed the way I played. It was no longer practice but performance.

I know for a fact that live foreground music is much more effective than recorded background music. In my research into programming live music for the elderly, I learned that live music is therapeutic for alzheimer sufferers. Just google “alzheimer music” and see the evidence. I have seen a passive audience come alive when they see and hear a live concert. Even if they cannot speak or recognise me, I can see life in their eyes and feel the firmness of their hand grip. In years of playing in such homes throughout the Netherlands, my piano guitar duo has revised our repertoire to choose what works best. The staff and volunteers at such homes know that the choice of music directly affects how well the residents sleep at night.

What will it take to move a working piano to Roselani Place?

Fundraising to get a piano in there?

Roselani Place is a 501c organization. This is a form of savings for anyone who is leaving the island but is stranded by a piano they can’t sell should consider donating to Roselani. They can deduct the value of their piano against their income tax. It’s a last resort, unless they are prepared to pay for storage or leave it with a tuner or music store for sale on consignment.

I suppose one way to find out the attractiveness of my proposal is to monitor Craigslist. How long does it take before a piano gets sold? Or perhaps I should ask a piano tuner or technician.