Confessions Of A Key Board Dabbler

As I waited backstage for my turn to perform, music from the piano filtered back to me. Listening to the notes, my own mixture of nerves and excitement was replaced by the appreciation and amazement I felt every time I heard another pianist play. My joy does not come from the beauty of the music alone. Instead, I find satisfaction in the meticulous technique underlying a performance. From complex finger-work to proper articulation to intuitive pedaling, each component must be carried out faultlessly to yield harmonious art. In a similar way, dentistry relies on detailed procedures whose product puts a smile on others’ faces. I find the same sense of satisfaction in the meticulous and creative process of dentistry that began to be cultivated while learning to play the piano in elementary school.

Charlie Parker was one of the most influential and important soloists in Jazz history and was important to the development of the Bebop style. Parker was born in Kansas City, Kansas on August 29, 1920. In 1927 Charlie Parker’s family moved to Kansas City, Missouri, an influential center for African American jazz music in the 20th century. The rich musical culture in Kansas City fostered the development of the young Charlie Parker who began playing alto saxophone in 1933. After Parker left school in 1935 he pursued a career as a professional musician in Kansas City and played among various blues and jazz groups. In 1939 Parker visited New York, the national center for the music business at the time, for a year and participated in jam sessions with other musicians. Parker’s time spent in New York left him bored with the clichés of the popular Swing style still very common in America. He envisioned a new style of music, contrary to Swing jazz, that emphasized a new set of techniques. This new style of music which became Bebop would finally reach maturity in the mid 1940’s led by Charlie Parker (Patrick).

Derek became an acclaimed concert pianist by the age of 10. His longtime piano teacher, Adam Ockelford, explains his student’s unique relationship to music. Adam encouraged his obvious musical interest and ability, although it was obviously natural. Adam gave him lesson as child understanding

This speech is Karl Paulnack’s welcoming address for incoming freshman students. He addresses that music isn’t apart of arts and entertainment rather music is an invisible force that helps us piece ourselves together. Paulnack believes that music is an essential part of life and goes to prove it by telling his experiences with it. He describes the first moment he truly understood music and the impact it has on people. Paulnack portrays the day after 9/11 after he struggles to find any meaning in being a pianist. After a long time of questioning himself he observes the city and notices something. He sees that in this time of grief and sadness people are singing. From this he learned that music is a form of expression, it allows people to express their feelings when they have no other words to describe them. Paulnack goes on to describe what he says was the most important concert of his life. He and a friend were playing a concert at a nursing home. During their performance, one man began to cry, it was at that time Paulnack knew the man was a veteran. After Paulnack and his friend finished the piece, they announced that the piece they were playing was Aaron Copland's Sonata, which was a work

Imagine a third grader, small and blonde, standing on a stage that practically swallows her. She gazes in awe at the bright lights that seem to tower miles above her head; likewise, she follows with a stare, fixating on the hundreds of darkened faces that remain directly in front of her. Unlike her classmates who fidget with nerves beside her, she feels a rush of adrenaline. What may have seemed to some an ordinary choir concert in a dull auditorium, was, to me, a life changing moment. Ever since this day, for 9 years now, I have had an unwavering passion for music and performing. As I aged, I found myself excitedly learning how to play 7 new instruments, but even considering the vast number of bands, orchestras, choirs, and instrumental lessons that I joined, I noticed myself

In 1894, a young, quietly colorful Charles Ives enters Yale University. He enters with a strong musical foundation provided by his father and community and a vision of what he thinks music can be. Horatio Parker, Ives’s composition professor unashamedly informs Ives that his vision of music seems blurry, perhaps even nauseating, to the astute, cultured musician. Ives quickly develops anger towards Parker’s traditional tutelage and rarely recognizes the positive effects Parker has on his compositions. Here begins the battle between new and old that Ives and Parker embarked upon during Ives’s college years, however the story starts and ends far from their four short years together.

I realized that my duty was to share that feeling with people in my community who would otherwise not be exposed to classical music. I shared this idea with the musicians whom I knew from the area, my family. My cousin, siblings, and I, who play string instruments, began rehearsing trios, duets, quartets, and dance music. Each week we would plan where we would bring our music. Sometimes we brought ballroom music to a park, other times Pleyel duets to my elderly grandmother who lives alone. While playing violin duets at a family gathering, my young cousin sat beneath me and my sister’s feet, attentively listening to every duet that we played. An old couple sat and smiled on their bench one calm summer evening as we played a waltz in the park. A hiker asked to take our picture as we played Haydn’s “Sunrise” Quartet under the colossal trees that shaded us from the blazing summer

Through weekly private lessons, chamber, wind, and orchestra ensemble playing, and assiduous independent practice, I have improved immensely as a trombonist and musician. My work paid off when I was accepted into Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute. At this nationally competitive program, I spent six weeks with talented, dedicated students while rubbing shoulders with the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO). I had never heard elite musicians live before the BSO. Their concerts brought tears to my eyes and my drive to make music at the highest level grew. After receiving instruction from these musicians and hearing their own performances, I refined my technique and made more tasteful musical decisions.

I can say I’m a multi-instrumentalist. I can play the harmonica, the trombone, the ukulele, the bass, the piano, the electric and acoustic guitar, and I’m probably forgetting one. But really I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for her” (Montes). “One of the big things I teach my kids is how through hard work, you can accomplish anything. Whenever a kid shows up to a lesson, I always ask them if they practiced, and sometimes they say no because they don’t have a piano at home. It reminds me of the days when I couldn’t even afford a piano, but I push those thoughts away and work towards helping these kids fulfill their dreams as I’ve fulfilled mine. Music teaches the kids how to work through a tough song, and through time and practice, they always get it at the end” (LaBeau). Ronnie’s School of Music has performed annually for several of the city’s prominent events: the Arroyo Lighting at Christmas, Saint Anthony’s Fall Festival, Winter Texan festivals, and many more. LaBeau teaches students of all ages, from three to ninety seven. The majority of her students, however, come from Saint Anthony Catholic

Genre: Nonfiction. The gripping story of how a young, poor, African-American boy, physically abused by his father and bullied at school, finds a creative outlet for his anger through music when his teacher gives him a trumpet. The rise to fame, and the creation of bebop music by jazz legend Dizzy Gillespie is told with a narrative containing rhyme, rhythm, and alliteration. The narration imitates the sounds of jazz and scat that Dizzy created. A note from the author included at the end of the narrative brings further insight into Dizzy’s life as a teacher of bebob and role model for musicians.

more in depth Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. In the early 1940’s, the swing bands

Music is an essential part of today’s culture, especially here at the University of Delaware. There is a wide variety of activities to get involved in on campus, from instrumental ensembles to choruses and everything in between. There are also several options for majors involving music. Overall, there are many options for each and every student at the University of Delaware to pursue their passions, and to expand their college education to studies that consist of more than could be learned from books, lectures, and laboratory work. This was the ultimate goal for Rodney Sharp, a very significant man who invested a lot of time and money in the school.

Initially, development of content starts from the fascination by the sound of piano to basic learning from cousin and then getting the technical knowledge of the piano. After that, using this skill to enthrall the audience or other members playing piano in the same community shows the writer’s credibility, logical reasoning,

Whenever a performer faces a piano on stage, a battle between David and Goliath ensues, but when that performer is me, everyone listening expects David to overcome all odds and win. While the audience expects my performance to run like a set of perfectly-oiled gears, a small defect in the millions of pieces and parts that make up a performance--piano, distractions, lighting, piano bench, audience, and more--could cause absolute disaster. As I walked onto a brightly lit stage five years ago for my first piano competition and faced the Steinway grand piano in the center of the spotlight, I didn’t know what the next ten minutes of my life would be like. Never in my six years of playing the piano had I ever played under such immense pressure.

Through three decades, Mr. Holland is closer to students at John F. Kennedy High School than he is to his own son. He addresses a series of challenges created by people who are either skeptical of -- or hostile towards -- the idea of musical excellence within the walls of a typical middle-class American high school. He inspires many students and but never has private time for himself or his family, forever delaying the composition of his own orchestral composition. Ultimately, he reaches an age when it is too late to realistically find financial backing or ever have it performed.