Picking Your Recital Tunes

Picking Your Recital Tunes

By Andrew White

Well, can you believe it? It’s almost time for the Spring Recitals 2017! Sign ups are well into full swing with some recitals already full. If you haven’t had a chance to sign up yet, now is your time to do so. Visit www.awsom.info/recitals and fill in the quick form to ensure you are ready to roll for what promises to be one of the best recitals you’ve ever been to! We are excited to be gathering in the Mercer Music Hall, a brand new venue in Bellevue, next door to our previous facility at Northwest Pianos. 

Developing Sight-Reading Skills

Developing Sight-Reading Skills

By John Hart

Sight-reading, also called a prima vista (Italian meaning "at first sight"), is the reading and performing of a piece of music or song in music notation that the performer has not seen before.   (Once a student has played through a piece several times, it can no longer be counted as sight-reading practice.)

The Music of the Suffrage Movement

The Music of the Suffrage Movement

By Kate MacKenzie

In light of today’s political climate, I’m taking this opportunity to examine the music used in protests throughout history, specifically the music from the woman’s marches during the Suffrage Movement. Suffragists used adapted tunes from soldier’s marches, popular songs, familiar hymns, and some even composed new music just for the occasion. Women activists were not as widespread or supported. Those who had the courage to speak up over their injustices faced sometimes very serious consequences. 

Music & Technology

Music & Technology

By Destin Smith

 

It’s the year 2017 and technology is advancing more and more each and every year. By next year we may even have flying cars that run off of recycled paper…probably not. Today’s musician has access to so many great technological advances that were unavailable ten years ago. Although one of the pieces you may be currently learning is over 100 years old, that does not mean that you have to practice the same way that your grandparents may have. There are many great apps, programs, websites that I could list that can help you become a better musician like Garage band, Smart music, Musictheory.net Tenuto…etc., but today I want to talk about some of the ways I use the program GarageBand in my classroom and in private lessons.

Singing With Noises

Singing With Noises

By Nathan Straub

When I first began learning how to sing, my imagination was limited in understanding what the voice was capable of doing. In fact, like most people I believed that great singers were born with skill and everybody else made due with mediocrity. As I later learned at college, this is simply not the case.

All throughout college, and at no fault to my incredible voice teacher, I struggled with my voice. It was too small, couldn’t sing big enough high notes, and wouldn’t last longer than a few songs before wimping out. While I was practicing late one evening, I had a crazy thought. What if people who had naturally beautiful voices were just used to using their voices the right way, and everybody else had it wrong to start with? What if beautiful singers were told from day one that their natural voices were beautiful, and so they didn’t need to worry about sounding “bad.”

A Season Of Giving

A Season Of Giving

By Andrew White

It’s Monday evening, and we’ve just had another brilliant weekend of student performances. Sixty students showing off their skills on piano, woodwinds, drums, voice, guitar and more - what a memorable weekend. As we pack away all the trinkets, I can’t help but reflect on all the recital weekends we have hosted, nine in total now, and realize how this one stood head and shoulders above the rest. 

The Well-Balanced Musician

The Well-Balanced Musician

By John Hart

A musician, according to Webster, is “a person skilled in the science of music, or one that sings or performs on instruments of music according to the rules of music.”  I believe a well-balanced musician is one who has mastered at least one instrument and several of the following musical skills

The Legacy of Clara Schumann

The Legacy of Clara Schumann

By Kate MacKenzie

One of my youngest piano students inspired the topic of this month’s blog post about a very important musician and composer named Clara Schumann (1819-1896). Her husband, Robert Schumann, was a very prominent composer of the time. However, Clara’s work and talent went largely unnoticed because it was believed that women should not compose music, nor should they perform publicly. Though she was heavily supported in her musical education on the piano (she was considered a child prodigy), she was expected to focus on her homelife once she was married.

Encouraging The Inner Artist

Encouraging The Inner Artist

By Stephanie Pfundt

When an artistic pursuit becomes one’s occupation, like in the case of teachers here at AWSOM or other professional musicians who get paid to do art, it becomes crucial to pay attention to what puts us as musicians and our students in the best place to produce and create art.