Brent Miller: Points Of Departure

Princess Sage has been very fortunate to have had percussion lessons with Brent Miller. Today he performed Points Of Departure as part of his Masters thesis, and the princess and I were there.

The program was as follows:

Sudhana's Steps: Ananyagamin
Point of Departure #1
Eight pieces for Timpani: Saeta
Point of Departure #2
Sudhana's Steps: Asha
Point of Departure #3
Eight pieces for Timpani: Improvisation
Point of Departure #4
Sudhana's Steps: Priyadarsana
Marimba Concerto

Brent actually played the pieces that were NOT titled Points of Departure. They were played by Ba Da Boom - a group composed of nine players from the Conservatorium.

The pieces Brent played were a joy to listen to as well as watch. His performance had plenty of energy and was enhanced by the lighting that went along with the show. He used the time when Ba Da Boom were playing to re-arrange his instruments for the next piece and I imagine to catch his breath :)

The only downside of having nine timpanists playing at once was that it was hard to watch all of them at once. I felt like I didn't want to miss anything so I was constantly looking from one to another to see what each was doing. At least when Brent was playing we could focus on what he was doing.

The last performance was great too, as much for the piano as for the marimba. Both Brent and Kathy Sander (on piano) looked like they were enjoying themselves, and Brent's performance was at times theatrical. He made playing the marimba look almost effortless (though I know he was working very hard).

The Princess and I spoke to him after the show and shared our thoughts with him. We look forward to seeing him in his next performance in September.

Violin lesson #114, #115, #116

I apologise for the tardiness of this post. The Sage has many things going on at once, which has pushed this blog to the back-burner again.

The subtitle for this post might be "Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad". The first two of the three were good, and the last is one of the kind that make the good lessons good.

Laura and I have been working on El Padrino and Click Go The Shears. Until the last lesson El Padrino was going really well. The intonation good and it was starting to get some good feeling, especially when Laura suggested I "paint with my wrist" meaning that I keep the bow flowing smoothly and evenly whether I am playing shorter notes or longer notes. This is supposed to be a love theme (though to me it sounds sad at times) so I have to keep that in mind when playing. However, in the last lesson, the performance had deteriorated :( There were moments in the previous week when Laura and I were playing at the same time where the two violins sounded so similar (to me) and it was great. But then this week it was like a few steps back. Laura explained that when I want to play this piece for someone, it is more important to play it with emotion / feeling / passion than to get every note correct. I have said it before and I will say it again ...

“To play a wrong note is insignificant; to play without passion is inexcusable.”

Beethoven was right. Perhaps I was not feeling it this week? I don't know why it sounded the way it did. There were technical reasons, sure, but perhaps it was more to do with frame of mind. I will work hard at getting that frame of mind right so I can play this for Horacio before he goes back to the UK at the end of the month.

Laura has taught me much about the music I play, so I was glad to be able to tell her a little about Click Go The Shears. To me this almost an iconic Aussie tune. It's not quite Waltzing Matilda of course, but I expect most kids learn this some time through primary school when studying colonial Australia. This was the first time Laura had heard this song (having not grown up here that's understandable) so when I varied the tune to be a little more like the singing and less like the notation, I explained why to Laura and she went along with it, even showing me how to swing it correctly.

We also started on an Irish reel called "Still Reeling". Note-wise it's not too difficult but there is some bowing in there that will take some practice to get right. Laura mentioned many Irish fiddlers she has seen have had poor technique and went on to tell me that you can still get that good Irish sound without compromising the fingering or the bowing. I have had little time to work on it but I think I am really going to like it.

And in the last lesson we talked about playing different major scales. Well, there is really only one major scale. It is played identically with only the starting note varied. Being the good programmer I am, I could see the pattern, and so with only a little help from Laura I was able to learn the B-flat major scale, and start on The Honeysuckle. Hopefully Princess Sage will help me with my timing. She is learning percussion with Brent Miller and by all accounts she has excellent timing so I am sure she won't mind helping out her dear old dad.

During the week I was at work late. So before going home I took Patience to the atrium. It has great acoustics. I didn't dare use the bow but just the pizzicato sounded so loud. The reverb in that place is great. When I build up some courage I will dare to record a piece in there.

There won't be lessons next week since it school holidays and our teachers will be unavailable. Also the Sages are required to be at a family function so it works out well. I trust the next lesson will return to the good standard. I will work hard to make sure it does so.