Episode 27 - Christmas Tunes

In Episode 27 of Piano, Finally, host David Reidy shares an engaging mix of piano progress, creative inspirations, and thoughtful reflections on the holiday season. As an adult beginner learning piano, David’s journey is relatable and encouraging, making this episode a must-listen for music lovers and creative minds alike.

David starts by reflecting on the end of the academic year and his preparations for the six-week holiday break. With help from his teacher Devi, he’s selecting pieces aligned with the ANZCA Preparatory Grade exam requirements. Though not committed to the exam yet, he’s focused on improving his skills with pieces like Adele’s Someone Like You and experimenting with versatile chord progressions. Alongside piano practice, David plans to keep busy with new creative projects, including building a 3D printer and exploring music software.

In the YouTube Spotlight segment, David highlights Nerdforge, a crafting channel known for its inventive projects. Their latest video documents the creation of leatherbound editions of Brandon Sanderson’s The Stormlight Archive, a project that resonates with David’s past experiences in bookbinding and his admiration for Sanderson’s work. He applauds the creators’ artistry and dedication, encouraging listeners to watch the inspiring video.

David’s essay on Christmas music offers a humorous yet critical take on the festive season. While he enjoys some works, like Handel’s Messiah, he’s less fond of the repetitive holiday tunes played in shopping centers. He critiques their uninspired renditions, which he associates with the commercialization of Christmas. David challenges listeners to rethink their holiday playlists and seek out more meaningful musical experiences.

The episode also includes a detailed review of the ANZCA Preparatory Repertoire Books, comparing the Classical and Modern options. David shares insights into the diverse styles offered and emphasizes the value of exploring both books, reassuring beginners that contemporary pieces don’t compromise on quality or challenge.

Finally, David updates listeners on his piano progress, focusing on refining pieces like Spindler’s Canon and Türk’s Bagatelle in F. His journey reflects the dedication and patience required to develop musicality.

With its mix of humor, insights, and inspiration, Episode 27 offers something for everyone. Tune in and let David’s piano journey motivate you to embrace your own creative passions!

You can contact me:

• via email at david@pianofinally.show; this is probably the best option
• the show website, www.pianofinally.show
• Instagram and Threads @pianofinally
• and on YouTube
• all the podcast directories - list
• here's the RSS feed

Some of the links to books and other items mentioned in the podcast are affiliate links for Amazon or other providers. If you use one of these links, a commission may be paid to me at no additional cost to you. Thank you if you use a link.
All reviews of products, websites and services are unpaid, and no sponsorship has been received for any content on this podcast.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome
• 0:14 Opening
• 1:58 YouTube - Nerdforge
• 4:04 Essay - Christmas Tunes
• 6:32 Review - ANZCA Preparatory Repertoire
• 10:17 Closing
• 11:04 Progress

Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):

Good day everyone. I'm David Reidy. Welcome to Piano. Finally, a podcast by an old bloke who's getting around to learning the piano. Finally, welcome to Show 27. Thank you for taking the time to listen. If this is the first time you've heard the podcast, I hope you enjoy what's here and if you're a returning listener, thanks very much for coming back. Let me know if you are learning the piano like I am or another musical instrument and let me know how you're going with it. You can contact me at David at piano. Finally show. This week has been a week of getting ready to finish up for the year. It was the last full week of term and all the end of year things have been wrapped up. Exams have been marked and returned, reports written, and I'm planning lessons that will still cover valuable content, which are interesting enough to be worth the effort.
(00:56)
Lots of microscopes involved. This coming week will also be the last piano lesson for the year. We've had to move it to Wednesday because of the school's awards night, but then it will be six weeks before coming back in February. I've been working with Devy to choose some pieces to work on over the break, ones that match the requirements of the ANCA proprietary grade exam. Although I'm still not committing to actually doing the exam, I'll also continue working on Adele's, someone like you and perhaps look at some other similar songs. From what I've been able to learn from the axis of awesome, knowing how to do a 1 5, 6, 4 chord progression is enough to play many songs and Devi has shown me how to work out the chords to use so I might experiment. That should keep me musically busy during the holidays along with some new musical equipment, courses and software to explore. Oh, and I have to build a new 3D printer.
(01:58)
Nerd Forge wasn't the channel I was initially going to feature this week, but I was looking at YouTube yesterday and their latest video popped up. It was unexpectedly great. It brings together two things that I'm interested in and so I'm going to suggest that everyone goes out and watches it. Nerd Forge is a two person crafting channel from Norway. They cover a lot of fairly high-end projects that are quite inventive, and although I'd never attempt most of their projects, I really enjoy watching their process and the skills they bring to their work. In their latest video, they craft a set of leather bound books for an author. Many years ago, I did a bit of book binding mostly because I couldn't find an a four size blank book I liked. With the right paper, it was easier to buy the paper in a three sheets and then bind a book.
(02:48)
That has all changed. There's now a much wider variety of blank books available and Amazon puts the money a few days away. It's a useful skill though, and I learned a lot about book manufacturer along the way. Nerd Forges video brought back a lot of memories. The books they were binding were for Brandon Sanderson, one of my favourite fantasy authors about two weeks ago, wind and Truth, the fifth book in the storm like archive series was released. It marks the halfway point at the series five, down five to Go. Nerd Forge had been invited to meet with Mr. Sanderson at an event in the United States, so they decided to give him an A three set of leather bound books in the series. Their video I made massive leather bound books and gave them to the author shows the process and the final presentation. A bit like how I've been enjoying watching composers explain how they come up with their music.
(03:46)
Watching Nerd Forge bring a huge amount of talent and imagination to the project is wonderful. If you want to be inspired with some seriously dedicated crafting, have a look at Nerd Forges latest video Christmas Tunes. Musically, this is my least favourite time of the year. I'm not a big fan of Christmas music and I've been trying to work out why I do like some Christmas music. I quite like Handel's Messiah, which although it has often performed around Christmas time, was written for Easter. No, the type I really don't care for are the songs that appear on the radio and in shopping centres starting in December or in August for some shops. There are a few reasons I'm not a fan. Firstly, there is too much snow as I'm writing this. The temperature outside is in the mid thirties. If you're in the United States, that might seem like snowy weather, but we use Celsius and that's a summer temperature where I work.
(04:50)
It's expected to reach the low forties this coming week, snow wouldn't stand a chance. Secondly, I don't need to be reminded that it's almost Christmas when I'm at the shops. Christmas decorations have been on sale since September. The crowded car parks and overstuffed shopping trolleys are everywhere and tomatoes are suddenly 15 to $20 a kilogramme. Also, those assorted Scandinavian shortbread biscuits in tins have suddenly reappeared on the shelves. I'm not sure where they go the rest of the year. No, I think the reason is the versions of the Christmas music that supermarkets and shopping centres play have been reduced to a blandness that removes all interests from the tunes. I understand that many of the tunes have been written so that people can sing along, but by aiming at the lowest common level of talent, anything vaguely intriguing is gone, and I'm not sure why.
(05:43)
It's the uninteresting versions of the songs that supermarkets use. Maybe it's different where you live. When I'm shopping in the supermarket, music is playing. I don't see other shoppers singing along to the tunes, so why not play more musically interesting versions? It's because if I were to pay attention to the music, I might walk past the huge boxes of chocolates, which are now half price, which is the price they normally are except for the few weeks where they double the price so they can claim the half price is genuine. I think the main reason I don't care for most Christmas music is that I associate it mostly with supermarkets and shopping centres, and so with the commercialisation, it seems to be the only tradition left in Christmas.
(06:32)
Anka is the Australia and New Zealand Cultural Arts Limited, a nonprofit body that provides examinations for a wide range of musical instruments and voice. Their exams range from proprietary and preliminary up to grade eight and onto ascent diplomas. They have syllabuses for each step along the way that they update every so often, and those list around 50 pieces that can be used as part of the examination process. To support this, they also publish books with a small selection of the pieces. This is handy as it's a requirement for the exams that you have an official printed copy of any music that you perform. I'm going to look at what they offer for the preparatory level as that's the one I'm working on, but if you are interested in the other levels, all the syllabuses are available online at no cost. Anka offers their certifications in different ways.
(07:25)
There is a traditional version in which the candidate sits with the examiner, shows some technical skills, talks a bit about the music, and performs three pieces. The other version is just performance. The candidate plays four pieces across a range of styles, but does not have to answer questions or do technical exercises. The performance exams are offered online as well as in person, and I assume that these are probably the more popular options. There are two different piano syllabuses, classical, and modern. The requirements are the same, but the choice of pieces is different. I'm following the classical syllabus at the moment, and the current book series for the pieces is Series two. Classical repertoire book contains 12 pieces four in each of lists A, B, and C list. A is roughly classical. It has the Fritz spindler cannon. I have been learning. List B is more romantic.
(08:19)
The bag of talent and F comes from there, and list C is more contemporary. Those are the musical styles. About half of the pieces, even the classical and romantic works are by 20th century composers from Australia and Aoteoroa (New Zealand). The book also contains the scales and other technical exercises needed for the traditional version of the exam. The modern repertoire book also contains 12 pieces, this time divided into three categories. In this case, all the pieces have been composed by contemporary Australian composers. All the pieces are in major keys, CCF and G. There are blue style tunes in category two with optional swing and category three includes Boogie Woogie inspired music. It's a very different musical selection from the classical book, but I'm sure that there are many who will preferred these works to those in the other book. Just to cover what hasn't been a problem here, it has caused a huge row over the new A-B-R-S-M syllabus in the uk.
(09:19)
With the inclusion of contemporary pieces, I don't think there is any lowering of standards in the selection of the contemporary pieces. From my limited viewpoint, the difficulty level of the two books seems very close to each other and there's no dumbing down. If you choose modern over classical, if you're following the Anker system, it's worth getting both books as you can use pieces from either book in the performance exams, so even if you are really into classical music, you can still throw in some blues. The performance books are available directly from the ANCA website, although I'm sure most local down under music stores will probably also carry them. They cost $23 40 Australian each. The current syllabus is listed as from 2022 to 2024, but I haven't heard of any changes for 2025, but if I do, I'll let you know.
(10:17)
Well, that's it for this week. If you'd like to contact me, email is the best way you can find me at David at piano Finely Do Show and the website@www.pianofinely.show show. In both cases, piano finally is all one word. Let me know where you are in your piano journey. The show is also on Facebook and Instagram and available as audio only on YouTube. You can subscribe via any popular iOS or Android podcast application or from directories such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Player fm. So until the next episode, I hope your piano stays in tune and you enjoy your time at The Key.
(11:04)
Again, I'll include two pieces in this week's progress. The first is Fritz Spindler Cannon, which I've been working on more this week. I've been working on the dynamics and the phrasing, but it's finally at the correct speed 80 beats per minute. Now to move from, I can play it without mistakes to, I can't play it with mistakes. The other piece I've mainly been working on from the Anka preparatory book is The Bag of Talent F by Daniel got Lob Turk. It's in their list B pieces. It's also getting close to speed, although the second half still needs some more work. The recording was made using the Kauai NV 10 as the keyboard and Piano Tech eight running on the M four max MacBook Pro Piano Tech is set up with a new Shiguru Kauai SKX in classical recording mode.