Episode 82 - The “T” Word

G'day, everyone! Welcome to show number eighty-two. I’ve just returned from a week in Queensland visiting family, though it meant very little piano practice happened. It’s been great working in the Belong Choir with Nardi Simpson, a Yuwaalaraay storyteller and composer, who makes the rehearsals inclusive and fun.

Podcast Recommendation: No one saw it coming I’m a big fan of history podcasts, and this week I recommend Marc Fennell’s "No one saw it coming." Specifically, the episode "The ballet that caused a riot and changed music," which dives into Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. Marc and Andrew Ford explore the music, the riots (real or exaggerated), and how Disney’s Fantasia eventually cemented Stravinsky’s fame.

https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/no-one-saw-it-coming/the-rite-of-spring/105872884?utm_content=link&utm_medium=content_sharedhttps://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/no-one-saw-it-coming

Essay: The "T" Word There is a word I try to avoid: Talent. While often meant as a compliment, attributing success to "talent" discounts the hundreds of hours of effort and commitment a musician puts in. Whether it’s a child prodigy or Rachmaninov, what we see is the result of hard work, not just a genetic lottery. Let’s replace the "T" word with “Effort".

Review: Grand Solos for Christmas, Book 3 I decided it’s time to add some seasonal music to my repertoire—and starting in January gives me plenty of time! I picked up Melody Bober’s Grand Solos for Christmas, Book 3. Rated for "Late Elementary," these arrangements are approachable (keys of F, C, G, D) but musical enough to sound great at a family gathering.

https://www.alfred.com/authors/melody-bober/https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/1470617307?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

Progress Since I was away, I didn't practice. Instead of rusty playing, I’m sharing professional performances of the pieces I’m currently learning:

• "A Wild Chase" performed by Roderick MacFarlane https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2XtjcjQyqA
• "Trumpet Tune" performed by Piano with Beth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpqGF7J8aLc
• "Sea Song" performed by Alan Chan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DykqLkbUAGM
• "Moonlight Sonata" performed by Danie

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 may 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 Opening
• 0:15 Welcome
• 3:21 Podcast - No one saw it coming
• 5:30 Essay - The “T” Word
• 9:52 Review - Grand Solos for Christmas - Book 3
• 11:59 Closing
• 13:43 Progress

Transcript

Episode082: 0:00

G'day everyone, I'm David Reedy. Welcome to Piano Finally, a podcast by an old bloke who's getting around to learning the piano. Finally. Welcome to show number 82. Thank you very much for downloading the show. If you're a regular listener, then thanks for your support. But if this is the first time you're hearing the podcast, I hope you enjoy what's in the show. And if you do like what you hear, consider subscribing. Are you also learning a musical instrument? If you are, let me know how you're going with it. You can contact me at david at pianofinally.show I spent the week in Queensland visiting family, so I got almost no piano practice done for the week, as I expected. I drove up after the choir rehearsal on Sunday and spent the night in Bulladila, a little town north of Sydney. It was a nice break. The choir rehearsal was interesting. This is the Belong Community Choir, which will be performing as part of the Sydney Festival Vigil on the 25th of January, the evening before the public holiday listed as Australia Day. I've mentioned before that this public holiday is a bit problematic, marking, as it does, the day that Great Britain claimed ownership of the entire continent of Australia because there was no one else here. It took over 200 years for this legal fiction to be addressed The vigil is part of the Indigenous community's marking of the date As the name implies, the choir is a community choir and there are people from the many different cultures that make up Australia today Leading the choir is Nadi Simpson the composer of three of the pieces we will be singing Nadi is a Yuwala Rai storyteller now living in Sydney She has a very laid-back way of running the rehearsals which makes them lots of fun. It's really great watching her work. Nadi makes everyone feel welcome, and as I hadn't sung on stage for a very long time, I'm glad of the welcoming and inclusive way everything gets done. I'm writing this on Sunday evening, so there is just one more rehearsal before the performance. If you're in Sydney on the evening of the 25th of January, the performance will be at Stargazer Park, which is part of Barangaroo on the shore of Sydney Harbour. It starts at 7.45pm It's a free event I'll put a link in the show notes Today's rehearsal went well It's all coming together The rest of the musicians were there and they are great especially the didgeridoo player who I think is going to steal the show His playing was amazingly good and will be the last sound of the evening The only logistical problem is going to be that all the public transport is off for the weekend as the metro line is being upgraded and parts of the harbour are closed for the maritime rehearsals for the 26th, so getting there may be a challenge. Given that the performance on Sunday has been moved a little later to better match the time of sunset, it is unlikely that I will get the podcast out on Sunday. So expect it on Monday instead. I mentioned just recently that I listened to The Rest is History podcast, but it's not the only history-based podcast I listen to. The podcast I'll recommend this week is one of the ones I've been listening to longer than the rest. Mark Fennell is a producer and broadcaster who, for many years, was the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's technology reporter. His program, Download This Show, was required listening for computer nerds. He left to work on another series called Stuff the British Stole, which examined the historical acquisitions of various artefacts. His latest production is called No One Saw It Coming, and it looks at events which seemed pretty ordinary when they happened, but which had large unforeseen consequences. This week, the episode was called The Ballet That Caused a Riot and Changed Music. When I saw the title, I guess it would have to be about Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, and indeed it is. In the episode, Mark is joined by Andrew Ford, who hosts the ABC's music show, and who speaks about and illustrates the musical ideas in The Rite of Spring, and explains the, possibly exaggerated, goings-on at the premiere of the work. It is certain that The Rite of Spring went on to influence many other composers and shape 20th century music, but it was the inclusion of the piece in Walt Disney's Fantasia that brought it to the attention of the general public and ensured Stravinsky's fame, so much so that apparently Stravinsky would pay for everything by check, knowing that people wouldn't cash them as they had his signature on them. It's a fun look at a genre-defining piece of music and the people and personalities involved in its creation and popularisation. Andrew Ford does a great job of explaining both the music and the stories, and this is one episode that is worth catching. There are links in the show notes to the episode and to the podcast series. The T-Word There is a word that I avoid saying on the podcast and at work. Actually, there are many words I avoid saying, but that's so I don't have to tick the explicit content text box when posting the podcast episode. This isn't one of those words It's a word that really isn't helpful And which I think can get in the way of achievement It starts and ends with a T It's talent Unlike many words which should be avoided Talent is not meant to offend or belittle anyone It's often meant as a compliment When you think about it, however You realise that, unintentional as it may be It is actually a put down If someone does something particularly well it is common to hear them described as very talented at whatever it was they did Let's analyse that Let's imagine that you have just seen a 12 year old pianist perform an excellent rendition of a Chopin nocturne There will be applause at the end and probably lots of comments about how talented they are It is most unlikely that the pianist had only seen the piece a few minutes before the performance It is much more likely that their outstanding achievement is due to hundreds of hours of practice on their part and the support of their parents and teachers. And yet, all that effort has been put down to talent, because anyone else could do the same if they were just born with the same talent. Now it is true that some people have attributes that make particular endeavours easier than they are for others. Famously, Rachmaninoff had big hands, which made the playing of his music simpler than it is for most pianists. But I doubt that even Rachmaninoff could play a performance-ready version of his own compositions without a decent amount of practice and preparation beforehand. Attributing success solely to talent is a way of discounting a person's effort. When I'm embarking on some new project in a field that I am new to, I evaluate whether I think I can succeed before I start. I look at what is required, can I physically manage it, and do I have the time and motivation needed to make the effort. I don't consider whether I have the requisite talent, reasoning that if other people have been able to achieve it, then I should be able to too, provided I make that effort. As a teacher, I teach children with a wide range of prior learning and abilities, especially in their first year of high school. Their experiences in primary school shape their starting point in their further studies. I will sometimes get students who have had a primary school teacher who covered science really well. These students have a bit of a head start when they end up in my class, compared to those without that primary school experience. You might say they are talented in science. By halfway through the year, their head start has evaporated compared with those students who have put a decent effort into their studies. It's the same with piano playing. I think we've all seen videos of very young children playing remarkably well, playing pieces that regular learners take years to get to. Are these children talented? I'd say they are more likely to be single-minded and have had the opportunity to learn and practice without the distractions that come with being a bit older. We see the five-minute performance. not the thousand hours of practice they've put in over the previous 12 months. So, if you praise a person for having talent, you're effectively saying that good fortune has got them to where they are, not their own efforts. You're praising them for something they have no control over rather than for something that they do control. It's like praising a wealthy person because they were clever enough to choose to have wealthy parents. So let's ban the T word when we talk about other musicians. Let's replace it with the E and C words, effort and commitment, qualities that are worth praising in music as well as everywhere else in life. I mentioned in a show before Christmas that my playing isn't at a high enough level to get asked to play anything at family gatherings. But I'm thinking that I might not be able to get away with that excuse at the end of this year. So I thought that perhaps I should look at adding at least some appropriate music to my repertoire. Nothing too complex, just something for if I'm asked. So I decided that now was the time to get started. Not in November. I don't remember where I first heard about Melody Boba's piano books. I'm thinking it may have been the Top Music Piano podcast. Ms Boba has an extensive range of piano music, carefully graded from beginner to advanced intermediate. Having had a look at some of the samples on Amazon, I estimated that I'm at about the level of her Book 3 publications. They're rated late elementary, so I purchased a copy of Grand Solos for Christmas, Book 3. The book is published by Alfred Music, and it's quite reasonably priced. It contains eight pieces, seven of which I know, and a couple of which would make it into any Australian Christmas song list. But are they at my playing level? I've been learning for nearly two years, and can handle, not perfectly, but reasonably, the grade one pieces in the AMEB books, and this appears to be slightly easier than that. All the song's keys are F, C, G, and D, so only two sharps at the most, the rhythms are simple, and the chords are uncomplicated. So I think the pieces are well within the capability of a Grade 1 pianist. I'm fairly certain I can get a couple of these working by the time next Christmas comes around. I'll include a link to Melanie's page on Alfred Music so you can see more of her extensive range of music. It's certainly not all Christmas tunes. There's also a non-affiliate link to Amazon, which is where I found my copy. I'm planning a good solid week of practice to make up for last week and that'll be followed up by next weekend's choir dress rehearsal and performance I followed the mood board I've been sent for the performance and went clothes shopping and bought a new shirt and pants in the correct earthy tones I already had a thematically correct pair of shoes although today Nardi suggested that maybe Bare Feet will be the go. I hope the Stargazer lawn is bindy free in that case. With a 7.45pm performance and then travelling back home I very much doubt that I'll get the show out on Sunday so I will put it up on Monday which is a public holiday and the day before school returns for the teachers. If you'd like to contact me, email is the best way. you'll find me at david.pianofinally.show and the website at www.pianofinally.show. In both cases, Piano Finally is all one word. The show is also available on Spotify and is an audio-only stream on YouTube. You can subscribe via any popular iOS or Android podcast application or from directories such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. I also post an excerpt and link for each episode as an Instagram reel. If you're learning an instrument, let me know where you are in your journey, what's going well, and what are the challenges you're finding. How are you fitting everything in? What do you enjoy playing the most? And so, until next week, I hope your piano stays in tune and you enjoy your time at the keys. So, as I expected, I didn't get much practice done in the last week with all the travelling involved. So rather than subject you to some fairly rusty playing, I thought it would include the pieces I am learning, but played by others from YouTube. One of the advantages of using examination books for pieces is that it is pretty easy to find examples online of people playing them. So here are Wild Chase, Trumpet Tune, Sea Song and the opening of the Moonlight Sonata. For the AMEB pieces, I've chosen three different pianists, although each of them has a complete collection of the AMEB music for the different... although each of them has a complete collection of the AMEB music for the different grades. I'll let you know who's playing before each piece, and there'll be links in the show notes if you want to see the performances. Firstly, here's A Wild Chase, performed by Roderick McFarlane, the piano scholar. Next up is Trumpet Tune performed by Piano with Beth. Here's Sea Song, performed by Alan Chan. Moonlight Sonata is performed by Daniel Barrenboy. I've included just the first bit up to where I'm comfortable with the playing so far. If you want to hear the whole sonata, follow the link in the show notes or just search on YouTube.*music**sad music