Concerts and Recitals -- A Love Hate Relationship

 

   As a pianist, I have been in my fair share of recitals and concerts.  While some people love being in the spotlight it is not my favorite thing. Now, I watch my students, preparing for a recital and it brings me back to when I was a student.  I absolutely hated playing in front of people back then, I'm not even sure how my parents and my teachers got me to actually do it.  I would have to say that not a lot has changed since back then accept that I have many, many more performances under my belt.  But it gives me insight into my students that struggle with the same thing.
       Well, Christmas as you can imagine, is a busy time of year for me.  Now, after last Christmas, I said, no more Christmas concerts!!!  It is just too much work, too exhausting, too stressful.  Well, of course, by midyear, I have forgotten all about the work, exhaustion, and stress and want to start planning a Christmas concert.  It's like breaking up with someone and a few months later, getting back together with them.  How can we only remember the good parts and somehow forget all the bad parts??  How do our brains completely misplace all the unpleasant memories??  Well, somehow it does, and onto the planning stages of the concert I go.
     This year I have decided to play the accompaniment for ALL the music for the concert.  In previous years we have used some background music for parts of the concert, but after viewing the videos, I am not happy with the result.  This may seem a bit self destructive considering I am also producing, singing and dancing in this concert, but with no turning back, I plunge head first into it.  September turns to December and I THEN remember how busy I get during the holidays, but I can't turn back now, Christmas is just a few short weeks away.
     The day is finally here, and of course I barely slept last night with all the things I have to try to remember.  Dress rehearsal goes smoothly, and I am excited to see my vision come to fruition. view dance video  Despite all my worries and fears and sleepless nights the concert goes beautifully.  Everyone does a superb job and it is well attended.  I couldn't have asked for anything better.  And now that the holidays are over I can relax and breath and plan my next recital.  LOL
www.pianobycheri.com picture below is a still life I did "Concert Prep" Music is Love in Search of a Word

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Move your Hands, Move your Feet, and Them some ...

     I have recently gotten involved with the local Dance Hall here in Kittery, Maine.  They offer classes such as tap, belly dance, ballroom, african dance, hoop dance, and others, as well as, hand drum classes.  And they also bring in wonderful music and dance artists to perform on the weekends.  thedancehallkittery.org
     I discovered the little venue from a Spot Light article in the local paper.  They were having a performance featuring Guinean dancers and drummers.  I love African sounds and dance, so I grabbed my friend and we went.  This was last October.  The performance was amazing, and on top of that I discovered that this little venue right around the corner from me offers great classes at a very reasonable price!
     Well, as I've been able, I have taken classes there.  The drumming class is so invigorating.  The teacher, Namory Keita, is very patient.  He is great at working with drummers from any level, and even as a beginner I felt like I was able to learn the song that was being taught to us.  What I underestimated was just how sore my hands would be after that first class.  WOW!  It really takes some getting used to.  I liken it to the first time you ride a bicycle as an adult or the first time you take a spin class.  Your butt is very sore when you get off, but after a few times you don't even notice it =).
     Now, I've never taken any dance classes, unless you count the zumba classes at the gym, but I love dance.  And, African dance intrigues me, in fact so much so that I finally decided to join a class.  I thankfully picked a good night to start, because there were several other first timers there.  The teacher, Liz Fowler, is amazing!  She is joyful and exuberant, and takes you through every little step.  She dances in a really great medium ground, so that you don't feel like you have to kill yourself to keep up with her.  I got to stomp my feet, flail my arms, shake my butt, play drums, connect with neighbors, scream and holler, and get my sweat on!!  How can you go wrong with that?
     So this past weekend they did another performance featuring Guinean dancers and drummers.  It becomes an all day event, because they also do drum and dance workshops throughout the day.  I said, why not, I might as well take advantage of the artists while they are here in town, so I signed up for ALL of them.  Now, in hindsight I may have been a little over zealous.  I don't think I put much thought into what my body would be saying to 2, hour and a half dance classes back to back.  And clearly I underestimated the amount of energy it would take to do all the work shops.
     But, I started the day gung ho, with a drum workshop.  Ismael Bangoura was our teacher, and he is so much fun!  Always smiling, making you forget you are concentrating, and making you smile too, his energy is contagious.  If I had had him as a teacher when I was little, I would have wanted to drum 24/7.  His son was there drumming too, and he was better than all of us in the circle.  Two amazing talents right here in little Kittery, Maine.

     My first dance class of the day was with Sidiki Sylla, Now, don't let his age affect what you think this man is capable of.  Ten minutes into the warm up and I'm already short of breath and sweat is poring off me in rivers!  OMG I still have 80 minutes left of this class!  Unfortunately for me, I was in a room filled with people that have been taking African dance classes for quite a while now.  They picked up this dance the first time every time!  That left me in the back row, flailing my arms in the completely wrong direction, going right when I should be going left, standing up when I should be squatted down, and completely lost, but still sweating my ass off!
     Well, needless to say, I did not make it to the last dance class.  But, I did come back for the performance that night.  And it was everything that was promised.  Liz Fowler's classes got to show off what they have been learning, the Guinean dancers and drummers got to give us a little taste of what the celebrations in Guinea would be like, and the audience got to participate with singing and dancing.  Overall, a very exciting, joyful evening in the Dance Hall, that I hope all the neighbors got to hear, because the drumming was spectacular! pianobycheri.com