Children are back in school and our Faculty Artists, Dr. John Cobb and Dr. Deborah Belcher, have started giving piano lessons at the store. I am “all about” education – formal and informal. (Keith and I have bachelor degrees in education from the University of Minnesota – Keith’s is in music and mine in foreign languages.) Life is all about learning. Albert Einstein was quoted saying, “Once you stop learning, you start dying.” (That explains my doctoral studies as an older, more mature adult. LOL) I intend to keep learning for a very, very long time.
It thrills me to have people coming into the store for lessons. Last week, one of our artists began lessons with a petite and “brilliant” three- year-old girl. Perhaps, she will be our next prodigy.
As you know, we are especially blessed to have Christopher Tavernier as part of our Freeburg Pianos team. If you’ve been following my blogs and our website, you know that he is now 13 and is a classical pianist. We have two more concerts in our Master Works Series: “Preserving the Musical Lineage of Franz Liszt” which features Christopher and his teacher, Dr. John Cobb. I’m particularly excited about the last concert, a fundraiser for breast cancer awareness, which will be held at the Dianna Wortham Theater in Asheville. Why am I so excited about it after having already seen and heard the music several times? We are adding projection screens showing the artists hands on the keyboard as they are playing. Everyone in the audience will be able to enjoy a close-up view of their “flying fingers.”
I usually stick to piano videos but a friend sent me this one of a 13 year-old playing Taps in its entirety. (I didn’t know there was an “entirety.”) The original version of Taps was called Last Post, and was written by Daniel Butterfield in 1801. It was rather lengthy and formal so, in 1862, it was shortened to 24 notes and re-named Taps. The conductor of the orchestra is Andre Rieu from Holland.
Here’s one more video of a child worth checking out today. You will be amazed by this five-year-old boy’s ability and you will also smile and perhaps even chuckle with his delightful, dramatic endings. Finishing this blog with a smile might be needed if you teared up, as I did, during the “Taps” video.
“Life is Grand”
Joann