Subject: Adventures in Creative Futility: Organ Lesson 38, and the fun begins in Piano 3
Date: Mon, 07 Sep 1998 21:54:57 -0700
From: "James H. H. Lampert" <jamesl@hb.quik.com>
To: {The "Adventures in Creative Futility" Network}

Ladies and Gentlemen, Maestras and Maestros:

    This past Saturday, September 5th, 1998, was my 38th organ lesson.
But first, some comments on Piano 3.
    As I've stated before, Piano 3 and 4 at Orange Coast College are run
in a master class format, with one combined section during the day, and
another combined section in the evening, each with two ticket numbers
(one for Piano 3, one for Piano 4). This past Wednesday evening (having
missed the first "real" class of the semester, because of a Hollywood
Bowl concert), I had my first taste of the master class experience, and
I must say I enjoy it. Mr. Eubanks takes each student for a brief lesson
on whatever they happen to be working on, while the rest of the class is
free to watch and listen, or go to a practice room and prepare for our
own lessons. Everybody is treated as equally worthy of Mr. Eubanks' (and
the class's) attention, regardless of whether they (like me) are barely
learning the Kabalevsky pieces assigned to the "fresh-from-Piano 2"
crowd, or some major work of Beethoven or Chopin. And we're free to come
and go as we please, provided we do so quietly (which allows me to
schedule my figure skating lessons to end just as the class begins,
arrive about five to fifteen minutes into the class, and stay until the
end of the class.
    I played Kabalevsky's "Humming" for my lesson (for those unfamiliar
with it, it's an absurdly simple melody, played by both hands together,
in fifteenths). Mr. Eubanks seemed pleased by my efforts with the piece,
and amused by my discovery that it's actually (since one can get build
the fifteenth into one's registration) easier on the organ than on the
piano (and playable as a pedal solo); he also, however, was a bit
irritated by my constantly looking at my hands. He gave me some general
encouragement, as well as a "prescription" exercise to be played without
looking at my hands.

    My organ lesson was only the start of a very laborious Labor Day
weekend. We began, since it had lay fallow for so long, with "Father, We
Thank Thee for the Night" (Peeters, 9, exercise 3). I had lost some
ground with it, but not nearly so much as I'd expected, and before we
went on to the McHose Canon, I'd managed (with many mistakes and awkward
pauses) to get through it with both hands together.
    We spent the rest of the hour on the McHose, working on each part
separately, and beginning the process of putting them together. I may be
able to get through the piece with both hands and the pedal part, by the
end of the month. But we've still not yet come up with any final
"performance" registration for it.
    Maestro York was quite pleased with developments in Piano 3,
especially with Mr. Eubanks' "prescription." He, too, was amused by the
idea of "Humming" arranged as a pedal solo, and of using large amounts
of manual contrast in "Chit-Chat."
    Once Maestro York left, I tried a few bars of the McHose with
everything together, then experimented further with both my pedal solo
of "Humming" and with juggling "Chit-Chat" on all three manuals (and
playing it, too, as a pedal solo). Promising, but I'm still not quite sure
what the best pedaling would be for "Humming." (In "Chit-Chat," however,
the best pedaling seems to involve taking each single phrase on one foot,
heel-and-toe).
--
James H. H. Lampert
http://www.hb.quik.com/jamesl