Alan Coady’s Musical Blog

Is it just me, or is there something poetic about the idea of a 35,000-year old flute, carved from the hollow wing-bone of a giant vulture?

It’s interesting to see the term “social networks” appear in the same sentence as “Upper Palaeolithic music.” Plus ça change….

New fingering guide video footage has been posted on the Video Page. Don’t forget to enjoy the 4-second long, deafening blast of Eb which serves as a bell at 2:24 in the Lower Part video - it adds so much to our lessons…..

New pupil performance mp3s have been posted on the Campie PS and NBHS pages.

I’ve yet to meet anyone who doesn’t like YouTube. Almost everyone I know has confessed, at some time or another, to having been sucked into a vortex of fascination and losing (track of) time. Can young musicians actually learn much from watching videos? I’d contend that the answer is a resounding, yes!

They can hear how an unknown piece sounds; see how the hands move; hear how changes in tempo and dynamics can help to shape a piece; notice how the accenting of some notes and the subduing of others can result in solo music having several simultaneous layers and sounding more like ensemble music. There is also encouragement to be had in, for example, being spurred on by seeing someone younger than oneself turn in a commanding performance, or someone older making heavy weather of something you’d found quite straightforward.

One thing I have lately found YouTube nudging me towards is comparing various interpretations of the same piece, thanks to the related videos box to the right of the screen. While looking for Leo Browuer’s Estudio Sencillo No. 1, a piece played by many S3/S4 pupils, I stumbled upon an explosive performance by Wang Yameng of the 3^rd movement of Browuer’s Sonata, written in 1990 for Julian Bream. The movement, entitled La Toccata de Pasquini could, I feel, only have been written by a guitarist.

Before long, I had watched ten performances, resulting in a heightened awareness of differences in technique; interpretation; performance spirit; posture; ergonomics of hand movements; quality of film and sound recording; location; lighting. Strictly speaking, these are not in any order, but the top three impressed me the most. What also appeals to me about this situation is the democracy of it. The grace and favour of promoters, agents, publishers is not required. All you need to do is learn the piece, film it and post it.

Wang Yameng

Costas Cotsiolis

Chaconne Klaverenga

Carlo Marchione

Oman Kaminsky

Ali Jorge Arango

Roman Viazovskiy

Dušan Oravec

Nemanja Ostojic

Diego Barber

While on holiday last week, I found myself in the Chapter House of Worcester Cathedral. Just walking

 into this circular, stone room it was clear that the acoustic was magnificent – as was the silence. My guitar and Zoom H2 recorder were just across the road in the multi-storey car park, and before long, I was making enquiries about the possibility of making a recording. The cathedral staff, Susan Macleod in particular, were very friendly and accommodating.

These are not magnificent performances by any means (I hadn’t exactly been shaping up for a performance of any sort) but I couldn’t resist playing in this room and was grateful to have the opportunity to be able to direct pupils to an example of the difference that acoustics can make to the feel of a performance.

Prelude from Cello Suite No. 1 BWV 1007 (J. S. Bach) cello-prelude

Now Westlin’ Winds (Burns arr Coady) now-westlin-winds

For Michael (Coady) for-michael

Three Jigs:(Coady) three-jigs

1. Hamish Henderson

2. Dick Gaughan

3. Jimmy Johnstone

 I also messed around with a few notes (and spaces) just to play with the echo: playing-with-chapter-house-echo

 

David Byrne writes eloquently, resonantly and, in one sense, optimistically about the future of the recording industry in the indented paragraph contained here.

If I feel as nimble as he appears to when I’m 56, I’ll be chuffed:

In our enthusiasm for learning through gaming, might we be overlooking one of the oldest games in the world – chess? There is sufficient belief in its contribution to learning in general, that countries as varied as America, Russia and Venezuela include the game – and its study – in the curriculum. Closer to home, Chess Scotland is very active in school life (look for Schools link in menu on left-hand side).

Google Alerts threw a pdf document my way entitled the Benefits of Chess in Education, in which, like music, chess is shown to strengthen other domains – reading, maths, logic, planning, problem solving, juggling options. There appear also to be social and behavioural benefits.

The chess community has not been slow to augment traditional over the board games and analytical books with a variety of hi-tech and online resources: chess computers; software; websites; gaming sites. YouTube features many instructional videos on openings and endgames in addition to more performance-based films such as this amazing blitz game (even the physical co-ordination is impressive – let alone the mental performance):

 

or this simul, in which Garry Kasparov defeats 25 opponents:

Perhaps, though, despite all this, the game of chess continues to labour under the image of being a geeky game? Well, not in South Bronx, where the Dark Knights record against schools which can afford private coaching is very impressive.

New pupil performance mp3s have been posted on the Campie PS page

New videos of Scottish Medley 2009 have been posted on the Video Page. This will be played by NBHS in the Spring Concert (Thu 2 April, 2009) and MGS (Thu 18 June, 2009)

Continuing to experiment with video…here is a hurriedly shot, and appallingly lit, rendition of Now Westlin’ Winds. This is basically an instrumental version of what Dick Gaughan does with Burns’ original on his excellent Handful of Earth album. I did this arrangement a few years ago and a couple of pupils played it their Advanced Higher programmes. The tuning is DADGAD i.e. strings 1, 2 & 6 tuned down a tone (2 fret’s worth).

Just after writing this, I discovered that this is Dick Gaughan’s “favourite song of all time.”