Thanks to you all, pupils, parents and grand-parents who attended the Term One Concert this last Saturday. It is great to see and hear you all playing in front of an audience.
Term One 2021 and end of term Concert
In two weeks’ time I will commence teaching for 2021. The first term consists of 11 weeks, starting on the 1st February 2021.
There are two statutory holidays that occur during the first term, Waitangi Day and Easter. Waitangi Day will be observed on Monday 8th February and Easter starts of Friday 2nd April. The Tuesday after Easter is a school holiday too.
The holiday at the end of the first term starts on the 17th April and continues until the 2nd May. This holiday includes the 26th April, the day that Anzac Day will be observed.
Our end of term Concert will be held on Saturday 10th April at 4:00pm at 12 Ridgeway Place, Richmond Hill.
Christmas Concert 5.12.20
Thank you to you all for coming along to support the players this afternoon. We heard a lovely range of Christmas and other music and everyone played well considering it was the first time that most of you would have done this. It is also great that the music room and the adjoining room are able to accommodate a number of people.
Below are a few photos of the room prior to everyone arriving and one of the players before we started the Concert.
Term Four 2020
Term 4 2020 will be starting next week, the 12th October. The term will end on Friday 18th December, so the term will be 10 weeks long. Labour Day falls on the 26th October.
I will be starting my end of term Concerts this term. The date for this Concert will be Saturday 5th December at 4:00pm. I am asking my students to prepare one piece they will play by themselves and one as a duet, possibly with a Christmas theme.
Covid-19 Level 2
As no doubt you will all know, the greater Auckland region is at Level 3 and the rest of New Zealand is at Level 2, as covid cases have been found in the community in Auckland.
Let’s hope that the health professionals are able to locate the source of this infection and that is is contained in the near future.
I now have a code for the New Zealand Covid tracer app which will be displayed in a prominent place in the music room. Please use this app when you enter the house. And, there will be a register for everyone using the music room as before.
Stephen Heller and Lady Randolph Churchill
At present I am reading a book entitled ‘Fortune’s Daughters The Extravagant Lives of the Jerome Sisters: Jennie Churchill, Clara Frewen and Leonie Leslie’. Jennie Churchill was Winston Churchill’s mother.
It was interesting to read in this book of how Jennie, and presumably her sisters, were taught by the composer Stephen Heller. Jennie Churchill, also known as Lady Randolph Churchill, was a talented amateur pianist. Heller believed that Jennie was good enough to attain '“concert standard” however he wondered whether she would be prepared to work hard enough to achieve the standard required.
Heller lived in Paris for the last 25 years of his life and it would have been in this city that he would have taught Jennie. Jennie, her mother and her two sisters moved to Paris from New York in 1867.
Jennie shared her father’s love of music and she is named after the Swedish singer, Jennie Lind.
Stephen Heller was born in Pest, Hungary on the 15th May 1813. He was born into a Bohemian family of Jewish descent. He lived in a number of countries throughout his life. At the age of nine, he was sent to Vienna to study with Czerny. However Czerny’s lessons were too expensive, so he was taught by Anton Halm. At the age of 14, Heller began a long concert tour which ended two years later with Heller suffering from exhaustion.
After this, he studied composition and made contact with the composer, Robert Schumann. At the age of 18, he moved to Paris and was able to make a living there, working as an arranger, a composer, a teacher and music critic. He was not playing much in public at this time, leaving other artists to play his music. In Paris he became acquainted with Berlioz, Chopin, Lizst and others. In 1862, Heller travelled to England, and there he performed with his friend Charles Hallé, works for two pianos. Hallé, Robert Browning and Lord Leighton, persuaded the English to subscribe sufficient funds to provide him with an annuity, which he enjoyed for the rest of his life when he became blind. His music encompassed German, French and Viennese styles and in later years, his music exhibited characteristics of Czech music.
Heller wrote many pieces for the piano and some of his studies are still being played today. His pieces are celebrated for their originality, grace and elegance. His etudes of Opus 45 - 47 are among his most important teaching pieces. These pieces were composed in 1866, six years after his arrival in Paris when he was at the height of his creative career. Many of the etudes have been given a title, suggesting a mood or character.
References - www.allmusic.com, www,wikipedia.org and ‘The Pianist’s Guide to Standard Teaching and Performance Literature’ by Jane Magrath.
Term 3 2020
Welcome to Term 3 2020. There are ten weeks in this term, starting Monday the 20th July and ending on Friday the 25th September. There are no statutory holidays in this term.
Covid-19 Piano Studio Protocols
12 Ridgeway Place, Sumner - new location for piano lessons
Our house is nearly finished. Here are a few photos of the nearly completed piano room. We are hoping to move in at the beginning of September.
