Rhapsody in C minor

My third Piano Guild audition is now behind me for a week now and it was indeed rhapsodic. Besides the major accomplishment of mastering the entire "Sonatina in C" by classical Italian composer Muzio Clemente, I also had to perform Bach, Schumann and the very beautiful "Melody in C minor" by the great contemporary Russian composer Aram Khatchaturian. And C minor is no piece of cake. It’s been my most challenging scale yet. The piece itself is nothing short of a rhapsody.

Piano season concludes next Friday evening, June 3rd, at Community Presbyterian Church in Waterford where our annual spring recital will begin at 7 p.m. It will in essence be my graduation recital from elementary. After all my anxiety about my ill-preparedness for this year’s Guild, I did in fact pass. I knew this pretty much right away as the judge kept responding to each piece with such words as "kudos" and "excellent" – all seven times! So I knew I’d made it into Intermediate before I left, but then Pam gave me the courtesy of a quick glimpse at my report card. A+! I was shocked, since I had made so many mistakes. But one thing I’m learning is that you make mistakes no matter what. The important thing is to keep going and "feel" the music. If the passion comes through, technical errors are usually forgiven.

I prepared for the audition this year as I have in prior years by giving a concert at Lourdes a few days before. Because I had 7 pieces this time, my concert ran one hour – half an hour to play the pieces but I filled in time with a lecture about the 3,000 year challenge of inventing the piano and the 300 year history of piano music. Everyone really seemed to enjoy the lecture, I’ll continue to refine it year by year. It may become my "hook." I go through all four periods of piano history: baroque, classical, romantic, and contemporary - and then play each piece with the appropriate period. I’ve mentioned that at the end of the concert a couple of people who had seen last year’s performance came up to me and expressed astonishment at how much I had improved in one year. At that point, I decided I didn’t care whether I passed Guild or not. Those comments really made my day. You know that someone’s being sincere when they come up to you and volunteer that they thought last year you were pretty middling but, wow, what a change now!

I know that an elementary graduation sounds kind of trivial but when I post the recordings on YouTube, I don’t think anyone will think this is elementary stuff. The Bach, Shumann, and Khatchaturian pieces are all quite lovely and with a degree of technical sophistication well above what I ever thought elementary would be. Of course, as I’ve been saying all year, the real coup-de-grace was Clemente. This 3 movement sonatina was the piece I never thought I was going to get. The Piano Guild places such a high premium on Clemente that mastery of the "Sonatina in C" is a prerequisite for entering Intermediate studies.

Clemente was a contemporary of both Mozart and Beethoven and as widely admired. Unlike those two geniuses and as successful as he was as a composer and performer, his real strength was teaching. Beethoven so admired him that he used Clemente’s compositions, rather than his own, to teach his own students. The rationale was that Clemente’s music was so technically challenging that they made excellent teaching pieces, that a student who could master Clemente could master anybody. So even Beethoven used the "Sonatina in C" to teach his students. And the Piano Guild insists on it. It will be my recital piece on Friday.

I’ve been at it now for 3 years and 9 months, and have now completed the six year elementary course in less than four. Beginning June 16th, we begin laying the groundwork for the next phase. As the Guild curriculum goes, beyond elementary there are six levels of intermediate, four of high school, and four collegiate. Beyond the collegiate program, there is also an Artists Diploma which is the equivalent of a Master’s Degree. To give you an idea of how high the Guild’s standards are, almost anybody can get admitted to any top conservatory having only completed the high school sophomore course. The completion of the four collegiate courses is considered the equivalent of a degree from any top conservatory.

But I’ll give you a real-life example that drives the point even harder. This year I had the privilege of attending an "Artists" recital at Oakland University. A 28 year old Korean woman is working towards her Guild Artists Diploma. She already has a Bachelor’s in Piano Performance, a Master’s in Piano Performance, and another Master’s in Piano Pedagogy. So with two master’s degrees under her belt, she was now working for her Artists Diploma. This is no cake walk.

This was my third Guild audition. The value of these auditions is not only to set concrete goals and achieve advancement that is nationally recognized, but more importantly, it is an opportunity every year to play for someone and be evaluated by someone who is not your piano teacher. And the judges so far have all been nationally and even internationally recognized concert pianists. So it is a wonderful affirmation of your progress when someone this highly qualified and who doesn’t know you at all tells you you’re making your goals and are ready to move to the next level. And it really makes me trust my teacher since I have long since learned that she has tougher standards than the judges. I have learned that if I can pass muster with Pam, I can pass with anyone. The affirmation is a high that I can ride all summer.

My judge at the first audition was a gentleman by the name of Denver Oldham, whom I later learned was one of the world’s top jazz pianists. It’s a good thing I didn’t know that at the time. I would have been too intimidated to play properly. He was super nice to me. And even though I played a very elementary jazz piece for him, he was quite complimentary, telling me I had a real knack for jazz and encouraging me to continue studying it. Like most of the judges, he was a child prodigy, began playing at the age of 5, did his first solo recital at 8, debuted with the Long Island Symphony Orchestra at 12, and graduated from Julliard at 16. After a long international concert career, he settled in to a jazz recording career which he has been doing for most of the last forty years. He even gave me his home phone number in Atlanta and encouraged me to call him from time to time and talk about my progress.

The judge at the second audition was a piano professor from Ohio State University, the 9th ranked music school in the country. This lady was tougher than most judges. The kids all got marked lower than usual last year with her. She wasn’t unpleasant really, but she certainly had a poker face, couldn’t read her at all. And you’ll recall I had the problem with that lawn mower last year. The mower was right outside the window next to where I was auditioning, it started up just as I began and finished just as I ended. I was furious. I was so discombobulated I didn’t know whether I was coming or going. I certainly didn’t know what I was playing, or even if I was playing. But that didn’t matter. The name of the game is to keep your cool and keep going no matter what. Pam keeps driving this point home. You never know what kind of distractions you’re going to have so you must learn to ignore them and just play. But it was not at all encouraging and I felt very cheated since none of the other students had to deal with that mower.

It turns out it didn’t matter. I expected to fail. Pam said the lady from Ohio had been a tough grader. Most of the kids had gotten B’s. I got an A. The tough lady from OSU, another child prodigy who had started at age 5 and had played at Carnegie Hall had given me an A. Speak of affirmation! You can see why the high I get from this auditions stays with me all summer.

This year the judge was a lady who is on the piano faculty at Kent State University. Now in her late 60s, but another child prodigy who had started at 5, started winning competitions when she was only 8, and has the very distinguished accomplishment of winning the Paderewski Gold Medal, the highest honor the Guild bestows, while she was still only in high school. (Denny Oldham also won the Paderewski medal but much later.) From this lady, one week ago, an A+. I’m still in shock.

So I have now mastered my first Clemente sonatina, will be playing it Friday, and am now officially qualified by Guild standards to start the six year Intermediate course. Can I do that one in four years too? Who knows? Who cares? What I love most about piano is that I’ve learned it’s not about the results, it’s about the journey. As long as you stay on the journey, the results will come. And that is a philosophy and a discipline that I can carry into filmmaking, business, finance, and every other area of my life.

Is it any wonder that advanced piano students consistently excel academically and then in their careers? Is it any wonder that so many advanced piano students so easily get admitted to medical school? Piano sharpens the mind. It certainly teaches you composure and control under great duress. Studies have suggested that it may even expand the mind.

Even though I will be videotaping the recital, after Friday I will be endeavoring to record all seven pieces and put them on YouTube. This will also include my very first original composition. (I may even finally get proficient on the video editing software.)