For the Love of the Piano
The February 24th master class featured 5 students from the piano class of Fritz Gechter at Texas A&M International University in Laredo, TX. After lunch at Cenote Cameron, Tony Tobin worked with the following students and pieces: Bach: Prelude & Fugue in C Minor (Bk I) Sarah Romero-Chong Mozart: Sonata in C Major, K. 545 … Continue reading Laredo Masterclass
We are pleased to announce Enrique Rangel as the first recipient of the Adam’s Music House Fellowship. Enrique, who will graduate from TAMIU in Laredo this Spring, is a student of Dr. Fritz Gechter at TAMIU and Kenneth Thompson of MACSA in San Antonio. For the Fellowship Enrique will learn a 30 minute program of music by Nikolai Medtner, prepare a 30 minute lecture, and present it at Adam’s Music House in December 2018. Dr. Anthony Tobin, Music Director of Adam’s Music House, will coach and direct Enrique in his study and preparation of the performance. In addition to access to the Adam’s Music House archive of scores and books, Enrique will receive $3000 on completion of the project. Thanks to all who auditioned and showed interest in our first fellowship, we will offer more exciting projects in the future!
University of Texas Professor Sophia Gilmson gave a wonderful master class Saturday April 14th. Lettie, a high school student, played Claude Debussy’s Dr. Gradus ad Parnassum, a student of Dr. Kiyoshi Tamagawa played the Scriabin Fantasy, a student of Dr. Fritz Gechter and Kenneth Thompson played the Liszt transcription of the Lacrimosa from Mozart’s Requiem, and a student of Artistic Director Dr. Anthony Tobin played the Scriabin Etude Opus 8#12.
Everyone enjoyed the insights and generosity which Gilmson offered during this intimate musical gathering. Many thanks to you Professor Gilmson!
We had close to 50 people attend Dr. Anthony ‘Tobin’s special performance of Book II of the Preludes by Claude Debussy, March 25th at 4PM. A warm and enthusiastic audience helped us celebrate Debussy’s life and great innovations at the piano.
You can watch the live video from the event:
The February 24th master class featured 5 students from the piano class of Fritz Gechter at Texas A&M International University in Laredo, TX. After lunch at Cenote Cameron, Tony Tobin worked with the following students and pieces:
Bach: Prelude & Fugue in C Minor (Bk I)
Sarah Romero-Chong
Mozart: Sonata in C Major, K. 545 (III)
Kimberly Garcia
Liszt: Valse Oublier
Paola Garcia
Mozart: Sonata in F Major, K. 332 (III)
Leslie Suarez
Scriabin: Etude in C-sharp Minor, Op. 42, No. 5
Orlando Reyes
The class was great chance for the students to try out their pieces before juries and recitals and they all seemed to benefit from the comments and experience. After the class everyone went to Ramen Tatsu’ya for dinner.
The live video of the class can be watched here.
Tony Tobin will perform Book II of the Preludes by Claude Debussy April 6th at TAMIU in Laredo, Fritz Gechter will join him for Mozart and Brahms duets.
The master class Saturday, February 17th featured a great assortment of teachers and a warm and interested audience. The next master class, February 24th from 2-4PM, will feature six students from Texas A&M International University in Laredo, TX.
Anthony Tobin worked with the first four students February 17th. An adult student, Kamaryn Truong, played first and learned about the arabesque shapes in Claude Debussy’s First Arabesque. We spent time working on arch-shaped phrases and breathing in this iconic piece.
Next Chanseung, a 5th grader, gave a very accomplished performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s 6 Variations in G. We discussed how Beethoven develops the idea of theme and variation and tracked changes between the initial, simple theme and the rather complex material that follows. We also worked on 2 note slurs and classical 4 and 8 bar phrasing.
Another 5th grader, SeI Young, gave a very energetic and well polished performance of Fantasy Dance Opus 124, No.5 by Robert Schumann. We worked on how to bring out the left-hand melody and achieve even greater dynamic contrasts. She discovered that when the right-hand accompaniment is softer it is much easier to voice the left-hand and control the dynamics.
Joao played a really fine Golliwog’s Cakewalk by Claude Debussy after only a few week’s study. We talked about humor and strong dynamic contrasts.
The last student to perform was my student, Chicheng Chang, who played the Scriabin Etude in d-sharp minor Opus 8 #12. I asked one of the teachers who brought students to the class, Melanie Washburn Richards, to coach him since she has played the piece before. She made progress on his sense of line and dynamic control.
A valued colleague, Brooks Whitmore, came to Adam’s Music House for the first time when he attended the class. He has asked me to teach a class for his homeschooled music class and I would love to have him give a masterclass next season.
Adam’s Music House would like to offer a grand welcome to everybody who loves music: especially classical piano music. To explore, to learn, to love the piano is what we are here to share with the community.
Adam’s Music House is home to a collection of some of the great works in music literature: from the complete works of Max Reger, to the piano sonatas of Vincent Persichetti, to piano reductions of Mahler symphonies. With a reference library of close to 1,000 books and a collection of 5,000 CDs the musical exploration is even a greater adventure. And last, but certainly not least, are two Bösendorfer grand pianos just waiting for teaching and performance.
Please join us in our love and celebration of the piano at Adam’s Music House by attending a master class, a recital, or continuing your research into the classical piano repertoire. We will be in touch on social media with updates about events and surprises!
For the Love of the Piano,
JWB
