Team work - 12 pianists and one piano!

I just watched this video of a performance as part of the TEDMED series. Twelve people play one piece on one piano. The music is interesting and we get to hear the full range of the piano being fully explored.

I watched it again and it struck me that this is a great example of a high performing team. Each member has a part to play. They are expert in the part they play. No one tries to take over someone else's part. They have to work physically closely together without distraction. They look delighted to be working together. We don't see the hours of preparation, both individual and team, that would have been required to achieve the performance we see in the film. We also don't see the debrief afterwards where there would be celebration of success and perhaps some private conversation about errors made. Perhaps they would also plan for their next piece of work.

I'm sure there is a leader. At times I think I spotted one, only to think I saw someone else. I believe this is how it is in a truly high performing team - all members shoulder responsibility and accountability for the performance of the team.

Isn't that a team you'd like to be part of?

Shaking my booty - memories of an undiscovered ballerina.

"Ah!" she said with a sense of realisation. "I see what you're doing."

I waited to receive my diagnosis.

"You turn like a ballerina," she declared.

That was quite unexpected. In all my life, I've never been told I do anything like an ballerina.

I've started a dance class. It's been a while since I took a class. I love to dance, but then I can't bear most people in the world of formal dance. I find the world intimidating. I can move, but usually the class goes too fast for me; I get left behind and before long, I feel useless and give up.

The class is not a ballet class, so turning like a ballerina is a redundant skill. The class is called Born to Boogie and is pitched for enjoyment, although we are learning a routine and will perform in a dance off with another class. I was doing so well until we came to the instruction to "turn". The first time I tried, I didn't make it all the way around. I tried again, and this time kept going. My legs were twisted around themselves like a corkscrew. I could not work out what was wrong. This is when the study was undertaken and the declaration made.

"Have you done some ballet?"

Making friends with my new jazz shoes -
on the feet of a latent ballerina.
© 2014 divacultura

"A long time ago," I whispered.

"Well, it's obviously in your muscle memory then."

I didn't dare tell her that the sum total of my ballet training consisted of about two classes when I was five years old. I hated it. They made us dance across the room in front of the other girls. I was embarrassed. Clearly I hadn't yet discovered my performance gene. I felt ungainly next to the other, wispy girls. Wispy is an adjective that has never and could never be applied to me. Substantial is more likely to be used and that doesn't really work for a ballerina, even when swathed in pastel pink tulle.

I must ask my mother how I came to be at ballet. I was also having piano lessons and went to art and craft classes and judo lessons. Piano turned into a lifelong passion. There is evidence of my participation in art and craft still in my parents' house; it takes the form of lumps of yellow glazed clay dishes, loosely designated as 'ashtrays'. I remember nothing about judo.

I think I must have been a high maintenance child as I always had lots of extra curricular activities. When I was about twelve I went to "cooking for adolescents". You can be forgiven for thinking that the class was for parents so they could cook delicious food for the teenagers. It did turn out to be a cunning way to give my mother the night off as whatever I produced was taken home for the family at the end of the night.

There were eight of us in the class and Mrs Quade was the ferocious teacher. I was perpetually in trouble. Using the tubular spaghetti as a straw may have been one of my transgressions. I thought it was excellent. The cuisine was basic, but I learned some great skills, like how to skin tomatoes and make fresh tomato sauce. My family feasted on such delights as rissoles, sausage casserole and something called "Apple Windsor". I carefully wrote out all the recipes in an anthology book. (Do you remember anthology books? They were a bit larger than an exercise book, one page was blank and the facing page had lines. Both pages had a decorative border. They were for writing out poems and drawing a matching picture. Talk about redundant. Isn't the poetry supposed to paint the picture? I can't draw, and am still haunted by a lumpy drawing of a malformed eagle to accompany the words "He clasps the crag with crooked claw". Well, the 'claw' was certainly crooked.)

My first dance class was great fun. I was complimented on my positive energy again. It seems to be appreciated, but I just hope it's not what people say when they're thinking "oh god, where are we going to hide her?"

In the meantime, I turn like a ballerina you know.

Do you dance? Have you rediscovered a love for something you didn't enjoy in your youth?

Cuban jazz gets feet tapping

Last night I had the great pleasure of hearing Cuban jazz pianist Roberto Fonseca play with his band at the Melbourne Recital Centre. Woooo-eeee! It was amazing.The only thing that would have made it more amazing would have been the space to get up and dance! Within the constraints of my chair, I was dancing anyway. The band was interesting - double bass/bass guitar, drum kit, a second percussionist with congas, djembes and various other things to hit and rattle (he also sang vocals occasionally) and kora, an African stringed gourd instrument. There was also clever use of recorded sounds and vocal tracks. They were a tight ensemble.

I was selling CDs afterwards (my friend is the tour promoter) and we sold every one in a flash. The album is the Grammy nominated "Yo".  I was so pumped after the show, it was hard to sleep.

Roberto is playing The Basement in Sydney tonight. Even if jazz isn't your thing, if you like music at all, this is a band to see and hear, they are an incredible ensemble.

Roberto Fonseca and me after the show.
© 2014 divacultura

Cultural intake - what I've been seeing and hearing lately

I've had a cultural kind of weekend.

Friday night, I went to the Melbourne Recital Centre to hear the Balanescu Quartet play. Well, it was quartet plus occasional drum kit and looped recorded sound. Visual interest was added with film, including projections on the back of the music stands. Perfect! This was always redundant space and it's great to see it used for something other than advertising!

Anytime I hear music played in Elisabeth Murdoch Hall it is magical. The sound is incredible, no matter what is being played.

On my daily walk past the Malthouse Theatre, and on my way to the Balanescu Quartet, I stopped in at the box office and bought a ticket to see Simon Stone's production, "The Government Inpsector".  It was to be a production of "The Philadelphia Story", but rights were refused and this production cleverly turns this rejection into an opportunity. I needed to see it out of curiosity, if nothing else.

I had the best seat in the house (centre front) and laughed myself sick for the duration. It was a matinee though and I wondered how the "language" would go down with the audience. I walked out still laughing, but noticed the rest of the audience seemed quiet, reserved and then I overhead one woman say to another, "Well, it takes all types of people doesn't it?" The I noticed she had been sitting beside me. Was she talking about me or the play?

It's delightfully creative and refreshing. Who needs to see another production of "The Philadelphia Story" anyway? The Age has a review here.

Yesterday, it was off to the movies to see "Her", the film that won the Oscar for best original screenplay and has one of my favourite actors, Joaquin Phoenix. It's an interesting premise and I would suggest, is actually a science fiction film. It's set sometime in the not too distant future where technology is familiar but can do just a little more than what mine does for me right now. Phoenix plays Theodore, a man separated from his wife and living alone with only virtual reality "people", the receptionist at work and a woman who lives in the same building for company. He purchases the new OS1, a "smart" virtual assistant, customised with a female voice (played by Scarlett Johannson) and falls in love with her. There's a suggestion that she also falls for him.

Cut 30 minutes out and it would have been fantastic.

Oh, and get the two women sitting next me, chatting away as thought they were alone in their loungeroom, to SHUT UP!

Tomorrow night I'm off to see Cuban jazz pianist Roberto Fonseca at the Melbourne Recital Centre. I'll be selling CDs too, so if you're there, come and say hello.

What have been doing lately?

Music in daily life - have you got it?

Today I was the MC for a community concert held at the Glen Eira Town Hall in Caulfield (a suburb of Melbourne).  On the program was a community orchestra, a community choir, a classical guitarist and me, singing and accompanying myself on piano.

Sonia Letourneau produced the concert and conduct the Glen Eira strings community orchestra.  Her firm belief in life is that music is essential for well-being and for life in general.  Sonia is a professional violinist (or fiddle player as she says) and her passion for music and creating opportunities for music to be played and heard is inspiring.

When I asked the audience who had ever played an instrument, most people put their hands up.  When I asked who still plays most put their hands down.  It seems it's a common story.

I started to play piano very young -  around the age of five I discovered what happened when I pressed the keys.  Sound came out! I learnt to read music as I was learning to read language and it's a skill I have never lost.  I never had to be coerced to practise.  I loved nothing more than sitting at the piano and playing for hours.  (Unless it was scales, which I hated.)

In the years when I didn't have regular access to a piano, I stayed connected to music through my singing and now that I have a piano again, I play daily when I am at home.  It is such a wonderful way to shake off the day and use my brain in a different way, while beautiful music fills my home.  Other times I will feel the satisfaction of  mastering a particularly tricky passage.  It's satisfying to hear the fruits of ones labour.

I wonder why people give up.  Maybe they're not playing the right instrument for them.  Maybe they hate their teacher.  Maybe their teacher didn't teach them to love music, but only to "get it right".  Maybe they were too busy and prioritised other things in their lives. When I speak to people personally about their musical stories, every person who used to play and has since given it up expresses regret at the fact they didn't continue.  I always ask what's stopping them picking up their instrument again or joining a choir.  The answer is usually incomplete.

Are you one of the people out there who used to play?  Why not reacquaint yourself with music?  Don't expect it to be perfect the first time you play - it won't be.  It might take some practise to get back in the swing of things, but you'll enjoy the process I'm sure.

Singing and playing the piano on stage in public is something I haven't done for about twenty years.  I sing regularly in front of other people, but playing for others hasn't happened for a while.  It was exhilirating!

Back stage while the orchestra plays on stage.
© divacultura 2013

I received an email from a member of today's audience when I arrived home.  She sounded so excited about the music and the experience of really listening and thinking about the images evoked by the music.  Best of all, she shared that she is inspired to sing!

Scientists have shown that people who play music are smarter than people who don't.  Our IQs are actually higher.  So what are you waiting for?  What role does music play in your life?  How can you incorporate music into your daily life?

My favourite things...this week.

Usually I write this post on a Friday, but after hours of work, driving to the airport in Sydney to return to Melbourne and then actually arriving home, I did not feel like sitting down to write.  So I didn't.   Having just finished my Business Activity Statement and a couple of other pieces of work for a client, I just want to step away from the desk, but I'll write this first.

One of my favourite things this week was an early text message on Saturday morning from my dear friend S. who now lives interstate.  She was in town and wondered if I would be free for coffee.  Would I?!  We had a delightful morning catching up on the news and just enjoying each other's company for a couple of hours before I headed off to my jazz vocal class and her 8 month old son became a bit cantankerous.  It reminds me that with good friends, no matter how much time has passed, each meeting takes place as though the last one happened only yesterday.

A particularly challenging project I've been managing for a client all came together this week.  We're producing mental health scenarios working with simulated patients and clinicians which are filmed in Melbourne and sent over the internet via web conference to NSW.  The technology has been touchy and the team wasn't very tech-savvy to begin with.  It's been a painful birth, but this week EVERYTHING worked.  I knew this moment would come, but I don't think my team did.  We really needed this moment!

I had a moment of observation where I consciously noticed myself embrace fear and leap in anyway.  I selected my first song (one of two) for the jazz vocal workshop.  I'd never heard it before and I loved it the moment I heard the lyrical melody.  When the words were revealed I couldn't resist.  As I took the stage to explore further, Bob Sedergreen told me this was a really challenging song with a lot of key changes.  "It's really difficult.  Are you sure?"  My response was, "Excellent!" For that I received a round of applause.  

My next favourite thing comes from that class too.  While I'm all open to experience whatever happens, I've noticed that that is not the mindset of the entire class.  There are a couple of people who are very worried about everything they don't know.  They want information NOW about things that will be revealed in due course.  Instead of relaxing and just being where we are, they become anxious.  Initially, I could feel myself pursing my lips and a little voice of judgement was seeping in: "They need to relax and just BE!"  Then I realised that this applied to me too.  We're all in different places and one of my lessons is to be cool with where other people are.

My fabulous day in Sydney on ANZAC Day was a highlight of the week.

Lastly, travelling home on the train yesterday afternoon I noticed a young man with the piano score for Percy Grainger's "Gumsuckers March" spread before him on his lap.  He was playing "air piano" so intently I could almost hear the music.

© divacultura 2013

What were your favourite things this week?

My favourite things - this week

1.  My new piano! I bought it last Sunday and it was delivered this morning and I've already given it a thorough workout.  Playing music has always been my way of relaxing and expressing myself.  I also find the way music exercises both the left and right brain amazing.  It's not the best piano on the market, but it's the one that was affordable and would fit in my home.  I've never owned a digital piano before - it feels just like the real thing and I can plug in headphones or turn the volume down if I want to play at unsociable hours.

2. The ability to download and print music online for a fraction of the price of buying a book in a shop is magic.  When I owned a piano over twelve years ago, this capacity didn't exist.  Now, I can even choose what key I want the piece in!  Marvellous.

3. Bach and Phillip Glass.  Two of my favourite composers.  I like the repetition and steadiness of the music.  Glass is always like that.  Bach isn't.  I've dug out my book of Bach's two part inventions and have enjoyed reacquainting myself. I enjoy the symmetry of these pieces and the way both hands contribute equally to the musical conversation.

4. Melbourne!  The days are getting longer.  The weather is more erratic.  The people are still fantastic and there are lots of hidden places filled with people doing interesting things.

5. The Gratitude Card Project!  It felt really great to give my first card to the shop assistant who helped me when I bought a new pair of jeans yesterday.  It seemed like the perfect pair would never be found.  One pair was too tight here, and too baggy there.  The next pair would be too baggy here and too tight there.  The next would require me to have legs as long as stilts and not care how I looked.  The woman serving me tirelessly and happily brought me different sizes, shapes and colours until the perfect pair was found.  When I first gave her the card she looked a bit suspicious, but then her face was illuminated with a wide smile.  I felt good.

GIVEAWAY!
Don't forget you could be one of five lucky readers to get your very own pack of 10 gratitude cards.  All you have to do is leave a comment over at yesterday's Question Time telling us who you would like to say thank you to.  By next Friday please!   Open to all readers, wherever you live.  I really enjoy reading your comments.