Fort McMurray is in for a classical delight!
The Fort
McMurray Music Teachers’ Association is pleased to present a weekend of
classical music, October 17th and 18th at the Casman
Centre Amphitheatre.
On
Saturday, October 17, 1 pm-5:15pm, there will be a Master Classes
recital featuring local piano students. On
Sunday, October 18, 7 pm, master pianist Elizabeth Clarke will perform. Both
performance are free of charge.
Last week, Community Strategies Coordinator, Alanna Bottrell
chatted with Fort McMurray’s own Elizabeth Clarke about her passion for piano.
Alanna Bottrell: Tell
us about yourself
Elizabeth Clarke:
I was born and raised in Fort McMurray, where I lived with my family until I
finished high school. Then I did my undergraduate degree in music at the
University of Alberta, Augustana Campus in Camrose and now I am finishing my
Masters degree at the University of Victoria.
AB: I assume you
took piano lessons as a child. Was it a chore or did you love it?
EC: Yes, I
started when I was six. As with any kind of learning, sometimes I loved
it and sometimes it was hard work and I wished I could be off playing with my
friends instead. That probably still applies!
AB: What made you
stick with it?
EC: Initially I
think I liked the challenge, and I wanted to play because my older sister
did. After that it was just something I always did. From the
beginning I saw that the more I practiced the better I got, so I wanted to
stick with it and see how far I could go.
AB: Who's the
best piano teacher you ever had?
EC: That's a hard
question, as I have had a lot of piano teachers and I have learned different
things from each of them. Some have focused more on technique, some on
musicality, and some on performance skills and I am grateful for what I have
learned from all of them. I think the best teacher is one who understands
the individuality of each student and is able to work in a way that inspires
them.
AB: What advice
do you have for a child/youth struggling with piano lessons?
EC: I think it's
incredibly important for students to listen to advanced piano repertoire
performed by professionals from an early age. That's what inspires us to
work harder and get better. If your only concept of piano playing is
rudimentary finger exercises or struggling to read notes, of course you won't
want to stick with it. But if you know how exciting and beautiful piano
playing can be, then you have something to work towards.
I think it should be required for all young students to go
to Classical music concerts where possible or at the very least listen to a lot
of recordings. Symphonies, chamber music, opera, solo repertoire- it
really doesn't matter as long as their musical curiosity is piqued. I think
another key is showing children how creative they can be at the piano. So
many piano methods are very restrictive, teaching children "right"
and "wrong" finger technique without encouraging them to listen to
the sound they are actually making. So it becomes more like typing class
than music making. Students can be much more inspired when they learn to
listen and realize that they can make artistic choices that affect the music.
AB: What are your
career aspirations?
EC: I'm hoping to
start my doctoral degree next year, and eventually have a career that blends
teaching and performing.
AB: What are some
things that people don't know about piano players?
EC: I think a lot
of people don't realize how much intellectual thought and hard work goes into
preparing a piece. Just learning the notes is the equivalent of a
sculptor ordering a block of marble. It's the basis that everything
starts from, but the real art comes from what you do with your block.
Pianists have to make so many choices about nuances in the music and these can
really make the difference between a moving performance and something that
falls flat. The only way to figure all these things out is careful
practice and experimentation. We don't just sit down and magically make
music happen!
AB: What will you
be playing at the concert in Fort McMurray?
EC: I will be
playing pieces by Benjamin Britten, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Robert Schumann, and
Ludwig van Beethoven. The first piece, Britten's "Holiday
Diary" suite was written in 1934 while he was still a student at the Royal
Conservatory in London, England, and is dedicated to his piano teacher at the
time, Arthur Benjamin. It is meant to evoke scenes from a seaside holiday and
is a lot of fun to play. The Rachmaninoff was written only three years
before, in 1931, but it is stylistically very different and more closely
related to the traditions of the 19th century. It is very beautiful but
has a dark, gloomy mood throughout. Things get more hopeful with my Schumann
piece, whose German title translates to "Songs of Dawn".
It's a set of five short pieces that are meant to evoke the
feelings one would have at the approach and growth of the morning. The
final piece is Beethoven's Piano Sonata in A Major, Op. 101. It's one of
his last piano sonatas and has a deeper, more spiritual mood than some of his
earlier works. Many of these pieces are not often performed, so I am
excited to share them with people who may not have heard them before.
AB: What's your
favourite music to play? Why?
EC: Some of my
favourite composers are Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, and Brahms. I love
how their music is both emotionally moving and intellectually well put
together. Careful thought went into every note that was composed, and the
focus is usually on the beauty of the music itself and not on the virtuosity of
the performer. It's a real challenge to think through this music and come
up with a convincing interpretation, but it's always.
For more
information about the concert please contact:
Janey at 780-792-8928.
