Finally

Finally got the show on Friday sorted out. Playing with Forrest in Black Forrest Ham and Rotary club will open up and my brother, William Monroe, will finish out the night. Should be fun. Three very different groups. I love variety. Iowa City Yacht Club at 9:00PM. $5 cover.

Anyway had my lesson for the week. Went overall pretty well. Had a realization about Beethoven "Tempest" Sonata. The first movement is so epic I had been trying to interpret the other movements in a similar fashion. Well I was listening to Murray Perahia play the 2nd and 3rd movement and I realized that they aren't as epic. Now that might sound like a small realization but believe me it is not. For someone like me who will make every piece of crap music into the most grand gut wrenching glut of emotion to finally understand that part of my recital is small and less intense is good. The third movement especially is like a sad romantic drama you would take a girl to see such as the "Notebook", I was playing it like "The Passion of the Christ".

Baby steps towards my recital. Baby... steps...

For contact info please consult my website or contact me via email. I would love to play at your wedding, private party, venue, store, or wherever music is welcome!

Busy weekend

I got an A on my Jury!! I played Schumann's Faschingsschwank aus Wien first movement and Schoenberg Op. 23  No. 5 Walzer. The judges especially liked the Schoenberg.  Now I am preparing for a very busy but awesome weekend. I am playing on Friday night Dec. 7th at the Iowa City Yacht Club at 10 PM with Forrest Heusinkveld in Black Forrest ham, a hip hop duo. We play a lot of my original tunes in this group.

Then Saturday, Dec. 8th, at Noon I play my senior recital. I hope anyone in the area can make it to one or both of these! I hope to have recordings of both for those who can't make it.

For contact info please consult my website or contact me via email. I would love to play at your wedding, private party, venue, store, or wherever music is welcome!

Jury tomorrow

School jury then one week till my recital. Dec. 8th Noon UCC recital hall

Recital Preparation

Another week of practice on my recital. I have finished memorizing the last piece so now I just need to focus on tweaking and strengthening my understanding of all of them. My latest discovery brought on from my lesson with my teacher Dr. Nosikova, was that mental stamina is just as important as physical stamina and can be achieved through repetition. If you would like to see me perform this week I am playing at the Mill on Thursday at 6:30 with the University of Iowa Jazz Repetory Ensemble. What has been a musical discovery for you recently?

For contact info please consult my website or contact me via email. I would love to play at your wedding, private party, venue, store, or wherever music is welcome!

Life

I am starting this blog to have a dedicated place for expressing what's going on in solo performances. For anyone who has seen me that means a lot of different things. Recently I played a four hour classical gig, a solo show at the Trumpet Blossom cafe, and performed for a preschool with the assistance of Zeke, my synthesizer/sequencer.

My big project right now is my senior piano recital. This will take place on December 8th at noon at the UCC Recital hall which is at the Old Capitol mall in Iowa City. I will be playing Beethoven's Tempest sonata, Schoenberg op. 23, and Schumann's Carnival in Venice.

Everything has been going well but memorizing Schoenberg has proven more difficult than I had first predicted.

Life is pretty good though. I get to spend my days doing what I love, music, and that is awesome!

For contact info please consult my website or contact me via email. I would love to play at your wedding, private party, venue, store, or wherever music is welcome!