Tuesday, June 24, 2014

A little yay

At the end of today's lesson, my teacher remarked, "Well, next week is lesson 10" (she has me pay for lessons 10 at a time). She then said, "So after next week, we'll start a new session."

Good news, though not unexpected: with a more-stable job that brings her halfway to my place on the days that she teaches, it makes sense for her to continue. It's just, there's been enough instability in her life in the past couple years that it's always a relief to know she's still going to be teaching. (She also noted she had a new student in addition to me, and I think one other person who's an ongoing student).


It's kind of interesting the mix of things I'm working on:

- exercises from "Accellerando book 5" (I had started in 7 but just couldn't hack those yet and was getting frustrated)

- the hymn-tune Cwm Rhondda, which she is having me chord and figure out a left-hand accompaniment for. So I'm learning to improvise a little bit. (This is one of my favorite hymn tunes, so it's nice to be able to work on it.)





- Blue Skies

and a piece called Mark my Alford, which is a "theme and variations" - the basic tune is essentially Twinkle Twinkle/Baa Baa Black Sheep/The Alphabet Song but there's lyrics to this one that essentially have to do with someone wanting a simpler life:

"Let me live removed from noise,
Far from scenes of pride and strife.
Only taste those tranquil joys
Heaven bestows on rural life.

Innocence shall guard my youth,
While nature's paths I still pursue.
Ev'ry step be marked with truth,
Virtue ever be my view."

(There's also a second verse on the old sheet music here.)

I'm not sure those are the ORIGINAL words (The sheet music is listed as "19th Century American") and James Hewitt, the author, was around from 1770-1827.

There are also more childish lyrics to it, in French, that may have been what Mozart knew when he wrote his well-known variations on the tune:

Ah ! Vous dirai-je Maman
Ce qui cause mon tourment ?
Papa veut que je raisonne
Comme une grande personne
Moi je dis que les bonbons
Valent mieux que la raison.


which translates to

Oh! Shall I tell you, Mommy
What is tormenting me?
Daddy wants me to reason
Like a grown-up person,
Me, I say that sweets
Are worth more than reasoning.


Hmmmmmmm.....reminds me of a few people I've dealt with through the years. In a figurative sense, I mean.

1 comment:

dyddgu said...

Cwm Rhondda is where my family hails from :-)