The Piano Lesson

Music on Monday by Phillip O. Paglialonga Concert Review I attended Phillip Paglialonga’s performance on September 12th. I was really glad that I am able to enjoy the music after a day of study, especially on Monday. It was my first time attending this Monday recital session at Squires, and I am hoping to attend more because of the high quality this performance. Beginning with a classical string quartet with the clarinet, I was attracted by the ensemble of the first violin, the second violin,…

College Essay Growing up in Arizona, far away from The Great White Way, my theatre-going experience had been limited to the occasional trip to a regional children’s theatre or whatever movie musical adaptation was playing in theaters. Moving to New Jersey at the start of my freshman year provided me access not only to Broadway itself, but to a completely different societal attitude regarding theatre. Neither my elementary school or middle school had a school play and trips to New York City…

the international pianist Molly Morkoski and as well the master class the after day. Prof. Morkoski is an instructor of Piano at CUNY-Lehman College in the Bronx, New York and has come all the way across the country to showcase her marvelous piano playing. One idea that really captured my attention in the program notes is the program and the choice of pieces; some are great piano repertoire and while one of them is an orchestrated piece. Starting off the concert with a bang, the piece “Sonata…

In 1883, Hans Von Bulow, one of Richard Wagner’s most significant conductors, took Strauss under his wing. The following year, Strauss wrote and conducted “Blasersuite” op. 4 in his public debut as a conductor that same year. The year after that, Strauss was recommended by Bulow for the position of Music director in Meiningen. By the time he was 21, Strauss was already well known by the public for his works. But in 1886, Strauss returned back to his hometown of Munich, and came back to work at…

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born in a wealthy middle class family with no music background. He started learning music and playing the piano at a young age. He was known as the “porcelain child” as he was so sensitive to music that he couldn’t sleep of hearing music in his head. His music journey began after the death of his mother. He was sent to St. Petersburg Conservatory to study music, under Anton Rubenstein’s mentorship. Apart from that, he also studied conducting there and eventually…

is how well the audience is drawn into the piece. From the moment this symphony begins, the audience is forced to direct their attention towards the music due to the full orchestra presenting the first tune in fortissimo and then directly moving to piano. The opening series of notes, in the pattern of short-short-short-long with fermatas on the last note, causes startling intrigue in the listener. Here, Beethoven defies the typical, slow introduction pattern. The introduction, along with the…

Today I attended a rehearsal event at East Los Angeles College. This particular event was a piano rehearsal by Andree Ann Deschenes and took place in the S2 recital hall on October 13 and lasted about one hour. She performed and discussed piano music by Darius Milhaud “Sausages do Brasil, op.67”, Ignacio Cervantes “Danzas Cubanas”, and Ernesto Lecuona “Andalucia Suite”. One interesting thing about this event is we had a special guest and was Anita Garay who she played percussion instruments.…

I Believe Would you believe me when i told you that a young man at the age of 16 would be on the cover of youtube’s trending page, reaching over 6 million views and then a year later start his first international tour? Well Hugo Leclercq (A.K.A. Madeon) would prove you wrong. This young producer has quite the track record and I’d say he is the embodiment of talent. Talent is everywhere around us, but it’s not simple given to anyone. To become talented you have to invest time into your craft…

Composer, arranger, and conductor William Grant Still was born on May 11, 1895, in Woodville, Mississippi. After his father, a university professor, passed away before he was born, his mother, a successful teacher, moved the family to live with Still's grandmother in Little Rock, Arkansas. Not only did his family value literature and music, but his childhood home was filled with the sounds of his grandmother singing spirituals, which seems to inspire his honorary career. In 1911, Still enrolled…

Six years ago, I barely knew what a cello was. I originally wanted to play the Violin, but my school’s orchestra already had six. Because there were only two cellos, I decided to attempt to bring out any sound I could get from the instrument. I hated the cello when I began learning how to produce sound from its components for the reason that it was not a violin. I complained multiple about how I hated “that god-forsaken- instrument”; I convinced myself that playing it was the least productive…