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Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Mary-Marie 29 May 2020

This is a shortened version of David F's beautiful arrangement (I left out his solo in the middle). My goal was to have it sing with expression and still stay in time. I wanted a faster tempo, but this was what I could manage for now. It's been a fabulous lesson in pedaling/dampening and making good use of all 4 sticks. I studied David's Youtube video quite a bit in the process of memorizing it phrase by phrase.

Comments

tonymiceli Sun, 05/31/2020 - 10:45

om%g! You have got so much better. I can't believe i'm hearing you play this!

this gave me chills, because i just remember you from the last workshop.

you are the new poster child for VW.

Mary-Marie Sun, 05/31/2020 - 11:38

Thanks Tony! I really love this piece and decided I would learn it even if it seemed too hard. I got a lot out of spending the time with it.

rogersvibes Sat, 06/13/2020 - 12:14

Wow. Sounds great, Mary-Marie! I think the last time I heard you was two summers ago shortly after the Philly workshop when we played together in Walnut Creek.

I love the arrangement. The moving voices are reminiscent of the best Keith Jarrett solo piano arrangements I've heard. I wonder if David would comment on some of the concepts here.

I also like what you said about trying to play something hard that you love. I think if you have a clear idea about what the music is supposed to sound like, your hands will learn the required techniques along the way. I bet learning to play something like this is near equivalent to working through many of the etudes in the Dampening and Pedaling Book.

Mary-Marie Wed, 06/17/2020 - 12:36

Thanks, Tristan, for your comments. Indeed, this was a great way to work on dampening and pedaling.
As you say, when you have a clear idea about what the music is supposed to sound like, your hands somehow learn to do what is needed, more naturally and easily. I do like playing music that I already have a feeling and attraction to, and that's a motivation also. I can imagine what I want to be able to sound like once I learn to play it.
I had a favorite teacher years ago, Dr. Philip Gehring at Valparaiso University, who assigned me pieces that were devilishly hard for me, and I would cry at my lesson and say I Can't Do It! When I got that over with, he would say, OK NOW are you ready to try it again? And he would help me break it all out into sections that eventually lead to playing the whole piece very well! And I felt good about myself realizing I didn't give up.

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