hekehear hallah odelia
Valorie Carlee
A fabulous tour de force, this is Tea for Two as you've never heard it before! Fast but incredibly accurate sections (I slow it down by 20x to transcribe!) with melodic interludes. Transcribed May 2020
Exciting arrangement of "Ain't Misbehavin'" by Cliff Jackson. You've probably come across Fats Waller arrangements, but this is decidedly the full on Jackson treatment. If you look below on this page, you can see that I've done quite a few Jackson transcriptions now, but the formula doesn't wear thin: you can enjoy a familiar tune with a swing beat and an exciting build-up, and on top of it all, the arrangements are actually approachable, this one in particular. Don't delay - clear your schedule, download the dots on the right and have some fun.
Stride at its very best, from the excellent Cliff Jackson. Starts with a whistful tune, and breaks into Cliff's trademark style, getting your feet tapping, and like every piece of Cliff Jackson leaves you with a silly grin on your face.
Wow! Breathtaking Cliff Jackson piece from 1948. Very exciting stride - makes you want to give up your job and do nothing but learn this piece. Well now you can! Perhaps not as complex as it sounds, once you see the dots, but hard to keep the touch light, and of course that stride left hand is a devil. Fabulous.
Now then - stunned, amazed? This is quite a well regarded piece by James Booker, but I couldn't find a transcription. Well, about a week's work produced the sheet music on the right! It's completely faithful to the recording, but I'm afraid it's more difficult than it sounds, so download and get practising!
Ewan Kilpatrick has very kindly sent a slightly simplified version of this transcription, which would certainly help in getting to grips with this piece! You can download it here. Deep Purple Evan Palazzo/Peter De Rose
Evan has posted many excellent tunes on YouTube, and this is one of the finest. It's the marriage of a great tune with Evan's soulful, wistful and humorous style, and done with an effortless technique. A great piece and fun to play.
Known more popularly as the tango music from the movies Schindler's List, True Lies and (as shown here) Scent of A Woman, this was actually a song from the 1930s written by Carlos Gardel and lyricist Alfredo Le Pera. The literal transcription doesn't work that well as a piano solo, so I've transposed a bit here and there. No, it's not really jazz, but it is a lovely piece of music.
This joyous arrangement from Joe Holt of a well known standard never fails to raise a smile - watch it and see if I'm not right! Joe has posted many such arrangements on YouTube, and his channel is well worth a look.
A slow, very soulful arrangement by Evan Palazzo of this classic tune, show-cased by him on YouTube (shown on the right). Deceptively simple music once transcribed, but very difficult to render this piece with the accuracy and sheer style that Evan has. Absolutely superb.
This is a great boogie from Monsieur Bertrand @ JPBoogie.com. His site holds several MIDI files, one of which (this one) I used to write this transcription. MIDI files do import into notation software, but are usually 'raw' and so not legible, and it's easier to transcribe from scratch than spend ages trying to clean them up. Give this one a try - it's not that hard and the classic tune makes it hang together well. Playing not too good here - had to do it in a hurry.
Chris has lots of high quality jazz posted on his channel on YouTube. This version of Berlin's classic by Chris is snappy, light, and very addictive! Roll the L.H. tenths if (like me) you don't have the span, or play the bass notes an octave higher if you feel like it: basically do whatever it takes to play this piece - it's worth it.
This swing piece from Teddy Wilson sounds utterly magical. I transcribed it from the Teddy Wilson Keystone Transcriptions (audio). I think I read somewhere that his wife composed the tune, and Teddy put this arrangement around it. I think I also read that they eventually divorced, so, maybe he didn't take the hint.
Marcel Zidani recently released the sheet music for his advanced piano solo, Butterflies. He shared some thoughts with me about this new work as well as his creative process, the influences that led him to become a composer, and some of the challenges facing living composers today. At the end, he leaves a note for students who are learning his piece...
Grand pianos are suspended from hot-air balloons over a European cityscape in this fanciful watercolor painting by Tytus Brzozowski. That city is a surreal intermingling of present and past Warsaw, the very same city where the composer Chopin lived and studied the piano for the first half of his life, ultimately moving away to Paris until his death at the age of 39. After the November Uprising of 1830-31 was crushed by Russian forces, "Warsaw [was] little more than a military garrison, its university closed."
Smith faculty offer performance courses in voice and a wide variety of instruments, and members of the department direct performance ensembles. The department boasts extraordinary practice facilities and a remarkable number of notable graduates who have led distinguished musical careers in performance, scholarship and the practical world of music.
Majors who have demonstrated an exceptional commitment to performance studies may, before March of their junior year, audition before a department committee for admission to the focus in performance, which consists of enrollment in MUS 940Y and the preparation of a full recital during the senior year.
Students interested in departmental honors should meet with the director of honors at the end of their junior year to discuss their project and preparation. Proposals will be due to the department by September 1st of the student's senior year.
Performance courses include group instruction for beginners, ensembles, and individual lessons. Auditions are held during the fall orientation period and the first days of each semester for individual lessons (MUS 914Y, MUS 924Y, MUS 930Y) and certain ensembles. Students are accepted on the basis of musicianship, competence, and potential. Should there be no Smith College faculty teaching a particular instrument, every effort is made to provide students with a qualified instructor.
No more than 24 credits in performance, including participation in ensembles, may be counted toward the degree. With the exception of MUS 901, ensembles are graded S/U only. For more detailed information on instrumental and voice lessons and a list of current faculty, visit the music department website.
Topics of MUS 100 especially designed for those with no previous background in music. They emphasize class discussion and written work, which consists of either music or critical prose as appropriate to the topic. Open to all students, but particularly recommended for first-year students and sophomores. An introduction to music notation and to principles of musical organization, including scales, keys, rhythm and meter. Limited to beginners and those who did not place into MUS 110. Enrollment limited to 20. A
Music may not be a "universal language," but it is a universal phenomenon; every culture has something that is recognized as music. This course introduce a number of musical systems--traditional, classical and popular--from around the world and uses case studies to explore the complex relationships between music and culture. By engaging with music analytically, as musicologists (paying attention to the sounds heard) and ethnographically, as anthropologists (paying attention to the cultural context), students learn basic principles that enhance their understanding of music globally speaking. No prerequisites. AS
An introduction to formal analysis and tonal harmony and a study of pieces in the standard repertory. Regular exercises in harmony. Prerequisites: ability to read standard notation in treble and bass clefs, including key signatures and time signatures and the ability to name intervals. (A placement test is given before the fall semester for incoming students.) One 50-minute ear training section required per week, in addition to classroom meetings. Enrollment limited to 20. A
This course explores different approaches to the study of music as a cultural phenomenon. The course considers basic questions, such as: Why is music so often at the center of one's most profound personal and social experiences? Why is music a fundamental means of connecting with one's lives, communities and the wider world? Through in-depth reading and in-class discussion, students study the institutions of music (concerts, recording studios) and the varied practices of music making (classical, popular, amateur, professional) in order to construct a picture of the musical worlds and to understand what they say about society. AS
Heavy metal and punk rock have arguably been the definitive rock-and-roll styles of the post-1970 rock era. In this course, we explore metal and punk as interrelated musical genres, following their history and development and examining a range of social and musical issues along the way. Of particular importance will be the following: How and when did metal and punk emerge? What defines the two genres musically? What defines them socially? Taken together, how do they represent the changing status of rock music as a cultural and commercial form since 1970? Enrollment limited to 20. AHS
During the past three decades, the music industry has undergone substantial, even radical changes. This class will focus on recent developments in the music industry, while reflecting on larger issues that have informed the making and selling of music. Among the primary questions we will consider are: how have new technologies affected the ways in which music is created, bought and sold? What relationship exists between "live" and "recorded" music in the way the music industry operates? How do legal definitions and struggles over intellectual property shape the practices of musicians and music corporations? What does it mean to work in the music industry, and to what extent should the creative labor of musicians be considered similar to or different from other types of labor? Enrollment limited to 20. AS
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