Video of the Week: CATcerto

The CATcerto is the current project of the lithuanian conductor, composer and artist Mindaugas Piečaitis. Mindaugas Piečaitis composed and directed the Catcerto for Nora The Piano Cat™ and orchestra, where Nora, the soloist, was brought in via video.  Enjoy!

http://www.catcerto.com

Quote of the Week "Don't let the fear of..."

“Don’t let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.”

— Earl Nightingale, author, speaker

Video of the Week: The Cycologists

I think this is such a whimsical idea.  The instruments used for this three man bicycle band were crafted out of the many parts of the bicycles they ride.  Showing in a park near you!  Enjoy!

For more information about the Cycologists check out this website.

Quote of the Week "We do not believe in ourselves until..."

“We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that what is deep inside us is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.”

-E. E. Cummings

Video of the Week: Happy Saint Patty's Day!

As far as I know I am not Irish but I enjoy the festivities quite a bit.  I also love the music so I couldn't wait to share this video this week.  This is a jig-set video shot in Little Rock, Arkansas area.  Bill Thurman plays all of the instruments in the audio.  Enjoy!

Quote of the Week "Don't ask what the world needs..."

"Don't ask what the world needs.  Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it.  Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." 

-- Howard Thurman

Impromptu Piano Duet

An elderly couple spotted a piano while walking into the lobby of the Mayo Clinic for a checkup and decided to give an impromptu performance.  The couple has been married for 62 years and gentleman will be 90 this year. This is a true testament to we are only as old as we feel.  Enjoy!

Quote of the Week "Don't prioritize your schedule..."

"Don't prioritize your schedule. Schedule your priorities." 

- Rev. Steve Garnaas-Holmes, 

Bow Mills UMC, 

Bow, New Hampshire

Studio Update March 2010

This post is full of good news and little bit of bad news. Which would you like first? I hope you picked good news first because that was my choice. So, here we go.

The Elliott Music Studio is growing and we are now up to 11 students for this month. I am thrilled to get the opportunity to be sharing music with so many people. I can't wait to see how things shape up for April. Our student goal for 2010 is to grow to 30 regular students. I am confident we will reach our goal. I want to thank everyone who has supported us so far and shared the Elliott Music Studio with their family and friends. We can't thank you enough!

I have continued my work on a project with the Raytown Arts Council, that I started last spring. Don Forsythe, Vice President of the organization and I will be performing a special recital this spring for a local German club featuring some of his original compositions of German Lieder. I have seven songs total to learn for the performance. This week I have reviewed each song and completed a line by line loose translation of the German. Don has composed 140 settings, more than any other composer, living or dead, of Heinrich Heine poems. All of these songs are in a collection at the University of Massachusetts Music Library. For a complete listing of these works, visit Heine Lieder Query, http://webcgi.oit.umass.edu/~shea/query.html.

Day Zero has been keeping me on task with my music goals for 2010 and beyond and is the home of the 1001 day project.  It challenges you to complete 101 tasks in a 1001 days.  I have sketched out a plan of attach for each month until the challenge is completed.  March 2010 includes the following projects:

1.Attend a local Kansas City Taizé service
2.Finish United Methodist Studies Class in Doctrine for Certification Studies
3.Send audition information to the Kansas City Chorale for 2010-2011 season audition consideration

Numbers one and three shouldn't be a problem but number two is really kicking my butt. That class is what I consider the bad news of this post. I started the process of Certification for Lay Musicians in the United Methodist Church several years ago and while in that process they added an additional educational requirement that I needed to finish. So, I have been trying to take this course for some time and life has gotten in the way. I finally decided on the correspondence course because it seemed the best option and it was the least expensive. The downside is that it's intense and I do a ton of reading and all the tests are essay based. I added up all the writing and I believe I will have to write a minimum of 30+ pages before I'm done. That does not excite me one bit.

Between my responsibilities at home and with the studio I am already feeling the pressure of not having enough time to finish my class work.  I have until the middle of May to complete the course and send it in.  I have decided to stream line my posts on the blog for awhile until I get this done.  I can't imagine writing 4 articles a week and getting this class done at the same time. I'm not that crazy.  So, until the end of May the Elliott Music Studio Blog will have weekly posts of "Quote of the Week" & "Video of the Week" with the occasional article.  As soon as the class is complete and the package has been sent I will be back to work bringing you more interesting articles from my music world.  But, until then things will be pretty light around here.

Well, that is all for now from the Studio. I better get back to studying.