In contrast to the atmosphere surrounding the creation of the standards from the American Popular Songbook, Let There Be Peace on Earth had much more humble beginnings. This husband and wife songwriting team had a dream for world peace. They believed that as individuals, we can each have a part in achieving this universal desire. To emphasize their personalization point, the second line of each verse is either: “And let it begin with me.” Or “Let this be the moment now with every step I take.”

An interesting fact about the premiere of Let There Be Peace on Earth is that it took place on a summer weeklong retreat for 180 California high school students of all races and religions. What a contrast from New York’s Broadway stage or from a rock group’s world tour. Nevertheless, from its humble yet spirited beginning, Let There Be Peace on Earth went on to achieve international notoriety through word-of-mouth. The teenagers shared it with friends and family who introduced it at schools, churches and community organizations until finally it was recorded and performed by professional singers. What an amazing story!

After researching and writing this narrative to share with you today, I find it interesting that including Let There Be Peace on Earth in my holiday blog series this year was an afterthought. Since this is my fourth season of selecting songs to feature in these seasonal posts, I had a bit of a challenge to select pieces to perform for you. A couple of times in the past, there was an opportunity to complete the Christmas song selections with something for New Year’s. One of these was That’s All, though not limited to this occasion, did fit the bill and then there was the very traditional Auld Lang Syne.

So after I recorded the songs for the previous three posts, I decided to record what I thought would be a fitting tune to introduce 2012. When you listen to my recording in the audio player on the right, you will hear my soft rubato tempo introduction. The chords are very rich, and took the opportunity to embellish them with some added tones e.g. 9^ths, 11^ths, etc. (familiar to many of my students). After basking in the lush sounds of the harmonies, I moved into tempo and brought a jazz waltz flavor to the ¾ meter. After returning to rubato near the end, I quoted the opening melody in the high register of the piano at the track’s conclusion. Speaking of tracks, I unfortunately did not find anything that would energize and inspire my piano playing performance for this post. Although this was my personal experience, you can certainly find many moving renditions of Let There Be Peace on Earth in a variety of genres on Rhapsody Music, iTunes and/or YouTube.

So as you begin this New Year of 2012, remember the story and aim of Jill Jackson and Sy Miller’s special song Let There Be Peace on Earth. The couple’s heartfelt desire for peace for mankind, though far from a reality today, was begun by 180 individuals. And so whether you remember the phrase “and let it begin with me” or “brighten the corner where you are” or even as the bumper sticker says “think globally-act locally”, the message is the same: we can each make a difference.

Are you up for the challenge?
Music is the universal language.
Do you want to use your piano playing to “brighten the corner where you are”?

The New Year is here. “Think globally-act locally”.
Isn’t it time you took action on your long-awaited goal of taking piano lessons?
Just think of it, you have the golden opportunity at your finger tips.Let There Be Peace on Earth and let it begin with the music you make on your keyboard.

Why wait? Get the process started now.
Just take 20 seconds to contact us today.

If you live in or near Hudson, Stow, Bolton, Northborough, Marlborough, Harvard, Berlin, Clinton, Lancaster or Shrewsbury, you are just minutes away from our centrally located Hudson Piano Studio location. You can choose to study there with one of our terrific piano teachers. If you are close to our Natick Studio location, you can take lessons from one of our Natick instructors.

In either case, you’ll find that the Ed Mascari Piano Studio’s approach to teaching will provide you with the encouragement and patience you’ll need to help you enjoy the learning process either as a parent or as an adult student. Our personalized piano lessons are always focused on helping you learn to play the music you love!

Although some of the African-American spirituals are slow and somber (and for good reason), many of them have an upbeat character which leaves room for some fun-filled foot-tapping arrangements. Such is the case with Go Tell It on the Mountain. For as long as I can remember, I’ve included this tune in my holiday performance repertoire. The catchy quality of the music helped it to hold its own with the likes of Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Winter Wonderland, Jingle Bells and Let It Snow. The only information we know about Go Tell It on the Mountain is that it first appeared in an 1865 collection compiled by John Wesley Work Jr.

There’s something about the refrain of Go Tell It on the Mountain that lends itself beautifully to using the shuffle bass pattern in the left hand. So even though I have refined and improved the way I apply the shuffle bass accompaniment to some of my arrangements, it’s been an integral part of my performances of Go Tell It on the Mountain for decades. When you listen to my recording in the blog audio player on the right, you’ll hear how nicely this works with this tune. Hopefully, you’ll be tapping your foot or nodding your head along with the music.

Speaking of tapping your foot, there are a couple of upbeat renditions of Go Tell It on the Mountain that I located on Rhapsody Music. Unfortunately none of my favorite jazz players is represented (or even some terrific artists with whom I became familiar as a result of preparing for each of my blog posts). In fact, as with the other holiday songs featured this year, the selection was limited.

Nevertheless, a soulful and swinging performance of Go Tell It on the Mountain by Max Lemar (sax) and Melody Sweeting (piano with organ overdub) came to my attention. Along the same lines is the rendition trumpet player Dave Borsos who leads an excellent ensemble in a shuffle style arrangement. Both of these arrangements maintain the song’s upbeat character and when you hear them, you’ll feel the positive energy inherent in this spiritual.

Completing this limited list of Rhapsody Music’s tracks that made it onto my playlist were a Dixieland style performance by New Orleans’ own Gèrard Messonnier and the Hot Kings which really works by the way) and two vocal versions. Complete with hand-clapping, the Silver Belles offered an outstanding upbeat a cappella presentation. Finally, the track by the Staple Singers brought back some fond memories. This ensemble came to my attention years ago when I hosted my jazz radio program on WICN-FM. They were guest artists on one of Cannonball Adderley’s albums. Their soulful Gospel style singing captures the spirit of this seasonal spiritual.

What about you?
Have you found a way to capture the holiday spirit with your keyboard?
Does your piano playing sound flat and unexpressive?
January is just around the corner.
Isn’t it time you took action on your long-awaited goal of taking piano lessons?

Why not get the process started today?
Just take 20 seconds to contact us today.

If you live in or near Hudson, Stow, Bolton, Northborough, Marlborough, Harvard, Berlin, Clinton, Lancaster or Shrewsbury, you are just minutes away from our centrally located Hudson Piano Studio location where you can choose to study there with one of our terrific piano teachers. If you are close to our Natick Studio location, you can take lessons from one of our Natick instructors.

In either case, you’ll find that the Ed Mascari Piano Studio’s approach to teaching will provide you with the encouragement and patience you’ll need to help you enjoy the learning process either as a parent or as an adult student. Our personalized piano lessons are always focused on helping you learn to play the music you love!

Both are traditional tunes in contrast to the many popular songs composed during the last several decades. Carol of the Bells was written by Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych in 1904. The original lyrics were associated with the celebration of the New Year (which occurred in April) in the Ukraine. Our use of it during the Christmas holiday season came as a result of the lyrics written by Englishman Peter Wilhousky in the 1930s. The melody is made up of a catchy one measure 4-note motive which repeats many times. It is so easy to recognize, that it makes the music more well-known and popular than the words. This is unusual in our society today where the words and the beat are the primary features contributing to a song’s status on the charts.

Since the music of Carol of the Bells is not only repetitive but is also in ¾ meter, it made sense to me to do three things when I put the arrangement together for the recording for you to hear in the audio player on the right. First of all, enhancing the waltz rhythm by applying my jazz waltz accompaniment style was an obvious approach to take. Next, after a bit of experimentation, I concluded that the handi variation (also known as the minor line clichè) would give me a chord pattern that offered the best solution for the repeating melodic motive. Finally, I recalled a choir anthem which my choir sang at the Hartford Street Presbyterian Church several years ago called Bell Carol of the Kings. This arrangement combined Carol of the Bells with another well-known Christmas favorite We Three Kings of Orient Are. Although, my arrangement is totally different from this choir selection, the idea of putting this pair of pieces together made perfect sense.

We Three Kings of Orient Are (more often known as simply We Three Kings) was written by John Henry Hopkins Jr. in the late 1850s. It first appeared in print in an 1863 publication called Carols, Hymns and Song. Although Hopkins was later ordained as an Episcopal Priest, his musical contributions came while he was an ordained Deacon and Music Director at the General Theological Seminary. As you probably know, music and the church have had long and productive association for centuries, from Gregorian chant to Bach to Beethoven and beyond.

As an aside, I must tell you that my 30 years of work as Music Director at the Hartford Street Presbyterian Church in Natick have not only enriched my musical life, but the experience has helped me to become a better piano teacher. Interestingly enough; all of our Ed Mascari Piano Studio faculty members also have some association with church music. As a matter of fact, Hudson instructor Robin Cho’s composition based on the book of the Bible, Ruth: The Musical, was premiered recently as a stage production in Boston.

Returning to the music of We Three Kings, I think that most of you can remember its unique structure. After the minor key (sad sound) section, it moves to the major key (happy sound) portion of the piece. This supports the lyrics beautifully. Think of “Star of wonder, star of night, star with royal beauty bright….” How could this idea be anything but major? In any case, I enjoyed putting the medley of Carol of the Bells and We Three Kings of Orient Are together for you.

As with several other Christmas and holiday favorites, I was disappointed by the fact that Rhapsody Music did not have much to offer in terms of inspiring jazz performances of either piece. Despite this fact, organist Jimmy Smith’s jazzy We Three Kings from his Christmas Cooking album is catchy and fun. There were also two very different, but nonetheless excellent renditions of Carol of the Bells. The Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra took a brassy swing direction which I recall hearing Wynton Marsalis do on his CD called Crescent City Christmas. Pianist Michael Silverman led his trio in a more sensitive version of Carol of the Bells which included a few interesting jazz harmonies. However, it’s clear that his performance pays homage to the 1980s landmark recording by New Age pianist George Winston. This recording, called December, put Winston’s name on the map. It includes not only a special and wonderful arrangement of Carol of the Bells, but also includes his famous version of Pachelbel’s Canon in D. It’s well worth a listen!

What’s your favorite holiday piece?
Are you listening to selection of seasonal songs these days?
Would you like to be able to play them on your piano or keyboard?
Perhaps you can play the Christmas tunes, but you are tired of the same old arrangements.
If so, you’d be like a lot of our piano students.
They are looking for a better way to play the music they love.
How about you?

Find out all about how easy it is for you to get started.
Just take 20 seconds to contact us today.

If you live in or near Hudson, Stow, Bolton, Northborough, Marlborough, Harvard, Berlin, Clinton, Lancaster or Shrewsbury, you are just minutes away from our centrally located Hudson Piano Studio location. You can choose to study there with one of our terrific piano teachers. If you are close to our Natick Studio location, you can take lessons from one of our Natick instructors.

In either case, you’ll find that the Ed Mascari Piano Studio’s approach to teaching will provide you with the encouragement and patience you’ll need to help you enjoy the learning process either as a parent or as an adult student. Our personalized piano lessons are always focused on helping you learn to play the music you love!

The thing is though, that the ideas are somewhere in my brain all the time. However, it is usually when I’m involved in helping a student make a song work for him, that I have the vital aha moment. In fact, it was only a couple of years ago while teaching one of my Hudson Studio adult students, that I discovered the technique that I needed to help piano students play a jazz waltz.

Anyway, I first became familiar with José Feliciano in 1968 when I heard his Latin rhythm arrangement of Light My Fire (a tune by the rock group The Doors). This was at about the same time that I began establishing my identity as a jazz organist while a student at Holy Cross College.

Despite the fact that rock and soul were the popular musical styles on campus, my jazz quartet began to get gigs every weekend in just about every building on “the hill” (nick name for the college’s location on Mount Saint James). Needless to say, Feliciano’s hit may have helped open the door. It was so refreshing to hear this cut on the radio stations that echoed in the corridors of the dorms. Sure enough, following on the heels of Light My Fire, came Feliciano’s own composition, Feliz Navidad two years later. It has been part of the holiday music repertoire ever since. Now that’s a legacy!

Unfortunately, despite its popularity and my enjoyment of the recording, it has been a “thorn in my side” as a player for all these decades. That is, until this past week. How I could have missed this simple solution, I’ll never understand. Nevertheless, there it was right in the middle of Sean’s lesson. “Why not try the beguine bass?” I thought. Sure enough, it worked like magic.

Take a listen to my recording of Feliz Navidad in the blog audio player. You’ll hear the same Latin rhythm feeling that characterized the recordings I did for my beguine bass blog post series two years ago. The accompaniment was the key element to making the tune work for me. Once I established the foundation I needed, the melody, chords, improvisation and I dare say FUN began.

This concept is something I try to communicate constantly to my piano students. The left hand accompaniment is critical to the solo pianist. My 2008 blog article called The Key is in the Counting still rings true today. So I hope you enjoy my recorded rendition and it gets you in the holiday spirit.

Usually at this point in my articles, I mention a couple of inspirational recordings. Guess what? Other that Mr. Feliciano’s classic recording, I couldn’t find any tracks of Feliz Navidad by jazz players on Rhapsody Music. YouTube offered a couple though. One was by the 77th Army Band Jazz Trajectory Big Band. The conga drums, sax solo and Latin band style brass arrangements, brought the tune to life.

Technology played a part in another smooth jazz version in which a young keyboard player improvised over a recorded track (not much info about him or the background). It was definitely a foot-tapper. Apparently, several high school jazz bands have purchased decent arrangements of Feliz Navidad because there were a few of these posted on YouTube as well. Unfortunately, none of these versions really energized me very much, but the beguine bass did!

How about you?
How would you like help finding the musical element that’s missing from your piano playing?
You probably have the answers within you, but need an experienced piano teacher to help you apply your musical ideas to your keyboard playing.

Find out all about how easy it is for you to get started.
Just take 20 seconds to contact us today.

If you live in or near Hudson, Stow, Bolton, Northborough, Marlborough, Harvard, Berlin, Clinton, Lancaster or Shrewsbury, you are just minutes away from our centrally located Hudson Piano Studio location. You can choose to study there with one of our terrific piano teachers link to faculty page. If you are close to our Natick Piano Studio location, you can take lessons from one of our Natick instructors.

In either case, you’ll find that the Ed Mascari Piano Studio’s approach to teaching will provide you with the encouragement and patience you’ll need to help you enjoy the learning process either as a parent or as an adult student. Our personalized piano lessons are always focused on helping you learn to play the music you love!

This Styne/Cahn songwriting team is the same partnership that created The Christmas Waltz, featured in my December 7th blog post. Now here’s a paradox for you aspiring and sometimes struggling piano students. When I finally decided to arrange, practice and record The Christmas Waltz to share with you, it was a joy to play and flowed easily. However, Let It Snow was another matter entirely. Even though I have known, listened to and performed this great song for many years, it presents a unique challenge. Guess why?

If you said that this opportunity for musical growth has to do with the ii-V and ii-V-I chord progressions, you would be correct. Surprise, surprise…… Anyway, let me explain what I meant here. If you’re like my 11 year old student Molly who has just learned how to play songs with four note chords, then the issue would be merely one of switching from one chord to another. However, if your keyboard skills are at the intermediate level like my 15 year old student Teddy who has been playing piano accompaniments with 10ths, stride and walking bass for a couple of years, you might need some help. But what if you were in my position- who has spent his career as a piano teacher and performing professional? Then what?

Are you getting a hint of what I was facing? In fact, I was going to feature Let It Snow for last year year’s holiday blog post series and after some experimentation decided to wait until now. First of all, as you may or may not have realized, almost every single recorded performance of Let It Snow is done as a swing tune. From vocalists Frank Sinatra to Ella Fitzgerald to Jaci Velasquez to Karen Wilhelm to Diana Krall swing is the order of the day and pianist Oscar Peterson’s unmistakable bluesy rendition keeps your feet tapping. Jazz flutist Nelson Rangell’s up tempo version brought back fond memories of many gigs with the 1970s Ed Mascari Jazz Quartet that featured Jethro Tull influenced flutist John Mangiardi (now a neurosurgeon). The only track I found featuring a solo pianist was one by Dr. Joe Utterback, who is familiar to me because he’s arranged many church hymns and spirituals in a jazz style. When he was turned loose in his performance of Let It Snow, his virtuosity is clearly evident from the first note.

When I finally applied myself to the task of preparing myself for the task of recording Let It Snow for you to hear (it’s in the blog player on the right), I took the bull by the horns. I found ways to deal with the ii-V and ii-V-I progressions and used some walking bass accompaniment in keeping with the musical models that I’ve enjoyed for years. You may notice that I often cite recordings which feature not solo piano but rather jazz trios that are made up of piano, bass and drums. One of the reasons that I enjoy playing solo piano so much is that ideas can surface which often catch me by surprise. That’s exactly what happened this time with Let It Snow. In the middle of my improvised chorus, my “inner bass player” decided to play a solo complete with a bit of vocalizing. In case you piano students are wondering, I crossed my right hand over my left for this part of the performance. This way, the left hand could maintain the accompaniment role in the middle of the keyboard while the melodic right hand could make believe it was an upright bass. If you want a few more tips on this approach to piano playing, take a look at my post on Turning Your Keyboard into a Cast of Characters.

How about you?
Would you like to turn your keyboard into a cast of characters?
Do you need help learning how to negotiate jazz progressions on the piano?

Is it simply time for you to learn to play your favorite songs on the piano?

Perhaps you are an adult who would like to get back to playing the piano after a few years of raising your family (join the club-several of our students are just like you). Or you are a parent who notices her daughter’s musical interest in making music on the keyboard (quite a few of our young students are just like this).
Or you may be an adult who’s always wanted to learn how to play the piano and 2011 is the year you are determined to do it (many of our students started this way).

Our 2011 Spring Semester starts in just a few short weeks. So whatever your situation is now is the time to act.
Whether the lessons are for you or for one of your children you can find out all about how we can help you by taking 20 seconds to contact us today.

If you live in or near Hudson, Stow, Bolton, Northborough, Marlborough, Harvard, Berlin, Clinton, Lancaster or Shrewsbury, you are just minutes away from our centrally located Hudson Piano Studio location. You can choose to study with one of our terrific piano teachers, Erika Hirsch, Karen Fahey or Robin Cho. If you are close to our Natick Studio location, you can take lessons from me.

In either case, you’ll find that the Ed Mascari Piano Studio’s approach to teaching will provide you with the encouragement and patience you’ll need to help you enjoy the learning process either as a parent or as an adult student. Our personalized piano lessons are always focused on helping you learn to play the music you love!

So when I got the call to play the GB gig, I had a hint of what was needed. Although I had been learning how to use chords when playing some of the music from the American Popular Songbook in my music lessons, it was time to move into high gear. Time was of the essence! In addition to practicing lots of songs, I asked my teacher to show me how to create introductions to songs. He taught me the valuable technique of using the I-vi-ii-V chord progressions to do this, but he neglected to teach me how to use these same progressions to create medleys. In my “trial by fire” experience of that first gig, I discovered the importance of knowing how to create sets for the audience of enthusiastic ballroom dancers. To accommodate these patrons, we needed to play several fox trots (or cha-chas, ballads or swing tunes) in a row. To create these dance sets, it was my job to come up with the musical transitions that would allow us to segue seamlessly from one song to another. I failed miserably and was not called for another gig by Mr. Rutkowski for a few months.

It was during that time, that I immediately changed my listening habits and became an avid jazz fan. Not only did I start practicing the American Popular Songbook repertoire, I also learned how to use the ii-V-I chord progressions to create medleys of songs in a variety of keys and styles. In these forty plus years since that time, I have made it my practice to introduce my students to the value of creating medleys. Many of them (including the adults) incorrectly call them “melodies” until they get some practice using the term. Today’s blog features a medley of two terrific Christmas tunes, The Christmas Waltz and It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.

It has been said that continuous learning increases your vitality in life. Not only does it provide you with mental stimulation, it gives you energy, enthusiasm and excitement. One of my adult students, a physician in his late 60s, is an incredible photographer. He finds that even after more than twenty years of taking piano lessons from me, his musical growth is helping to fuel his ongoing creative process. Likewise, in addition to what I learn from teaching, I continue to choose to challenge myself by learning new standards to share with you in these blog posts. So the recordings you hear in the blog audio player on the right represent research, revision, rehearsal, and run-throughs. In short, they are part of my own continuous learning process.

Ironically, I have had the sheet music for The Christmas Waltz for many years and yet I had neither performed nor listened to recordings of it. However, once I decided to share it with you a new world opened up. You may remember my jazz waltz blog series and then the first of the Jerome Kern series songs, All the Things You Are. Well, The Christmas Waltz is yet another installment. Jule Styne composed the music and Sammy Cahn wrote the words to this 1954 standard. For some reason, the longer I played the The Christmas Waltz, the more I wanted to keep the jazz waltz going. As a result, I created a medley with another tune I had never tried, It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year by Eddie Pola and George Wyle. The latter composed the theme song for the TV show Gilligan’s Island. Needless to say, both of these standards work successfully in sequence. Each has plenty of ii-V and ii-V-I chord progressions, and it was a simple matter to make the move from one piece of music to the other by means of yet more ii-V progressions.

As with many of the standards, there is also plenty of room for renditions of various styles and tempos. For example, George Shearing’s Quintet played The Christmas Waltz as a Bossa nova and Harry Connick offers a swinging up-tempo 4/4 version of It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year. There are also some terrific treatments of both tunes by pianists including Beegie Adair, Billy Childs, Tommy Flanagan, Dave McKenna, Pete Jolly and Stephen Kummer.

How about you? Perhaps it’s time for you to increase your vitality and creative energy by exploring a variety of your favorite songs and a few new ones besides.

Are you an adult who is anxious to get back to playing the piano after a few years of raising your family? (Join the club-several of our piano students are just like you) Are you a parent who notices his child’s musical interest in making music on the keyboard? (Quite a few of our young students are just like this) Are you are an adult who’s always wanted to learn how to play the piano? (Many of our students start this way)

Our 2011 Spring Semester starts in just a few short weeks. So whatever your situation is now is the time to act.
Whether the lessons are for you or for one of your children you can find out all about how we can help you by taking 20 seconds to contact us today.

If you live in or near Hudson, Stow, Bolton, Northborough, Marlborough, Harvard, Berlin, Clinton, Lancaster or Shrewsbury, you are just minutes away from our centrally located Hudson Studio location. You can choose to study with one of our terrific piano teachers, Erika Hirsch, Karen Fahey or Robin Cho. If you are close to our Natick Studio location, you can take lessons from me.

In either case, you’ll find that the Ed Mascari Piano Studio’s approach to teaching will provide you with the encouragement and patience you’ll need to help you enjoy the learning process either as a parent or as an adult student. Our personalized piano lessons are always focused on helping you learn to play the music you love!

Once again we find Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. They have several versions of Baby, It’s Cold Outside which feature their delightful vocal exchanges that have set the standard for many future performers. In fact, most of the tracks on my Rhapsody Music playlist of Baby, It’s Cold Outside are vocal duets. These include performances from veteran vocalists like Ray Charles and Betty Carter to the younger song stylists such as Jane Monheit and Steve Tyrell. Wonderful as these versions are, there was one instrumental rendition that brought back special memories to me.

As I’ve mentioned several times, once I began performing professionally during my high school years, I sought inspiration from not only great pianists like Oscar Peterson and Dave Brubeck, but also from the famous jazz organists, especially Jimmy Smith. Since Smith always worked with guitarists, it was no surprise when music producers paired him with Wes Montgomery who was becoming commercially successful through his instrumental versions of pop tunes like Going Out of My Head. Montgomery’s amazing ability was well beyond his trademark octave playing and so he was an excellent match for Smith. When I heard their duet performance of Baby, It’s Cold Outside the memories came back. I could still remember the album cover photo (one of the nice things about the old vinyl records was seeing the creative pictures on the front). Jimmy and Wes are shown in a close-up shot sharing a giant sub sandwich. The Dynamic Duo looked as happy as their performances sounded.

I think that the joy that I have always felt from hearing these great players is one of the reasons that I have spent my entire life as a professional musician. My students often become fascinated by the walking bass lines that I often include in my arrangements of songs. They usually want to learn how to add a left hand bass accompaniment to their piano playing as well. Although I recommend that they listen to Dave McKenna’s solo piano recordings because of his trademark walking bass lines, I also tell my students to model their keyboard left hand lines after those of bassist Ray Brown. However, following the jazz organ tradition pioneered by Jimmy Smith in my years of playing the Hammond B-3 has had a profound influence on piano playing all these years later.

As I begin this brief holiday blog series today, I wanted to offer a note of thanks to my webmaster, consultant and musical collaborator David Summer. When he suggested that I record and write about some holiday songs back in 2008, I never dreamed that this would be the beginning of a blog series that continues bring some of the best standards to the surface. Thank you, Dave.

How about you?
Isn’t it time to create your own musical tradition?
Are you are an adult who’s always wanted to learn how to play the piano (many of our students started this way)?
Are you a parent who notices her daughter’s musical interest in making music on the keyboard (quite a few of our young students are just like this)?
Could you be an adult who just want to get back to playing the piano after a long hiatus (another reason students enjoy taking lessons from us)?

Whatever your situation is now is the time to act.

Whether the lessons are for you or for one of your children you can find out all about how we can help you by taking 20 seconds to contact us today.

If you live in or near Hudson, Stow, Bolton, Northborough, Marlborough, Harvard, Berlin, Clinton, Lancaster or Shrewsbury, you are just minutes away from our centrally located Hudson Studio location. You can choose to study with one of our terrific piano teachers, Erika Hirsch, Karen Fahey or Robin Cho. If you are close to our Natick Studio location, you can take lessons from me.

In either case, you’ll find that the Ed Mascari Piano Studio’s approach to teaching will provide you with the encouragement and patience you’ll need to help you enjoy the learning process either as a parent or as an adult student. Our personalized piano lessons are always focused on helping you learn to play the music you love!

There is an element of humility in Brandt’s lyrics when they say, “I can only give you love…. I can only give you country walks….that’s all, that’s all.” Perhaps as we move forward into 2010, we can take solace in the fact that last year could only give us what it gave us. If we let it go, we can look ahead with a more positive outlook.

What better way is there to feel more joyful, more hopeful and more enthusiastic about life than by playing and listening to music? That’s All is the kind of a tune that leaves room for a variety of interpretations. Its composer Bob Haymes (1923-1989) was the younger brother of the singer and actor, Dick Haymes. Also known under the stage names Robert or Bob Stanton, Bob Haymes is best remembered as the composer of That’s All.  However, during his long career, he also worked as a singer, actor, radio host and television emcee.

I’m not sure that the composer imagined how many performers would play his piece during these ensuing 58 years. Even though Nat King Cole recorded That’s All in 1953, it took seven more years for it to become a hit thanks to Bobby Darin‘s 1959 version. Perhaps because this song uses the familiar ii-V and ii-V-I chord progressions, there are plenty of opportunities for pianists to explore different accompaniment patterns. When you combine this with the customary 32 measure length and the standard structure of verse-verse-bridge-verse, you have a recipe for fun.

The first time heard That’s All, it was played by my friend, piano tuner and fellow jazz pianist Joe Morocco. Since that time many years ago, I have played That’s All as a ballad, a swing tune, a jazz waltz, a samba, a Bossa nova and even as a Beguine. When there is room for me to play a song the way I feel like performing it, I can honestly say that playing solo piano is one of life’s greatest joys for me. A standard like That’s All offers keyboard artists plenty of opportunities for spontaneity and creativity.

Pianist Roger Kellaway, known as the composer of the theme for the long-running “All In the Family” TV program, recorded a solo piano version of  That’s All which displays his virtuosity along with his true comfort with the musical style of the first generation of modern jazz pianists (Art Tatum, Earl Hines and others). Gene Harris was a jazz pianist with a true flair for the blues.

Harris was one of the pianists who played with jazz bassist Ray Brown. Brown had left the Oscar Peterson Trio to take a break from traveling in the late 1960s and subsequently played in the  Merv Griffin TV show orchestra as well as in Hollywood film orchestras. When he returned to jazz club performing as a leader in the late 1970s, Ray’s duos and trios played the standards with an even more bluesy flavor than Peterson’s trios had done.

Among the 12 tracks of That’s All which I selected from those offered by Rhapsody Music, Ray Brown’s renditions are four in number with pianist Gene Harris at the keyboard for two of them. Harris also has one version with his own quartet. The fact that there are no accidentals (sharps or flats) in the entire tune has no effect on the flatted tones so often associated with the blues.

There is one other performance that caught my attention in particular. Saxophonist Eric Alexander has a cut of That’s All that features veteran jazz organist Melvin Rhyne. The Quartet plays the tune as a Bossa nova with lyrical improvised solos offered by Alexander, Rhyne and guitarist Bobby Broom. The fact that these musicians take an opposite tempo and approach to the song shows once again that this tune is filled with potential.

And so as we bid farewell to 2009, we can take a life lesson from the great standard That’s All. The past is over, but the coming year of 2010 is filled with wonderful possibilities.

Now that all of the holiday festivities have finished, it may be just the right time to plan to go after your long-desired goal to learn how to play the piano. January is a great time for you to get started with your piano lessons.

Whether you live near our centrally located Natick Studio or close to our convenient Hudson Piano Studio location, take 20 seconds now to contact us today. This way, you’ll know that you have taken your first step to find out all about piano lessons. All of the piano instructors at the Ed Mascari Piano Studio are knowledgeable, patient, encouraging and always delighted to help you or your son or daughter Learn to Play the Music You Love!

Interestingly enough, it was during my first month as a brand new teacher, that the music of the Charlie Brown television programs became the way that the junior high school students related to my jazz piano playing. During those days, jazz education was in its infancy and there was little interest on the part of students for this style of music. However, when I played Herbie Hancock‘s Watermelon Man on the piano these young people immediately and enthusiastically responded “That’s Charlie Brown music.”

Since teaching General Music to 7^th and 8^th grade students was clearly not my calling, I transitioned into full-time performing and touring with groups that included among others, jazz guitarist John Dougherty, Stevie Wonder’s former drummer Keith Copeland and vocalist Rebecca Parris (who actually introduced me to my wife Brenda). In fact, it was through my step-son, Kevin, that I re-encountered Charlie Brown a few years later when he used the Peanuts characters as models for his artistic development.

Other than the song Linus and Lucy, Christmas Time Is Here is probably one of the most recognizable songs that Vince Guaraldi composed for the Charlie Brown shows. I truly enjoyed preparing and playing this tune for the recording I did to go with today’s blog post. One of the reasons for this is the fact that the composer makes such great use of the motive (short-short-long-short-long) by repeating it so often that you can’t help but keep hearing “Christmas Time is here” in your head over and over.

It just occurred to me that Christmas Time Is Here this is actually a sarabande. This musical form was usually one of the movements of a Baroque Suite (there are plenty of examples that you can find in the music of Bach and Handel which actually bear the title of Sarabande). Although I suspect that Vince Guaraldi must have used this musical form intuitively (rather than thinking about it consciously) when he composed this song, its sensitive mood and waltz meter (3/4 time) certainly fit the form and capture the character.

Another reason that I found Christmas Time Is Here so enjoyable to play is that its harmonies are so rich: (there are several “jazz” chords that include the upper structure tones: 9^th, #11^th and 13^th. Besides that, there are chord progressions that descend chromatically (by half steps). These are the types of things I use to modify standard songs when I am working with my adult piano students. This song has them built right in!

So often in my efforts to help students learn to play music from the American Popular Songbook, I make changes to the chords that are shown above the melody in Fake Books and other sheet music. Not only is my goal to help pianists learn to play music they love with skill, smoothness and self-confidence, but I also want to help them understand how music works.

In the case of Christmas Time Is Here, Vince Guaraldi has provided piano students as well as professional musicians and listeners with a rich palate of harmonic color and a musical form that connects with centuries of music history. All of this in a familiar song that children of all ages so easily recognize. Wow! What a contribution!

Well, Christmas time is actually here. Before I sign off I would just like to wish you and your families a Merry Christmas and wonderful holiday season. After all of the festivities have finished, it may be just the right time to plan to go after your long-desired goal to learn how to play the piano. January is a great time for you to get started with your piano lessons.

Whether you live near our centrally located Natick Studio or close to our convenient Hudson Piano Studio location, take 20 seconds now to contact us today. All of the piano instructors at the Ed Mascari Piano Studio are knowledgeable, patient, encouraging and always delighted to help you or your son or daughter Learn to Play the Music You Love!

I would venture a guess that, over the years, most piano students, regardless of their playing level, have included Jingle Bells in their repertoire of holiday songs. In addition to the simplicity of learning the refrain, this song is one of the most well known Christmas holiday standards. It seems to me that whether my piano student is 6 or 66 or any age in between, he is familiar with Jingle Bells. This is no accident, especially in America.

Jingle Bells was composed a little more than 150 years ago by the Boston native James Lord Pierpont (1822 -1893). In my beguine blog series, I brought up the idea that there no such thing as an overnight success. In addition to that, I’ve noticed that many composers create their compositions after being inspired by a particular encounter or personal experience. Not only that, pieces of music often evolve over a much longer period of time than you might expect.

The story of the writing of the most well known Christmas holiday standard, Jingle Bells, is no exception. James Lord Pierpont was sent to boarding school in New Hampshire at age 10. His first inspiration for the theme of song Jingle Bells came during December of that year while he was riding in a sleigh in the snow. However, although Pierpont’s idea originated at such a young age, the journey from concept to creation continued for another quarter of a century.

Returning to Boston in 1845, Pierpont married, fathered two children and then left to seek his fortune by opening a business in the California during the Gold Rush of 1849. About four years later, his older brother Rev. John Pierpont became the Pastor of the Unitarian Church of Savannah, Georgia. A short time later, after his business failed, James became the organist and music director at his brother’s church. He supplemented his salary by giving organ and singing lessons (Later in life he moved to Georgia where he worked in a Presbyterian Church and gave private piano lessons.)

It continues to amaze me when I find that so many composers gave private music lessons as well as worked as church musicians. Since I have been the Music Director at the Hartford Street Presbyterian Church for nearly three decades as well as giving piano lessons to children and adults at the Ed Mascari Piano Studio for more than 30 years, I am grateful to be in such good company.

Along with his ongoing work as a professional musician, Pierpont composed many songs (some became hits) with a variety of music publishers. In 1857, the first version of Jingle Bells called The One Horse Open Sleigh was published in Boston by Ditson & Company. Two years later, the song was slightly revised and re-released as Jingle Bells.

Ironically, neither version became a hit song. In fact, it was only through the efforts of the efforts of the composer’s son Dr. Juriah Pierpont, MD that the copyright was renewed and James Lord Pierpont’s name became permanently attached to the song. Despite this humble beginning, Jingle Bells has become one of the most often performed as well as one of the most widely recognized holiday songs throughout the world.

Since I have been a professional musician for most of my life, I have played this song thousands of times. As a result, in order for me to arrange, perform and record my solo piano version Jingle Bells to go with today’s post, I really needed to hear some renditions that would fuel my enthusiasm.

Among the many out there, I found an older solo piano/vocal version of Jingle Bells by Diana Krall. She’s got both areas covered so well! When I recommend certain types of recordings to my piano students, I often need examples of excellent solo piano performances. This one is sure to be at the top of the list. What are some of your favorite versions of Jingle Bells?

Before the fall season comes to a close and the holiday period really begins is a good time to go after your long-desired goal to learn how to play the piano. In fact, lately several parents and adult students have inquired about beginning their piano lessons in January.

Whether you live near our centrally located Natick Studio or close to our convenient Hudson Piano Studio location, contact us today to find out all about piano lessons. All of the piano instructors at the Ed Mascari Piano Studio are knowledgeable, patient, encouraging and always delighted to help you or your son or daughter Learn to Play the Music You Love!