It was shortly before my 16^th birthday when I received the phone call that changed my life (although I didn’t know it at the time). Saxophonist Paul Rutkowski needed a keyboard player to play a dance at the Embassy Club in Dobbs Ferry, NY. Up until that time, I’d been listening to the Beach Boys, the Ventures and a variety of popular music groups. Fortunately, my mother had been encouraging me to pay attention to the standards. The radio at home was tuned WFAS, a station that played many of these wonderful songs. When she heard one she liked, my mother would go to the piano and start playing the tune by ear, singing the melody and making up the chords as she went along (some fit and others clashed, but she kept the music going anyway).

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!