ALMSG July Newsletter :New Direction For Me &the Wonderful Adult LPI Camp!
Dear subscribers,
On Sunday, I began writing about my journey to my level 6 piano exam experience and it was taking up a lot of prime real estate so I have posted it to the blog. You can read about it there.
Now I have earned the freedom to start a new chapter. I am going to start learning jazz piano from a jazz pianist and will be searching for the right teacher. This has been my endgame all along but I had to put work into creating a strong foundation in classical before I could leap to jazz. My original thought was to quit learning classical pieces but while going through all my performances, I realized that I actually love playing classical pieces. But I will be switching teachers, I will be studying with Kathleen van Mourik going forward. And I have always been fascinated by the cello so I will be joining Westwinds in September to learn to play the cello. I feel free now to just go follow my curiosity and explore!
Now I have more exciting news! I went to an adult piano summer camp and what made it my best experience ever, was that I was able to experience it with many other ALMSG members! It made the group experience of the camp really special to me! The camp I am talking about is none other than the adult Lethbridge Piano Intensive (LPI) in its newly created 3 day consecutive format that ran July 5-7 this year. I have included a link to the bios of the outstanding LPI piano clinicians as well as this year's LPI guest presenters. I have also included this year's LPI program schedule so you can see how the program was structured. The adult camp was only three days long compared to the 5 day long camp of children and teens so we did not get to experience all of the masterclasses. But I thought our three days were jam packed enough with all the private lessons, masterclasses and workshops offered. (The cost of the adult LPI is only $125 - can you believe it? That is why even when you factor in lodging, the total cost for the camp is still really reasonable for what they offer in learning.) We were even given the option of attending a Saturday evening Centric Festival piano concert by Sarah Hagen, where she played Bach's Goldberg Variations. And as LPI students, we got to attend her concert for the discounted price of $15 instead of the regular admission of $40. What a great perk! Of course, all seven of us attended and we all enjoyed it immensely This is the link to the LPI faculty and clinicians bios
This was my fourth year in a row experiencing the adult LPI but only the second time experiencing it in person as in '21 and '22, I had participated online. Last year, LPI was still in its original format of being run on the first two Saturdays in June. And it was last year that I met Graham, a Calgary pianist, attending LPI for the first time. And it is a really small world because I found out on that first day that Graham literally lived blocks away from me in the Marda Loop neighborhood. (Graham became an ALMSG group member right after the LPI camp last year.)
This year, there was a large group of Calgary ALMSG group members who took part in this year's LPI. Six members plus two family members participated for a total of eight people. (There were 12 participants in total so our ALMSG group made up 75% of the participants of the camp! How cool is that!) We all participated in person except for Kathleen who participated online from her cottage in the Crowsnest area. Our group carpooled in two separate cars. We were one group of four - myself, Sarah, Dorothy and Graham and another group of three -Alan, Alexandra and Linda. We also rented two separate airbnbs in Lethbridge.
Our Friday schedule was crazy! Our group left Calgary at 7:30 am on Friday morning and we got to the University of Lethbridge recital hall a little late as we had problems locating the parking lot. Introductions were the first order of the day. Graham and I were glad to see Shauna and Rob again from last year's LPI. As for the rest of our group - Alan, Linda, Alexandra, Dorothy and Kathleen - it was their first time experiencing the adult LPI. Sarah had attended the teen LPI camp last year and loved it! She was attending the adult camp as it fit her summer schedule better this year and also because she had turned 18 so the camp was open to her. We all met Heather, who was attending for the first time as well, who hailed from Edmonton. (She had arrived in Lethbridge on Thursday.) There were two online participants, Kathleen, of course, and Ivana who hailed from interior B.C. After introductions, we either were scheduled for a private lesson or a coaching session for our duos or quartet or had practice time. There were 3 sessions on the Friday and 3 sessions of Saturday. If you have problems visualizing this and how it would look, I am going to put a link here below to a copy of our rotating LPI schedule. |
As you can see, at any scheduled hour, 4 of the 12 people were in a private lesson and the other 4 were scheduled for an ensemble coaching lesson. The remaining four people had free practice time or if they preferred, just a break. About 10 university practice rooms with a variety of grand and upright acoustic pianos were available for participants to practice on. And in addition, we had at least an hour and at times 1.5 hours before the start of each day to practice which I found to be more than sufficient.
I was assigned a part in a quartet. This was the second time that I have ever played in a quartet. My first time in a quartet was in 2023 at my piano teacher's masterclasses when she gave her four adult students the four part 'Trumpet Voluntary' to learn. It turned out to be a total disaster for me. I found the tempo way too fast and I always lost my way part way through so I ended up not playing half of my part and just feeling frustrated and totally "less than".
You would think this first experience would have soured my LPI experience but it did not. But because I was playing with Dorothy and Linda, my fellow members, I felt totally comfortable and it made all the difference. Cheryl had emailed us our parts on June 20th so we had 2 weeks to practice our parts which really helped. I had the Primo I part of "The Clock Shop" by Christine Donkin in which I later found that I was playing the solo in various parts. That did not even phase me - it was either because of my post-exam newfound confidence or the already established camaraderie I felt with Dorothy and Linda. It was probably a combination of both. I felt comfortable asking to play at a slower tempo as both Dorothy and Linda were on the same "page" as me. (Heather joined our group and became our fourth when her duo with Ivana did not go as planned. She played at a higher level than the three of us but I really appreciated that she respected our slow pace. It made all the difference to the three of us. We all really had great fun practicing together and finally performing it at the masterclass on the last day.) I also felt really comfortable with the laid back vibe of the LPI atmosphere. All of the piano clinicians were focussed on us learning and having fun. They did not care if we made mistakes during performances. They even encouraged us to play only with our right hand if we could not play both hands. That is a philosophy that I align with so I was really enjoying the whole learning process.
This easy going attitude was also prevalent at the masterclasses. Participants were given the option to perform if they wished but you did not "have" to perform . We could play a solo piece or we could play our ensemble pieces with our partners. And I am happy to say that all of our group members played at least one solo piece and all participants played a part in an ensemble piece during the masterclasses. Kathleen could see how much fun we were having in-person so she actually drove in from the Crowsnest to attend in-person on Saturday and played a solo piece at the masterclass on Saturday. It was so great to see her and she had so much fun dancing on stage with Deanna. Yes, folks, you read that right - she was dancing the waltz with Deanna in front of all the participants and teachers! I was so happy to see her "let go" like that! LPI is so exhilarating when you are game to try what the teachers ask you to do. I could go on and on about how wonderful every day of the camp was but again I would be taking up too much real estate in this newsletter. So I will zero in on a couple things. On Friday, I loved the Taiko drumming session with Matt Groenheide. It was so great to stand, dance and drum with my partner, Shauna, after all that sitting. In fact, I was so taken with Taiko that I even toyed with the idea of joinng a Taiko drumming community in Calgary.
And the evening 2 hour workshop on "Tools for Managing Performance Anxiety" presented by Jesse Plessis was absolutely outstanding! Jesse frankly and honestly shared how focal dystonia had totally upended his life and how he eventually was able to create a better, healthier and more centered version of himself during his journey of curiosity and rediscovery. He discussed the basic foundations of a healthy and calm life focussing on sleep, exercise, breathing exercises and guided meditation practices like yoga nidra. He also shared techniques for more efficient learning uptake and retainment. His modesty, humility and incredible perseverance shone through his presentation which made it a very moving presentation. It was probably the highlight of this year's LPI for me (although Cheryl and Brad's presentation, sharing and informal discussion on the second day came a close second).
And that was how we spent our first jam-packed day of camp! We had not even checked into our airbnb yet. We eventually made it to our accommodations at 10:15 pm Friday night. We had booked a four bedroom place on a farm outside Lethbridge which was only a 10 minute drive from the University of Lethbridge. It turned out to be a really great place for the four of us. And we were up early and made it to the university at 8:30 am so we could practice before Saturday's classes began. On Sunday. we did not get to the university until 8:45 am on Sunday as we had to check out and repack our belongings to get ready for the drive back after Sunday's faculty concert. We got back to Calgary at about 6:40 pm on Sunday. What a fabulous and lovely 3 days it was!
I think what really made this camp stand out for me from the previous experiences was the socializing. There were more opportunities for socializing because we were staying in Lethbridge. It was great to grab dinner and get to know Shauna and Rob on Friday and chat with Heather and Brad at dinner on Saturday night. And it was just great to be able to just 'nerd out' and talk music all day long with the clinicians, our group members and other participants. But I loved how the conversation flowed so easily with my house/car mates as we spent so much time together. We could reflect and discuss each day's insights and also talk "ad nauseum" about music but also on many other subjects other than music. We loved that! We are already looking forward to next year's LPI. Are you ready to join the party? We hope to see even more new faces next year! |
In terms of ALMSG workshops, we are still trying to work out the details for our rhythym and solfege workshops. It has been hard for us to gain traction on these workshops and for that, we apologize. We will announce to our membership when we have something solid to relate. And as I had alluded to in the previous newsletter, we will be organizing separate virtual and in-person "Sing and Play" workshops with Amy Wood that will take place on a Saturday in October. The virtual workshop are for those members that live outside Calgary. If you are interested in this workshop, please contact me at my email on the website.
And for what is happening around town this month and next, please check the ProArts schedule for upcoming events at Schedule (proartssociety.ca) . Please check the members' page on the home page to find out more about our endeavours and our exams at Adults Learning Music Support Group | Canada | Adults Learning Music
And there is one last thing that I want to direct your attention to. Linda attended a presentation by Sonia Poon on calming performance anxiety at the Alberta Piano Teacher's Assocition (APTA) festival that ran in March. Linda has written a great article summarizing her takeaways. It is posted on the blog and you can read her article below.
Until the next newsletter, I wish you happy learning and enjoyment on all your music journeys. Enjoy the rest of the summer!
Musically striving with you always,
Sandra
July 23, 2024
