MusicBasics4Keyboard

Today I'm reflecting upon my past public performances as a vocalist and keyboard advisor for Jordan Kitt's in Annapolis after graduating from The King's College in 1992 formerly located in upstate New York (not the UK). Today, The King's College is located in lower Manhattan. Read all about it in my books From Piano to Puccini and Songbird at the Shopping Mall. Find them on Amazon and other online bookstores. Thanks for watching on Spotify and listening on Anchor.

For a perfectly cooked quiche and a pie crust that won't burn loosely cover the entire glass pie plate with foil during the cooking process. Set the oven at 325 degrees and cook the covered quiche for about 40 minutes. This dish was made with eight whole eggs and about 3/4 cup 2% milk. See You Soon by Otis McDonald from the YouTube Audio Library. Thank you for watching and/or listening.

Greetings from my kitchen! Today, it's all about matzo ball soup for Passover and rugelach. Delicious to eat and fun to make, rugelach (pronounced rug-a-lah) are miniature crescent-rolled pastries posing as cookies. They're made by rolling a triangle of dough around a sweet filling of fruit, nuts, chocolate or pretty much anything your heart desires. Medium-textured matzo meal is about the same texture as cornmeal. It is used for baking, as a coating for fried foods, to thicken, and to make matzo balls from. Some folks refer to matzo as the "bread of affliction" because it represents our suffering as slaves, or as lechem oni, "poor man's bread" in Hebrew. .... Matzah is a food which man makes and bakes, no external element beyond wheat flour and water defines or influences its form." Can I use flour instead of matzo meal? For most applications, flour is not recommended as a replacement for matzo meal. Flour is much finer and, unlike matzo meal, hasn't been baked. During Passover, you can use approved flours like almond flour, quinoa flour, or teff flour for thickening sauces, breading, and some baked recipes. What is the most important day of Passover 2022? Passover for the year 2022 starts on the evening of Friday, April 15th and ends the 7 day festival at sunset on Friday, April 22nd for Reform and progressive Jews living inside Israel who follow the Biblical text.

Itzhak Perlman, (born August 31, 1945, Tel Aviv, Palestine [now Tel Aviv–Yafo, Israel]), Israeli-American violinist known for his brilliant virtuoso technique. His refinement of detail led many to regard him as one of the finest performers of the major violin repertoire of his time.  Perlman was drawn to the violin after hearing it on the radio when he was three. His musical education was interrupted, however, when he contracted polio a year later (which left his legs with a permanent disability). After recovering, he showed great skill on the violin and later entered the Tel Aviv Academy of Music. His first public concert was in Tel Aviv when he was 10. In 1958 he went to the United States to study at the Juilliard School in New York City with the renowned teachers Ivan Galamian and Dorothy DeLay; in that same year he performed before a national television audience on the Ed Sullivan Show.  He made his Carnegie Hall (New York City) debut in 1963 and won the prestigious Leventritt Prize a year later, which brought him immediate engagements with major American orchestras. (The Leventritt Foundation awarded its violin and piano prizes only sporadically; the rarity of the prize and the value of the guaranteed engagements that came with it separated the Leventritt from other competitions.) As well as performing virtually the entire classical concert repertoire, he occasionally played with klezmer (traditional Jewish dance music) and jazz groups. He also played the solo violin passages in John Williams’s Oscar-winning score for the movie Schindler’s List (1993). As a conductor, he worked with many of the great orchestras. He held the position of principal guest conductor with the Detroit Symphony from 2001 to 2005 and was music adviser of the St. Louis Symphony, Missouri, from 2002 to 2004. Perlman was also a teacher, regularly giving violin master classes and cofounding in 1998 (with his wife, Toby) the Perlman Music Program to encourage gifted string players aged 12 to 18. He received 15 Grammy Awards between 1977 and 1995, and in 2008 he was given a Grammy for lifetime achievement. Perlman was also a recipient of the U.S. Medal of Freedom (1986), the National Medal of Arts (2000), a Kennedy Center Honor (2003), and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2015). Itzhak (2017) is a documentary about his life and career.  SOURCE: The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Learn more at britannica.com  

Three Blind Mice is an English-language nursery rhyme written by Thomas Ravenscroft in 1609. The modern version of the song was first included in children’s literature much later, at the beginning of 19th century, and its lyrics are different than the original one. The farmer's wife refers to the queen who with her husband, King Philip of Spain, owned large estates. QUESTION: Am I playing from memory or reading sheet music? Memory and with both hands. A real milestone this week.

Renting a practice room has many benefits. It provides a space to practice without distractions. Weekly rentals mean you may give advanced notice to reschedule without being charged. You will be asked to pay for "no shows". What is the policy about recording equipment? Is there an extra charge to bring a friend? Are the practice rooms sound proof? Thanks for stopping by.

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is a 1967 American musical comedy film based on the 1961 stage musical of the same name, which in turn was based on Shepherd Mead's 1952 book. The film was produced by United Artists and directed by David Swift, with original staging by Bob Fosse. Synopsis: J. Pierpont Finch (Robert Morse) is a lowly window cleaner with dreams of making it big in the business world. After finding a copy of the book "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," Finch decides to apply the tactics in the book to his own life. Soon, he's working as a mail-room clerk at the World Wide Wicket Company and quickly fighting his way up the corporate ladder with relative ease in this quirky musical based on the hit Broadway production. Success in life begins with a dream. This is what I know about success. Self-confidence is contagious. Many people find this quality attractive in others without realizing the attraction. When it comes to dreams, sooner or later you'll find out if you're on the right path or not. Believe in your dreams, ask a lot of questions and keep going. A few people who share your dreams will ultimately become your advocates and may even wind up offering support. Accept it. Thanks for listening.

Would you be interested in knowing more about my public performances as a vocalist/musician?? If you are, please check out Songbird at the Shopping Mall and From Piano to Puccini. I am the author of these coffee table books available on Amazon. Who is Bessie Smith? She was an American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the "Empress of the Blues", she was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s. In this podcast, I reminisce about an evening with Bessie Smith on Broadway. Thank you for listening.

Do you dream (literally) about singing in public or playing a musical instrument? Do they motivate you? What do these dreams mean to you? This video contains questions about your dreams. Care to leave a comment?  Would love to hear from you. Thanks for stopping by.

We are complying with copyright laws and could not be happier. Sheet music for That's Amore was ordered today making me an authorized user.  This song is available in 7-8 different keys (for a price). Check it out for yourself. Dean Martin sang this song in B flat major. That's two black keys, i.e. B & E flat keys. Tomorrow, tomorrow! Thanks for listening/watching on Spotify.

This is about learning to play That's Amore from the movie soundtrack for MOONSTRUCK which stars Cher and Nicholas Cage. Cher plays a tax consultant who falls in love with a man who bakes bread for a living in NYC's Little Italy. Currently, this movie is FREE to watch on YouTube. Ultimately the lovers attend an opera at Lincoln Center which culminates in a hilarious twist in Cher's love life and her engagement to the brother of Nicholas Cage who's visiting their "dying mother" in Sicily. The name of the opera is La Boheme written by Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924), possibly the most famous opera composer of all time. The librettists were Luigi Illica (a playwright) and Giuseppe Giacosa (a poet), with whom Puccini also worked on his huge successes Tosca and Madama Butterfly. What is the meaning of La bohème opera? La bohème (pronounced, "La bo-EM") is an Italian opera in four acts. The opera tells the story of a love affair between a poor poet and an equally poor seamstress in 19th century Paris. Are you in? Check back for future episodes about learning to play love songs for this upcoming Valentine's Day. That's amore!

One of Dean Martin's most famous songs, "That's Amore" describes love the way they do it in the southern Italy town of Napoli ("Amore" is Italian for "Love"). Filled with passion, the singer compares the feeling to his favorite Italian foods: pizza and pasta fagiole. It's a quirky romantic song poking a bit of fun at Italian stereotypes, something Martin - born Dino Crocetti - had every right to do. The lyrics were written by Jack Brooks with music by Harry Warren. The song first appeared in the 1953 movie The Caddy, starring Martin and his comedy partner Jerry Lewis. In his autobiography, Lewis said that when he and Dean were making The Caddy, the writers left Dean with little to do. Knowing this would increase their already strained relationship, Jerry went behind Dean's back and asked songwriter Harry Warren to write a hit song for Dean to sing in the movie. This was the result. What movies have the song that's amore? This has been used in a variety of movies, including Rear Window (1954), Ishtar (1987), Moonstruck (1987), Grumpier Old Men (1995), White Chicks (2004), Enchanted (2007), and Bridget Jones's Baby (2016). It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia ("The Gang Dines Out" - 2012). Wow. 

Joseph Rudyard Kipling (December 1865 - January 1936) was an English journalist, short-story writer, poet, and novelist. Kipling's works of fiction include The Jungle Book, Kim, and many short stories, including "The Man Who Would Be King". Kipling was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. Myra recites verses from his most famous poem "IF" and concludes with "The waves keep coming, Darlene." Darlene apologizes for the misspelling the word horizon in Myra's video quotation. Thanks for stopping by. CHEERS!

All work and no play makes me think about today. Is this about you, too? No time to smell the roses? They're on sale at local supermarkets. One dozen yellow stemmed roses for $12.99 at Kroger. They lasted nearly two weeks. Remember your sweetheart this Valentine's day with flowers and restaurant reservations. It's all about the love, la, la, la.

Thought you might like to know more about the contents in this piano course. Lessons includes phrase and rhythmic development, musical terms, accidentals, bringing out the melody and so much more. It contains major scale patterns, right and left hand exercises, sight reading Brahms' Lullaby and a suggested recital piece. It's just about everything you hope to learn to play piano or electronic keyboard. This is one of many books by John W. Schaum regarding piano, theory and sight reading leading to "Mastery of the Instrument". Thanks for stopping by.