Our First Musicale of February

The music of Granados, Brahms, Rameau and Chopin -- along with a special presentation by Ed Ewing -- was enjoyed by 13 music lovers on Wednesday, Feb. 3, Judy Darst began the session with the lovely "Dedication" by Granados, then gracefully played Op.117, no. 1 by Brahms..Utako presented "L'Egyptinne" ("Egyptian girl") by Rameau, a lively yet delicate piece. Lastly, Tim Anderson performed the always challenging Etude Op. 25, no.12 by Chopin, with much confidence!

As a special treat, Ed Ewing gave a talk about painting, using his own works to show and explain how painting is done. Ed often uses photographs (his own) as the genesis of a painting. He also uses objects, or people, as subjects of his paintings. Ed's explanation of his use of color (the hues), and value (the tints and shades), in painting accompanied several pictures of his paintings, which he screen-shared for all of us to see. Because Ed is also a world traveler, his paintings reflected this; for example, one painting was titled "Sudanese Teapots," another was "Iceland Church." It was a fascinating presentation, and an education not only about art but also about how multi-talented Dr. Ed Ewing is.

An interesting and helpful comment I took away from today's musicale was: "Practice slow to play fast." This insight emerged after the musical portion wrapped up. Several attendees commented on Tim's playing of the Chopin etude, and the difficulty therein. Starting to learn a piece with slow practice, then gradually increasing the tempo, was the agreed-upon best method for learning a piece as challenging as a Chopin etude (but this method could be used with almost any music.)

The next event will be the recital, next Thursday, Feb. 11th. Deadline for submitting a piece is Feb. 9th.