Tag Archives: lake shore music studio

Location of LSMS in Relation to Great Chicago Fire

This map shows the current location of The Lake Shore Music Studio at Sandburg Village in relation to The Great Chicago Fire of October 8, 1871.

The pink area on this edited map indicates the area that was burned north of the river.

You can click on this link to see more of the map and read more about the Great Chicago Fire.

It’s fun to put yourself in history. Look around and imagine how much has changed.

The people escaping the flames on that early fall day could hardly imagine what the city would ultimately become.

Study the map and note that Clark Street north of North Avenue was called Green Bay Road. Where it intersects with Lincoln was called Little Fort Road.

Much of the “Gold Coast” area to the east including the Cardinal’s Residence was part of the Catholic Cemetery.

Did you know that Mary Todd Lincoln, widow of the slain President Abraham Lincoln was living in Chicago and escaped the fire with her son Robert by going to the lake?

Photo of destruction after the Chicago Fire

Madison and Wells Street after the Great Chicago Fire

Take a minute to listen to these two songs written shortly afterwards “Passing Through the Fire” and “Pity the Homeless.”

The song that might be the most popular is “There’ll Be a Hot Time in the old Town Tonight.”

This song was already well known but was adapted to commemorate the disaster.

Unfortunately its popularity was helpful in continuing the myth that the fire was caused by Mrs. O’Leary and her cow. Mrs O’Leary was ultimately exonerated by the City Council in 1997.

Here are the lyrics from the popular Chicago version of the song.

“Late one night,
When we were all in bed,
Old Mother Leary
Left a lantern in the shed;
And when the cow kicked it over,
She winked her eye and said,
‘There’ll be a hot time
In the old town, tonight.’”

For you sports fans you might recognize this as one of the favorite songs used to rally on the soccer team.

Here’s a very funky honky tonk piano version on an out of tune piano.

Finally check out this cartoon from the 1940’s and see how the music is used to augment the action of the animation.

Listen closely to hear the “Carnival of Venice” theme.

It ends with a sing-along version of “The Hot Time..” song.

Sing-A-Longs before and after the main movie feature were very popular in the movie theaters at the time.

Piano Tuner Plays Important Role in “Five Guys Named Moe.”

It takes more than actors, musicians and dancers to put on a great theatrical musical performance. There are also a number of technicians handling audio, lights and more.

I was delighted to see, that when crediting all of those who contributed to the production of “Five Guys Named Moe” at the Court Theatre in Hyde Park, the producers included the production’s piano tuner Kent Busse in the program.

I am sure the appreciation extends to the outstanding six piece jazz band that accompanied the “Moes.” J.P Floyd (trombone), Sam Hankins (trumpet), Jarrard Harris (reeds), Ben Johnson (drums), Chuck Webb (bass), led by Abdul Hamid Royal (music director/pianist).

When you sit down to play it’s nice to have the confidence of knowing that your instrument is in tune. In a combo of this size the musicians usually tune-up to the piano, so it all starts there.

It is a similar experience for the singers. They have a certain pitch in mind that they expect to hear as the first note is sung. Singing in tune starts with an in-tune piano. In this production the Five Moes sing five part harmony. Typically each singer’s harmonic interval is derived from the first note. If that note is “off” everyone is off.

The harmonies of this doo-wop quintet comprised of Big Moe (Lorenzo Rush, Jr.), Little Moe (Darrin Ford), Eat Moe (James Earl Jones II), Four Eyed-Moe (Kelvin Rosten, Jr.) and No Moe (Eric A. Lewis) are spot on.

I think I’ll make Kent Busse the sixth Moe, “Hear Moe,” because what he hears will determine what the audience will hear.

Kent has been the “official” piano tuner for The Lake Shore Music Studio for several years and recently tuned our piano at home. That is why I was particularly pleased to see him get some of the recognition he deserves and also give him a bit of recognition here as well.

According to Julie, Kent does a great job of keeping the LSMS pianos in shape as well as in tune. As you can imagine they get quite a workout from 50+ students per week aged 4 through 74+.

You can enjoy the fruits of Mr. Busse’s work by playing one of the many LSMS acoustic pianos or coming in to hear your kids play during their lesson.

Additionally you might check out “Five Guys Named Moe” which is a tribute to band leader and saxophonist Louis Jordan, one of the fathers of rock & roll, who popularized several blues/jazz standards like Caldonia and Choo Choo Ch’boogie.

Listen for the boogie piano accompaniment in the beginning of this video.

To read my entire review of “Five Guys Named Moe”.

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Guest Blogger : Reno Lovison is Julie’s husband and reviewer for Chicago Theater and Arts.

Visit with Sir James Galway at MTNA Las Vegas 2015

One of the fun aspects of attending a national conference is the opportunity to spend a few minutes with the musical celebrities who are participating. We enjoyed a wonderful concert by renowned flutist Sir James Galway who incidentally was exhibiting his new “First Flute” instruction video series in the booth next to Lee Roberts Music Publications where I was assisting teachers to better understand the benefits of the Robert Pace Piano Approach.

Sir James Galway with Julie Lovison, Director of The Lake Shore Music Studio.

It seemed appropriate to have Sir James autograph a copy of “Shepherd’s Flute” composed for piano by Earl Ricker from the Robert Pace Piano Recital Series. Since it is written in a minor key popular in Jewish tunes he quipped, “This is a Jewish Shepherd” and went on to share the fact that “Jewish shepherds lead their flock” while shepherds from other cultures drive their flock from behind.

At his master class Sir James made a point of stressing the importance of practicing his scales which he still does devotedly every day. I guess that proves no matter how accomplished you are you need to pay attention to the fundamentals.

We observed how personable he was with each visitor taking time time to have a short chat while simultaneously playing chess via his cell phone with a friend online between visitors.

Sir James was also kind enough to autograph a page from the “Two On Tour” duet book volume 2 which was the promotional handout in the Lee Roberts’ booth. The piece is called “Parade for the Irish”.

Video

Julie Lovison, Director of The Lake Shore Music Studio in Chicago speaks with piano teachers about the Robert Pace Approach to Piano Instruction at the Music Teachers National Conference MTNA 2015 conference held at The Rio in Las Vegas.