Duet of “Poor Wayfaring Stranger” is arranged by Marion Verhaalen and published in “Folk Songs from Here and There” by Lee Roberts Music Publications.
Tag Archives: music
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?
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.
Lang Lang at MTNA Conference Las Vegas 2015 | Julie Lovison The Lake Shore Music Studio
One musician who participated at the 2015 MTNA Conference in Las Vegas who has been doing a lot to introduce young people to the piano and hold their interest is Lang Lang. His boyish charm and somewhat flamboyant style makes him appear more accessible to a younger audience. Maybe in your day it was Liberace, or Van Cliburn but charisma has always played a part in musical performance though of course it must always begin with real skill or that elusive something described as “talent” to become a superstar.
In fact, speaking of superstars, a number of MTNA attendees took the opportunity to see Elton John, another consummate piano performer of the popular genre, who was appearing at Caesar’s which was the next venue over from The Rio where the conference was being held.
Though Lang Lang did not give a piano performance he did conduct a master class and a showcase session (both of which I attended) introducing his new piano teaching materials distributed by Alfred Publishing. I was lucky enough to pick up a copy of each of the Level 1-5 books and get a couple of them autographed.
Julie Lovison gets Lang Lang autograph at MTNA Conference in Las Vegas 2015
Lang Lang Autographed music book.
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.
In the Meadow Stood A Birch Tree – Piano Recital Performance with Student Comment
You can find this piano piece in Solo Adventures – Set 4 (Intermediate to Early Advanced Level) by Marion Verhaalen edited by Cynthia Pace. For Piano/Keyboard. Pace Piano Education. 16 pages. Published by Lee Roberts Music .