Piano Studios Unite: International Online Mid-Year Piano Extravaganza

As our Piano Studios Unite Christmas Concert worked so well, Catherine and I (Georgina) were excited to create another International Online Concert. After a while of musing, we came up with the International Online Mid-Year Piano Extravaganza: an opportunity for studios from around the world to share performances of their students (any age, any ability, any style of music). The videos would be compiled together in concert playlists to be watched by everyone. Earlier this year, our Facebook group grew considerably to include members from America to Australia, and from Canada to Cambodia - our project was set to definitely be an International Extravaganza!

Spring Piano Recital 2015

Today was our Spring Piano Recital!
We wanted to do something different to last year, so we held it at Greenside and the audience only consisted of the people who were performing. This meant the pressure was slightly lifted as everyone was in the same position, and could sympathize with one another about being nervous.

Catherine and Georgina began the afternoon with a performance of
Everything is Awesome (watch their video here)

  

Students picked a number from a pot to determine the order in which they would perform.
 

We'd never tried this before as we normally have quite a high number of performers, but as we only had 17 students today, we thought we'd give it a go. 

We quite enjoyed letting fate decide the running order, but for the next concert involving piano students (Christmas) we will create a programme before the day. 

After everyone had performed, we sorted them into four groups and set them the task of answering the question:

'Why is learning the piano good for you?' 

The Wolf's Tale

Following the success of our mini-musicals with Greenside Choir (Happily Ever After, and On Christmas Day), we decided to write another one. However, this time we wrote it for a smaller group: Greenside Consort. 

We mused over various different fairy tales, and saw a common character: the big bad wolf. The character appears in so many stories, but is never the focus. What if he isn’t really bad, just thoroughly misunderstood? What if the wolf isn’t even male? We thought it was time for the wolf to take the stage and tell her story.

Greenside Music's Memory Tree 2015

Here at Greenisde, we thought it would be nice if everyone shared their favourite memories of  Greenside Music. During their piano lessons last week, all our students wrote down their favourite memories. We then typed them up onto leaves, and created the:

Greenside Music Memory Tree

 

We're delighted with all of the different memories our students cherish, ranging from their first recitals to themed days we hold.

 

Here's to many more years of making more happy memories at Greenside Music!

Our Online, International Piano Project

It's been a while since we last wrote anything, but during that time we've been very busy!
Over the next few weeks, we'll be blogging about our current charity project Alice, and about everything else that's happening at Greenside Music, but today's blog is about Piano Studios Unite. 

The Piano Studios Unite noticeboard at Greenside Music

Greenside Christmas Concert 2014

Well, it's taken a week for us to recover from the epic 3 1/2 hour long Greenside Christmas Concert. It took a lot of preparation, practice and patience, but it all paid off in the end! 

Our programme was very varied, with pieces dating back to the 1600s to pieces written this year. We had performances from beginner students, to pianists who are Grade 8+; students who performed pieces from our Seasons project, and students who are preparing for exams.

There was also a mixture of non-festive pieces and festive pieces; all of the students who played Christmas pieces were featured in the Piano Studios Unite project. 

Seasons Project Videos

Thank you to everyone who took part in the Greenside charity project 'Seasons', and thank you to everyone who has supported us by purchasing the book & CD. Here are a few videos of some of the pieces included on the CD.

Spring Piano Solo 

Summer Piano Duet 

Autumn Choir Song