Home : Plato's Words : October 2008

October 2008

Words, Music, words, music! Somehow that is what my life has become this past month as I have discovered how much preparation there is for my piano and vocal students. This is not a complaint but merely a timely observation. My teaching year is well underway and once again I realize the importance I must place on the words I say about music and learning of music and the potential composing of music. These are impressionable minds! I take this all seriously and I do delight in those students who seem to be excited about learning new songs and pieces. Some of my students have such potential to express themselves in music and even if they don’t become professional musicians, I think it is up to me, if they come to me as students, to teach them as much as I can about the excitement of performing music with dynamics and expression and conviction to convey what the composer intended on paper. Heavy stuff! This is important for me to remember as an artist and as a teacher.

Besides being a teacher I have been preparing to be a performing artist again. My new CD DOWNWARD DANCING will be released in November in Toronto and already has been selling at CDBaby.com. How exciting to have it already selling when I have not even officially released it! I will be performing in Toronto for the official release since I did record it with a Toronto based band. It seems like some time ago since January 2006 is when I did the recording with Nancy Walker, Steve Wallace and Joel Haynes but now…finally it is time to celebrate the release of the disc.

There are other projects on the horizon as well. At the end of October I will travel to Regina, Saskatchewan to perform a concert at the Regina CBC. I have chosen Montreal pianist John Roney and his trio for this showcase performance because I have had such a wonderful musical chemistry in the past with John. I am hoping this chemistry will be extended as we perform together in a quartet for the Regina audience. The concert will also be broadcast across Canada on the CBC program Canada Live so of course I am also hoping for some good energy and musical chemistry for that reason as well. I suppose if I don’t fret too much and if I just attempt to make music from the heart, good things should happen!

Lately some wonderful musical things did happen, even if on a small scale. I performed three nights at the Hotel Vancouver with pianist Chris Sigerson and the music making was magical, at least to me. Each and every tune felt inspired and creative and somehow the minutes and hours and then days melted away as I was lost in the excitement of singing with Chris. He is wonderful and I believe in many ways is one of Canada’s underrated jazz pianists. He is such a gentle unassuming human being and perhaps he is that way at the piano too. Nothing is gratuitous and everything is sensitive and supportive in the duo role. What a wonder Chris is! I do hope to do more with him in the future…

So, here’s to the words and the music that will be shared in days ahead this October…

Karin