What's on the iPod- From Bach to Piazzolla

I have to start this review with a disclaimer. Ever since I heard Maria Luisa Rayan-Forero play live at the 5^th Australian Harp Festival I was a fan (read more about that concert here). Then I had the pleasure of working with her myself on some pesky Bach ornamentation and became an even bigger fan. She’s just such a lovely lady!

So naturally I went out and bought her latest CD ‘From Bach to Piazzolla’ to relive the performance and to study her Bach a little more closely. While it’s impossible to completely capture the magic of a live concert in a studio recording I am not at all disappointed in what I got.

Maria Luisa Rayan-Forero has put together a wonderful CD of old classics, new classics and harp classics.

Here’s the track listing:

1.        Marcel Grandjany- Rhapsodie

2.       J.S. Bach Partita in B-flat major BWV 825- Praeludium

3.       Allemande

4.       Corrente

5.       Sarabande

6.       Menuets I & II

7.       Giga

8.       Heitor Villa-Lobos- Preludio from Bachianas Brasileiras No. 4

9.       Astor Piazolla Cuatro Estaciones Portenas- Verano Porteno

10.   Otono Porteno

11.   Invierno Porteno

12.   Primavera Portena

13.   Serie del Angel- Milonga del Angel

14.   Muerte del Angel

15.   Resurreccion del Angel

16.   Libertango

 I came across a listing of the cd on the CD Universe website http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=8776380 which categorises the music on the recording as

Category

Classical, Modern, Baroque Period, Dance - Classical, Rhapsody, Partita, Tango

 Which makes it sound a little indecisive in it’s make up. It’s anything but.

Maria has researched at length the influence Bach had on Piazzolla, so from that angle pairing the two otherwise vastly different composers makes sense. Working off her own transcriptions brings out her background learning still further, making for a very detailed performance throughout. The harmonic richness of the opening track (Grandjany) is then reflected in the language of Piazzolla, so it all wraps up very nicely.

Maria announced on Facebook recently that the album is being considered for a nomination at the Grammys, which is an amazing achievement for a solo harp CD. Here’s hoping she gets the nod for a nomination and, even better, a win!

Either way, grab yourself a copy and enjoy!

5 tips for tax time

Ahh, tax. There’s no avoiding it. And around these parts it’s that time of year.

In Australia, our financial year runs from the beginning of July until the end of June which always seems very neat. We then have until the end of October to get all the paper work done and submitted to some nice accountant who knows what they are doing. Only once did I try to do my own tax return and I spent the whole time crying. Never again.

So I spent last week putting it all together and was pleased to see that a few new initiatives I had implemented this past financial year worked really well for keeping on top of all the paperwork. Plus the old reliables are still doing their job, which is always good to know. So here’s a few tips for anyone who shudders at the idea of doing their tax return!

1.      

      The big success for me this year was making myself spend just 10-15 minutes every Monday on bookkeeping. I chose Mondays because there were usually invoices to write following the weekend gigs so I was in a financial state of mind anyway. But just that short time spent adding income and expenditure to my accounting software has paid off big time as there is no scrounging around for paperwork or trying to remember how that mystery $100 came to be in my bank account.

2.       Have a separate bank account solely for business transactions. Nothing makes tax life easier than transparency of transactions (account for everything) and no confusion between business and personal transactions. A separate account for receiving all your income makes this LOADS easier.

3.       Have some kind of accounting system, anything from MYOB with all the bells and whistles to a humble notebook and pen. The important thing is that it works for you and YOU USE IT!

4.       A plastic loose leaf folder. This is a little strange but we own 4 filing cabinets. And I hardly use any of them. But I love filing things in plastic loose leaf folders. I always remember being told that any person can play an instrument if they can just get to the right instrument and I think the same is true with organisation. Find what works for you and you are more likely to use it.

5.       Keep an envelope in the car for all your parking tickets. I mark mine with the details of whatever financial year it is and then bring it inside while doing my tax return, and, hey presto, there are all my receipts for parking. And if I park at a meter which doesn’t issue a ticket I write the date, location and amount on the back of the envelope. This year my parking costs were in the vicinity of $350, which I can claim back as a necessary expenditure. That’s a lot of money that could have been lost with parking tickets just floating around the car and then getting chucked out.

What tax tips work for you?

Who's a clever little freelancer?

Musical training, whether formal or informal, rarely incorporates the business skills required for long term operation as a freelance musician. A few make up for this with formal business study, some learn on the job, and I suspect a lot hope that it will all somehow just take care of itself.

I certainly know that’s what I thought for a long time. At least until it became apparent that odd jottings on the back of old envelopes was no longer going to cut it as a business model.

Now, after 20 plus years on the freelancing circuit I find myself with a business name, an ABN, all kinds of insurance, plus the full social media set up of a blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest etc. And I’m actively working towards diversifying my business so I’m not reliant upon the shifting sands of itinerant gigs.

But why bother to think like a business when the phone is still ringing and the gigs are still coming in regardless?

This blog is the start of a whole series that explores that question, stemming from my recent presentation ‘Facets of Freelancing’ at the 5^th Australian Harp Festival. (You can read more about that here and here.) It’s a topic which I have a real passion for, but no formal education. I’m not trained in business management, accountancy, marketing, booking keeping, IT, arts management or tax matters.

But these are all skills which I use every day as I work as a freelance musician. My 3 music degrees taught me how to play all the dots on the page and developed in me a deep appreciation of all kinds of music, but never ever did anyone mention how to survive in the real world. I studied my Grandjany, Godefroid and Glanville-Hicks but never actually got told how to write an invoice. Which is a kind of helpful skill to have if you want to get paid.

So everything I know I learned on the job.

But before we dive into this series let’s check out some definitions. Just what is a freelance musician? Here’s something I prepared earlier:

A freelance musician takes on a variety of short term work according to demand and works for a variety of employers including working for themselves.

I like this one too:

 Freelancers must be highly adaptable, creative problem solvers, and expert networkers, and they must have the ability to deal with dozens of separate information channels and collate them together, minimizing conflicts and allowing enough time to make it from venue to venue. Too little work, and they’ll end up in the poorhouse. Too much work, and they’re headed for the madhouse. It’s a delicate balancing act!

(http://doublebassblog.org/2008/06/twelve-survival-tips-for-freelance-musicians.html)

So where do you work? My 4 main areas of work are:

1.       Music Industry gigs- orchestra, television, recording work.

2.       Background gigs- weddings, functions etc

3.       Teaching- for me that’s in a private studio, but can be in schools/studios outside the home

4.       Self-run concert performances

If you’re a freelance musician I’d guess your job description would look something similar. But have you ever really stopped to think about all the skills involved with making it all happen? It’s mindblowing! (And I think kind of impressive!)

So take the time to have a think- it’s often worthwhile to actually write down everything that you do beyond playing the dots on the page- chances are you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how much you can do! This could form the start of a business plan, something we’ll talk more about next time!

A Wrap up of the 5th Australian Harp Festival- Part 2

Hello all,

Time to continue my wrap up of the Australian Harp Festival that happened from 28^th September to 1^st October in Adelaide, South Australia. You can read the first part here.

The other international star who came out for the Festival was none other than the jaw droppingly good Catrin Finch. I’d heard and met her a few years ago at the Llangollen Eistedfodd in Wales where she delighted the hugely partisan audience not just with her playing but with her dress, which featured a large red Welsh dragon wrapped around her torso.

As well as conducting a masterclass, Catrin played a recital at Elder Hall late on the Sunday afternoon. Right from the first note of the first piece (Bach/Grandjany’s Partita No 3) her technical prowess shone. How can fingers move that fast? And accurately. This had ‘wow’ factor in spades.

The programme showed not just that she could play like nobody’s business, but that she is also A1 when it comes to stage presence. There are only so many players that can make Paul Patterson’s ‘Mosquito Massacre’ work so convincingly, a piece where you have to be as much an actor as a musician. It was originally composed for her, and you can tell why. She is a natural at playing the harp while swatting at imaginary mosquitos.

The rest of the programme was really broad- everything from Godefroid to Benjamin Britten with some Debussy and William Mathias thrown in for good measure. It all just made you want to go home and practice scales. Really  fast.

One other international visitor was harp technician Liza Jensen. Yep, a lady regulating harps. And she was great. Liza is a player as well as a technician which meant she handled the harps with prowess and a wrench with aplomb. And that can’t be said of everyone. I attended the pedal harp maintenance workshop and resolved to never, ever attempt to change a pedal rod myself, even though Liza kept assuring us it wasn’t as bad as it looked. I beg to differ.

An abiding memory of the event was seeing her sit astride a Salvi while putting some some pliers to work on the pedal mechanism. Wish I’d got a photo of that one. Instead here’s one of her demonstrating knot tying to an audience.

All up the Festival was a brilliant weekend of nerdy harp talk which I really loved. So much went on I can’t report it all without basically taking up so much of your time you may as well have come to the weekend yourself. And who knows? Maybe I’ll see you at the next one!

P.S. For more pics swing over to my Facebook page.

A Wrap up of the 5th Australian Harp Festival- Part 1

Well, it’s been a busy time around here- two performances of ‘The Queen’s Music’ in a week and then a paper for the 5^th Australian Harp Festival in Adelaide. And what a weekend that was.

The opening concert was held in the gorgeous Elder Hall at the University of Adelaide.

The guest international musician was Maria Luisa Rayan-Forero, a performer who I had heard much of but was still not adequately prepared for. She was amazing.

The programme was drawn from her latest CD ‘From Bach to Piazzolla’.

While I appreciated the incredible music and the skill that was required to arrange and perform the selections of Piazzolla, it was the Bach the caught me, and became the highlight of the whole Festival. It was one of the most exquisitely beautiful things I have ever heard. To describe it fully would see me descend into clichés and bucket loads of superlatives, so just take it as read that it was good. Very, very good.

Listening to Luisa play it I was reminded of a quote that I am fairly certain came from the great pianist Arthur Rubenstein and went something like: “The notes I play no better than anyone else, but the space between notes- there is the magic”. And so it was with Luisa’s playing- she commands not just the notes, but the space between the notes and there, definitely, is where the magic lies.

Saturday dawned crisp and bright and saw Rosemary Hallo deliver her presentation on the harp in colonial Australia with particular reference to Robert Nicholas Charles Bochsa, who of course famously died in Sydney in 1856. It’s great work Rosemary is doing in researching this and other early harp connections in Australia and fantastic to see and hear the single action harps being played. I had a particular interest in them after putting together the Marie Antoinette programme- it’s like hearing the sequel to that concert programme!

Following on from Rosemary was triple harpist Robin Ward who delivered a nigh faultless performance of music ranging from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries. I have only tried to play a triple harp once, and very briefly at that, mainly because I couldn’t cope. My eyes, fingers and brain went in to overload. There are 84 strings on that harp, people!

I really appreciated his later workshop as well looking at the use of ornamentation in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, something which has remained a conundrum for a lot of my playing career. Having had a one on one session with Luisa on how she plays Bach, it was really interesting getting Robin’s take on transcriptions and the ‘modernisation’ of Bach and other earlier composers. Suffice to say the Bach/Grandjany etudes came up for discussion as did Grandjany’s arrangement of the C.P.E. Bach Sonata with some quite different viewpoints on the topic!

Saturday night’s Elder Hall concert featured two more international acts: I-Sis trio and Paige Su with Cody Byasse on percussion.

Here’s some YouTube clips to enjoy-

More from the Festival in the next post!