The vast majority of my students first and foremost learn some musical performance skill: how to play piano / guitar / ukulele / bass or to sing. Along the way, most inevitably encounter issues of music theory. Theory is, after all, a lot to do with the written language of music – how we communicate our musical ideas to one another in writing. But, some take it upon themselves to make music theory a separate area of study and really drill down on the details, which pleases me immensely because I’ve always really loved the subject.
One of my adult students, David Molyneux, has been doing just this, and over the past few years has worked through the Associated Board music theory books (Music Theory in Practise / AB Guide to Music Theory). Recently, we started learning about the construction of melodies and chords, and as part of his studies David set a poem to his own music for voice and piano. This is the result:
Admittedly, the performance given by me isn’t great (I didn’t really have the luxury of much rehearsal time), but I think you can tell from this ropey rendition that there’s a lot of potential in David’s writing. I think he captures the mood of Stevie Smith’s poem, Not Waving But Drowning, brilliantly.
Lesson Slots for next week
Following are the available spaces in my schedule, should you wish to book in for a Zoom lesson. (All lessons remain online only for the time being. The plan is to switch back after the school half term holidays, but it depends on how things progress with the government response to the virus.)
- Mon 25 Jan
- 09:45
- Tue 26 Jan
- 09:45
- Wed 27 Jan
- 11:15
- 19:30
Drop me a text on 07746637472 if you would like to book any of these slots.
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