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“Incredibly gifted”: Homeless man stuns with piano talents

<p dir="ltr">A homeless man who sleeps in his car has amazed onlookers with his “incredible” piano talent. </p> <p dir="ltr">Shane has been taking to the piano every day and night in a pedestrian tunnel underneath the Queensland Performing Arts Centre in South Brisbane. </p> <p dir="ltr">The “incredibly gifted” man has drawn attention from listeners for his musical talents, despite never having any lessons, and never owning a piano. </p> <p dir="ltr">“I was just walking past and had to stop, absolutely amazing - it blows me away to be honest,” a man walking past told <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/Crsn-qCp-Ue/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link">7News</a>.  </p> <p dir="ltr">“One of the best piano players I have ever seen,” another onlooker said. </p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/reel/Crsn-qCp-Ue/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/Crsn-qCp-Ue/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by 7NEWS Queensland (@7newsqueensland)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">Shane said playing the piano has a therapeutic effect on him, and helps him escape his harsh reality of living in his car a few streets away from the theatre. </p> <p dir="ltr">“It takes me to a place out of reality, away from beyond whatever is around us. I can hear an orchestra in my head, the piano plays me rather than I play the piano,” he said. </p> <p dir="ltr">Shane doesn't know how to read music, or know any of the names of the keys, but couldn’t help being drawn to the instrument that is available for public use. </p> <p dir="ltr">After hearing the sound of a piano coming from a local ballet school in the area when he was a child, he has been enamoured by the piano and dreams of performing with others one day. </p> <p dir="ltr">Shane’s talents have gone viral online, with commenters being “gobsmacked” over the man’s “beautiful music”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Wow! So incredibly gifted. I hope he gets his dream of playing with others,” one impressed viewer said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“We need more stories like this. What a remarkable man,” another wrote. </p> <p dir="ltr">“I hope someone can help this man, he needs a job in a restaurant playing nice music and getting well paid so he can rent a place to live and a happy life,” a third said.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image credits: 7News</em><span id="docs-internal-guid-4a669515-7fff-a229-1488-381d00420f0a"></span></p>

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More than a piece of furniture: it is sometimes as if these old pianos have souls

<p>While restructuring a collection of historical keyboard instruments at the ANU School of Music, I’ve been led to ponder the mysterious significance that pianos can have in the human psyche.</p> <p>Due to limitations of space and funds for maintenance, a decision was made to limit the university’s collection to the most valuable instruments. “Value” was considered on the basis of an instrument’s historical uniqueness, its practical utility for research and overall condition. </p> <p>Yet “value”, as we know, can be understood in different ways. </p> <h2>Vehicles for musical expression</h2> <p>Pianos still proliferate in music schools, despite predictions about the decline of acoustic music. Instruments that are used day-to-day need to be relatively new and in excellent working order.</p> <p>Given the rate at which they are played in busy schools, they are typically replaced every 10 to 15 years. </p> <p>Many pianists view pianos like tools, as vehicles for musical expression. Like a driver searching for a faster car, less responsive models can be dispensed with little thought. </p> <p>Unlike an immaculately handcrafted violin from the 17th century, the sound of a piano typically does not improve with age.</p> <p>Yet there is much that a piano student can learn from older instruments. Our collection includes a French piano built around 1770, and it can still sing if gently coaxed. As my fingers negotiate the uneven and primitive collection of levers, shafts and felts that comprise its inner action, I wonder how many musicians long-departed have listened to its voice. </p> <p>It is a sad fact, though, that homes can be hard to find for old pianos, especially uprights. </p> <p>While grand pianos still signify status, and square pianos have a curiosity value (also doubling as small tables), upright pianos of the Victorian era are now unloved. </p> <p>According to a local piano removal company, two to three upright pianos from this period can be delivered to landfill in any week. Partly, this is due to their ubiquity in earlier generations. It used to be the case that every home had an old piano, often passed down through family lines. </p> <p>Frequently of German origin and built on massive solid frames, these instruments are not timeless. Their mechanisms wear out, their felts become infested and their tuning blocks lose structural integrity. They can no longer hold their tune.</p> <p>If you paid to restore one, the sum would be greater than the cheap new instrument which would always outperform it. The worst thing to do would be to buy a dilapidated piano for a budding student, who might presume the clunking responses to be a sign of talent-less activity. </p> <p>Yet it is sometimes as if these old pianos have souls. It tugs at the heartstrings to see an instrument that has weathered over a century of faithful service get carted to the tip, or “piano heaven” as insiders say. Often there are rich memories, such as when grandma played and the family gathered around in song.</p> <h2>Members of the family</h2> <p>The inner connections people make with musical instruments are widely known. Indeed, pianos can seem like members of a family to some. How do we account for this unusual anthropomorphism?</p> <p>I was recently touched by a story of an elderly lady, an exceptionally fine pianist and teacher in her day. She had purchased a large grand piano of Viennese design, a concert instrument of the highest order, but was now at the point of moving to residential care. </p> <p>Of all the considerations that beset her family at this difficult time, finding a “home” for the instrument was of the highest concern. It was more than just a piano: it was a living part of her life.</p> <p>In another instance, I was asked to help rehouse an upright piano. Shiny, relatively new and still receptive to many hours of rigorous playing, the piano’s owner was happy to give it away. But not to just anyone – it needed to be the right person. </p> <p>“I will always be grateful for the beautiful black piano that became a vehicle not only for my lifetime wish to learn to play, but also to make music with my son”, she wrote. </p> <p>“My longing to make music with him was fulfilled before he finished school and left home.”</p> <p>It’s easy to see why pianos are often more than a piece of furniture. They can embody the dreams and memories that propel us through life, sanctifying the moments in which we are united through beauty and art. </p> <p>In a world which seems increasingly weighted toward the quantifiable, the measured, and the physically real, music still can catch us in its sway. </p> <p>Through the process of reordering our collection, one instrument has remained. In all respects, it is neither unique nor outwardly special. Yet it carried a plaque, in loving memory of someone’s mother. </p> <p>Perhaps it’s because her song still resonates within, I’ve made no plan to remove it.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/more-than-a-piece-of-furniture-it-is-sometimes-as-if-these-old-pianos-have-souls-185777" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. </em></p>

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Tom Walker discusses carols performance with Kate Middleton

<p>Scottish singer-songwriter Tom Walker has discussed his "top secret" rehearsal with the Duchess of Cambridge ahead of their performance together at the Royal Carols in December.</p> <p>Appearing on Good Morning Britain, Tom said Kate Middleton is "fantastic" and a "really talented musician".</p> <p>Kate played piano for Tom for his emotional performance of the song <em>For Those Who Can't Be Here</em> at the carols event at Westminster Abbey, surprising royal fans with her musical talent.</p> <p><span>"We had a rehearsal together, a 'top-secret' rehearsal, just to make sure we were both comfortable with playing with each other and so she could get her head around the arrangement of the song," he explained.</span></p> <p><span>Walker explained that the rehearsal took place at London's Metropolis Studios, and how he was sworn to secrecy. </span></p> <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CX6kRgzhTCb/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CX6kRgzhTCb/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by Tom Walker (@iamtomwalker)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p><span>"I'm sure I'm allowed to say that at this point. At the time it was very top secret," he continues.</span></p> <p><span>The duchess, who also hosted the event, wrote on Instagram, "Together at Christmas brought together so many inspirational individuals for a night of wonderful carols and music. </span></p> <p><span>"But above all, it was about celebrating the goodwill, acts of kindness, love, empathy, and compassion which have helped people come through these difficult times.</span></p> <p><span>"Thank you to all involved for making this happen."</span></p> <p><span>In an interview with <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/17149039/tom-walker-owes-kate-middleton-big-time/" target="_blank">The Sun</a>, Tom said his performance with the duchess was a "wonderful experience" and described her as "so warm".</span></p> <p><span>"She made the effort to thank all the musicians but it was us who felt so grateful to be part of something so special," he explains.</span></p> <p>Royal fans were stunned by Kate's hidden talent, with one person writing on social media, <span>"She plays the piano too? Now I love her even more."</span></p> <p>Check out the performance below.</p> <p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yw95R0Vl4_c" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p><em>Image credits: Instagram @iamtomwalker</em></p>

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John Travolta's daughter reveals hidden talent

<p>John Travolta's daughter Ella has surprised her online followers with a rare look into her secret talent.</p> <p>Ella Travolta, 21, shared a video of her playing an original song on the piano as she sang along to the melody.</p> <p>Ella said she has been working on the the song for a while and felt "nervous" to share it with her followers.</p> <p>She captioned the video, "There is something I've been working on for the past year that is very dear to my heart."</p> <p><span>"I wanted to share a part of a song that I wrote that will be on my EP coming out next year. Very excited (and nervous). Hope you like it!"</span></p> <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/tv/CWyhiWYAXq_/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/tv/CWyhiWYAXq_/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by Ella Travolta (@ella.travolta)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p><span>Her proud dad commented on the video saying "I'm so very proud of you Ella, it's amazing! Your thrilled Dad!"</span></p> <p><span>The video has racked up hundreds of thousands of views, as many people commented saying they were looking forward to the release of her first musical venture. </span></p> <p><span>Ella is the daughter of John and his late wife Kelly Preston, who died of breast cancer in July 2020. </span></p> <p><span>John Travolta has previously </span>discussed the love he has for his daughter in an interview with <a rel="noopener" href="https://people.com/movies/john-travolta-on-his-kids-lives-now-ella-is-generous-and-gorgeous-and-ben-loves-fishing-and-tennis/" target="_blank">People</a>, saying he is endlessly proud of her.</p> <p><span>He said, "She is her own person. She is gracious, generous, poised, graceful and gorgeous. I don't know how she came to be, and I don't take any credit other than just adoring her."</span></p> <p><span>"And maybe that's a valid contribution."</span></p> <p><em>Image credits: Instagram @ella.travolta</em></p>

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What it feels like to perform Beethoven on today's stage

<p><em>In a series marking the 250th year of his birth, we analyse the brilliance of Ludwig van Beethoven.</em></p> <p>When Beethoven died in 1827, thousands of pages of highly notated music were bequeathed to posterity. Yet unlike arts such as painting and sculpture, which communicate directly from the artist to the observer, these otherwise silent pages demand resuscitation. They require performance.</p> <p>From all accounts, Beethoven was an extraordinary pianist. In playing his own compositions, however, he combined two roles that are now necessarily separate: those of composer and performer.</p> <p>How, then, might one recapture the essence of Beethoven’s music in modern times?</p> <p><strong>Playing the part</strong></p> <p>Performing music is akin to acting, where words by long-dead playwrights are given new life. It is a subtle art, honed over years, and is successful only when the “voice” of the performer finds alignment with that of the author, neither one cancelling out the other.</p> <p>Similarly, the role of the performer is distinct and important when interpreting classical music. As with drama it has an added power, as both the content of the music and its performance can be art. When the two synthesise, great music can truly live.</p> <p>Finding a composer’s individual voice takes careful study, and Beethoven’s music is a notable case. He lived at a pivotal time, when the role of composers evolved from functionaries of courts and chapels to artists in their own right. Famously, he wrote some of the first music considered “absolute” - music conveying something of great significance, without reference to a programmatic story or other form of text.</p> <p>Through decades of <a href="https://www.abcmusic.com.au/scott-davie">experience</a> as a pianist, I’ve found Beethoven’s music requires a different approach to that of his Viennese contemporaries. With Mozart, it is often best to stand back, to let the composer do the talking. With Schubert one needs patience, and an empathy for moments of simple bliss.</p> <p>By contrast, Beethoven’s music needs to be championed. One needs to grasp it with both hands, to join in the fight (so to speak), as the following three examples illustrate.</p> <p><strong>A virtuoso musician</strong></p> <p>Beethoven was a virtuoso at the keyboard, as much of his music attests. There are few works harder to perform at the piano than the famous Hammerklavier sonata, and great dexterity and flair are required in works such as the Waldstein and Appassionata sonatas.</p> <p>Beethoven’s earliest sonatas are dedicated to Joseph Haydn, his “teacher” in Vienna. This could be read as a mark of respect, yet, more cynically, one suspects he was ensuring they caught his eye, for what follows is Beethoven trying to out-Haydn Haydn.</p> <p>With unassuming simplicity, the C major sonata summarises brilliantly the thematic kernel of its opening movement in just four bars. Yet the phrase simultaneously presents a technical problem that stumps many pianists: clever fingering is required with the right-hand double thirds, or else they’ll never be crisp!</p> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/u_ugeUaKo1s"></iframe></div> <p>The movement’s following pages at times require the keyboard to be played as if invoking the force of a full symphonic orchestra, while other passages are more soloistic. The unexpected inclusion of a dramatic solo cadenza highlights further the cross-genre “tease” of the musical content.</p> <p>It’s masterly stuff, and to succeed in performance it’s beneficial to understand the clever wit of its subtext. This includes both the quick moves between soloist and orchestral roles, and the furtive wink back to <a href="https://www.classicfm.com/composers/beethoven/guides/beethoven-and-haydn-their-relationship/">Haydn</a>, which seems to say “See what I can do? I have no need of a teacher now”.</p> <h2>A philosopher</h2> <p>We don’t often credit the young as capable of profound sentiment, but many of Beethoven’s early works feature moments of the sublime.</p> <p>Of note is the slow movement of the early Sonata in D major, written when he was 28. However seven years later, the slow movement of the Fourth Piano Concerto reveals Beethoven as a fully matured philosopher.</p> <p>The orchestra begins with fierce outbursts, yet the piano is unmoved as it responds. At length, the pianist’s passivity and arching melodic lines gain dominance as the orchestra subsides, only to be momentarily undermined by a solo passage of trembling and unresolved harmony.</p> <p>Eventually, all conflict resolves. As an exchange, the movement is dialectical in its structure. From the viewpoint of the pianist, it is like participating in Greek tragedy; it’s a role that must be played with great conviction for the powerful drama to succeed.</p> <h2>A modernist</h2> <p>Given Beethoven’s iconic status among audiences, it’s easy to forget he was a modernist. Even today, performers flinch at the original final movement of his late B flat major string quartet - a movement that still astounds in its dissonance, and which the composer felt obliged to replace.</p> <p>Similar glimpses of music’s future lie in other late works, not least the quixotic final set of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagatelle_(music)">Bagatelles</a> for piano, published in 1825.</p> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_mi8CQmeupI"></iframe></div> <p>In the last piece, the noisy opening recalls the closing bars of the Ninth Symphony, yet this is but a curtain-raiser to the music’s quiet core. The thematic material is disarmingly simple, consisting initially of offbeat, right-hand chords, while the harmony is rudimentary, the static left-hand part suggesting a rustic drone.</p> <p>This is music that stretches notions of time, even, in places, apprehending minimalism. Yet moments of profundity are swept away, as it slips into a carefree waltz. The eschewing of complexity is prescient.</p> <p>To perform this piece well is to be transported and transformed, the audience carried to the long-forgotten realm of a composer who, despite the stresses of his final years, appears to have found peace.</p> <p>Like J. Alfred Prufrock in T. S. Eliot’s famous <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/44212/the-love-song-of-j-alfred-prufrock">poem</a>, it is as if we linger in “the chambers of the sea” for a while. Until the opening bars return to wake us, and we drown.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/129184/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: http://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/scott-davie-406049">Scott Davie</a>, Lecturer in Piano, School of Music, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/australian-national-university-877">Australian National University</a></em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/performing-beethoven-what-it-feels-like-to-embody-a-master-on-todays-stage-129184">original article</a>.</em></p>

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The role of music in Einstein's thinking

<p>As we marvel at science’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/gravitational-waves-discovered-the-universe-has-spoken-54237">latest extraordinary breakthrough</a>, it’s also an opportunity to ponder what kind of thinker Albert Einstein was.</p> <p>Born two decades before the beginning of the 20th century, what kind of mind was his that could come up with ideas that would have to wait until the second decade of the 21st century to be proven correct?</p> <p>The man responsible for predicting the existence of gravitational waves as the last brick in his <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-einsteins-theory-of-general-relativity-3481">theory of general relativity</a> is so often reduced to a tongue-poking electric-hair-shock caricature: the slightly mad but cuddly genius who is just <em>different</em> to everybody else.</p> <p>The true picture is perhaps less colorful; Einstein was the product of a well-rounded education that, importantly, very much included the arts and humanities.</p> <p>It’s little known that Einstein was an accomplished violinist, and even less known that had he not pursued science, he said he would have been a musician:</p> <blockquote> <p><em>I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music.</em></p> </blockquote> <p>Looking at the role of music in Einstein’s thinking sheds some light on how he shaped his most profound scientific ideas. His example suggests that in being intimately involved with the scientific complexity of music, he was able to bring a uniquely aesthetic quality to his theories. He wanted his science to be unified, harmonious, expressed simply, and to convey a sense of beauty of form.</p> <p>He confessed to thinking about science in terms of images and intuitions, often drawn directly from his experiences as a musician, only later converting these into logic, words and mathematics.</p> <p><strong>Music of the Spheres</strong></p> <p>Of the many mind-blowing things to consider in the gravitational wave discovery, there’s probably one that would have particularly piqued Einstein’s interest. This incredible sound:</p> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TWqhUANNFXw"></iframe></div> <p>In converting the gravitational wave into a sound wave, we have the astonishing privilege of being able to hear the echo of a billion-year old explosion from an incomprehensibly distant galaxy.</p> <p>That ripple in space-time took a thousand million years to reach us, hurtling through the void at 299,000 kilometres a <em>second</em>.</p> <p>A solitary bass drum-like thwack represents the literal transposition, emerging from an awe-inspiring cosmic background noise. Adjusted to better suit the human ear, it sounds eerily like a pebble dropped into a bucket of water.</p> <p>It’s strange to think that dropping a pebble in water produces essentially the same rippling sound effect as colliding super-black holes a billion light years away in time and space.</p> <p>Strange but also fitting; it partially suggests the elemental power of sound, linked as it is to movement, a signal of life, dynamism and creation.</p> <p>Whether it’s clapping hands, a resonating violin string, or black holes 30-times larger than our sun spinning around each other at 100 times a second, something is going to get displaced.</p> <p>In the first two actions, displaced air molecules bump up against neighbouring air molecules. The vibration continues as a wave until hitting something than can absorb or stop it, such as an ear drum.</p> <p>In the cosmic example, it is space and time which are displaced, creating a different kind of wave, one that can travel through a vacuum for aeons.</p> <p>Einstein, apart from being overjoyed that his prediction had been confirmed, would have been fascinated by the sound of that gravitational ripple. According to Einstein himself, sound, in the form of music, gave him more pleasure than anything else in life.</p> <p>Far more than a diversion or hobby, music was such a part of the man that it seems to have played a role in his scientific working processes.</p> <p>Einstein’s second wife Elsa told the story of him one day appearing totally lost in thought, wandering to the piano and playing for half an hour while intermittently jotting down notes.</p> <p>Disappearing into a room for two weeks (emerging for the odd piano session), he then surfaced with a working draft of the theory of general relativity.</p> <p>Of course, piano playing and the theory of general relativity are not related in any direct or tangible sense. On one level, the story suggests that for Einstein, piano playing had the same effect walking has for many people. Ambulatory thinking processes release creative juices.</p> <p>Beethoven knew it, as did apparently <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/habits-not-hacks/201407/beethovens-daily-habit-inspiring-creative-breakthroughs">the ancient Greeks</a>, not to mention <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/walking-helps-us-think">many generations of writers</a>.</p> <p>But there were deeper levels to the science-music relationship in Einstein’s mind. There’s some evidence music played a role in the very shaping of his most important scientific discoveries.</p> <p>To understand how, it’s important to know something about Einstein’s musical background, as well as his two favourite creators of music; the composers J.S. Bach and W.A. Mozart.</p> <p><strong>Violin lessons</strong></p> <p>We tend to forget the youthful Einstein was not only a looker, but an almost bohemian type whose violin playing was a well-known and celebrated aspect of his public persona.</p> <p>Einstein could often be found onstage performing string quartets with some of the era’s greatest musicians, acquitting himself with aplomb if not distinction.</p> <p>The range of intellectual stimuli Einstein gained from playing music, and its impact on his visionary approach to science, should probably not be underestimated.</p> <p>It wasn’t by chance that Einstein’s two most beloved composers represented the most celebrated practitioners of a particularly favoured approach within European classical music: tonality in the service of formal structure.</p> <p>Tonality is a concept, much like gravity, that (almost) everyone knows about instinctively, with or without specialist training. Music with a “tonal centre” has existed for about half a millennium, and can be heard in music emerging from the Italian Renaissance, through to the popular, film and TV music of today.</p> <p>In fact the gravity analogy is usually extended into metaphor when explaining tonality: it is music that has a gravitational centre, a pitch that sounds most stable, more like the “home base” than any other pitch – the sun in a solar system of pitch-planets.</p> <p>The other pitches “orbit” around the tonally central pitch, with varying degrees of gravitational pull toward the centre. Some are weaker and further away, others are close and feel the pull more strongly.</p> <p>Most people hearing the Preludio from Bach’s Partita for Violin No. 3 would be able to identify this central pitch (called “the tonic”) simply by listening to the opening and then humming whatever note sounded the most important.</p> <p>Of course, things can always get a lot more complex, and the real story is what Bach and Mozart were able to build within this system of order and balanced forces.</p> <p>Bach’s music is synonymous with the art of musical counterpoint; a way of layering different melodies, (anywhere between two to five is common enough), so that they retain independence, yet work together in a unified way.</p> <p>This clip of Bach’s fugue for Organ in C minor BWV 542 depicts the complexities of counterpoint in such a way that non-readers of music will appreciate.</p> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4WhPUqpaRp4"></iframe></div> <p>One melody, or “voice” becomes, two, then three, then eventually four. The “architecture” metaphor is easily apparent - the music feels so beautifully <em>constructed</em>, complex and ornate yet balanced and proportioned, like a cathedral or palace (or indeed a scientific formula).</p> <p>It was probably Mozart, however, who was even closer to Einstein’s heart. His formative musical years were proximate to a “back to Mozart” movement in Europe, a reaction to the perceived decadence and musical indulgence of Wagner and his <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-wagners-ring-cycle-der-ring-des-nibelungen-20475">monumentally long operas</a>.</p> <p>At a time when Wagner had stretched the tonal system to its limits, foreshadowing its collapse in European art music of the 20th century, Mozart’s image was re-polished and deemed to embody an approach that unified balanced architectural perfection with beauty of expression.</p> <p>The finale of Mozart’s Symphony No. 41, K551 (appropriately nicknamed “Jupiter”) provides a handy example of what Einstein saw in this music. Apart from the music’s exhilarating exuberance, the fourth movement is noteworthy for combining the most sophisticated formal design of Mozart’s era (late 18th century sonata form) with the most sophisticated texture of Bach’s (early 18th century fugue).</p> <p>Einstein would have probably especially enjoyed the extraordinary musical structures Mozart creates in the final minutes of the Jupiter, its coda. After a suspenseful pause, and turning some of his melodies upside down just for fun, Mozart takes five musical themes (like melodies but shorter, fragmented) from earlier sections and layers them all on top of each other, narrowly avoiding cacophony through the complex science of musical construction.</p> <p>Much like the mathematics involved in relativity, it’s actually quite difficult to follow what happens here in real time. The coda starts around 10:24, but the whole movement should really be listened to.</p> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/prvBEXbnDR0"></iframe></div> <p>Despite the calculation involved in music like that of the Jupiter, learned complexity was never a means unto itself for these composers. Mozart has a reputation for expressing more than most composers while using the fewest notes. The vulnerable beauty of economically expressed meaning can be heard in the slow movement from the A Major Piano Concerto K488.</p> <p>It’s music such as this the led to now rather clichéd notion that Mozart appeared not to “create” his music, but discovered it ready made. Einstein sought a similar purity, economy and harmoniousness of vision for his theories.</p> <p>What relevance does this musical footnote have at a moment when we are celebrating the scientific breakthrough of the century? I believe it’s an opportunity to broaden our understanding of the ways in which this particular mind of apparent genius worked, to contemplate what kind of lessons can be learned today.</p> <p>What stands out is Einstein’s multi-dimensional approach to thinking. He saw complementarity between disciplines, and wouldn’t dream of siloing Science and the Humanities in separate bins.</p> <p>As the importance of science and technology in combating inexorable environmental catastrophe becomes ever more incontrovertible, the importance of initiatives such as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science,_Technology,_Engineering,_and_Mathematics">STEM</a> educational grouping appears self-evident.</p> <p>But it’s clear from Einstein’s example that innovation in STEM involves modes of thinking that can come from the arts. For Einstein, it was the notion that the architectural and formal beauty he found in music could inform the inspiration and design of his scientific theories.</p> <p>Music inspired and guided him; it stimulated parts of his brain that could not be accessed through sitting at his desk. It gave him a sense of patterns, feelings, hunches, intuitions – all manner of sensual information that could be described as ways of thinking that don’t involve words.</p> <p>Some have suggested STEAM, so as to include the Arts in the grouping. Or STREAM, to include Reading and Writing. Wouldn’t it be great though if all human intellectual endeavours were simply treated equally?</p> <p>Einstein used as many parts of his mind as he could to experience and interpret the world, to create knowledge. And yet again, it’s been proven that he’s not a bad example to follow.<!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: http://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/liam-viney-175637">Liam Viney</a>, Piano Performance Fellow, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-queensland-805">The University of Queensland</a></em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/good-vibrations-the-role-of-music-in-einsteins-thinking-54725">original article</a>.</em></p>

Music

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Billy Joel shares exciting news

<p>Billy Joel is set to become a dad for the third time, at the age of 68.</p> <p>The Piano Man singer confirmed he and wife Alexis Roderick, 36, are expecting their second child together.</p> <p>Joel also has a 31-year-old daughter Alexa with ex-wife and model Christie Brinkley.</p> <p>"We are due next month," he told the Belfast Telegraph.</p> <p>Joel went on to say his idea of fun was hanging out with the couple's two-year-old daughter, Della Rose.</p> <p>"She's a hoot. She's a funny kid. She loves to laugh. I like to make her laugh."</p> <p>The couple welcomed Della in August 2015, a little more than a month after they married in a surprise ceremony held at their home in Long Island.</p> <p>The six-time Grammy winner and Roderick, a former Morgan Stanley executive and accomplished equestrian, met in 2009. Roderick is Joel's fourth wife. </p> <p>In the interview Joel, who performs monthly shows at Madison Square Garden in New York City, also spoke about his dislike of President Donald Trump.</p> <p>He said he often drives past his New York home while riding his motorbike, and flips the finger.</p> <p>"I do that all the time," he says. "It is probably on film somewhere. I'm sure they've got cameras all over the place. I'm not a fan. I think he's got a pretty thin skin. I don't think he is very happy in the job. I don't know what he's doing there. And neither does he."</p> <p><em>Republished with permission of <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Stuff.co.nz.</span></strong></a></em></p>

Music

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Beagle plays the piano and howls to tune

<p>Buddy Mercury is an internet sensation after his owners recorded his attempts at playing the piano.</p> <p>Owners of the beagle, Glen Wolfe and Laurie Lanteri-Wolfe, recorded the video on Facebook live after Buddy started howling along in the process of paying the piano.</p> <p>The dog reaches the piano by standing on his hind legs and howls after he hits a key on the piano.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Flaurie.lanteriwolfe%2Fvideos%2F10154946512098686%2F&amp;show_text=1&amp;width=560" width="560" height="644" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true"></iframe></p> <p><span style="text-align: center;">“Buddy Mercury! He LOVES playing and singing,” Lanteri-Wolfe wrote on Facebook.</span></p> <p>The video has already reached 14 million views as users are stunned at this dog feeling the melody. </p> <p><strong>Related links: </strong></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/travel/international/2017/02/crocodile-bites-selfie-seeker-at-thai-national-park/">Crocodile bites selfie seeker at Thai national park</a></strong></em></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/travel/cruising/2017/01/nose-to-nose-with-a-polar-bear-in-alaska/">Nose to nose with a polar bear in Alaska</a></strong></em></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/travel/international/2017/01/seeing-a-platypus-in-the-wild-is-the-thrill-of-a-lifetime/">Seeing a platypus in the wild is the thrill of a lifetime</a></strong></em></span></p>

News

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78-year-old man can suddenly play piano after a stroke

<p>It’s hard to believe that any positive could come from having a stroke, but 78-year-old Welshman Roy Calloway has developed an unexpected skill after his health scare – the ability to play piano.</p> <p>“I played and I couldn't believe it,” said Calloway, who had previously never been able to play a musical instrument. “It just came out naturally and I was in shock.”</p> <p>Calloway has suffered numerous strokes due to problems with his heart, but never before has he inexplicably picked up a new skill. “This was the first time anything was noticeably different afterwards,” he said.</p> <p>“A friend of mine passed away and he had a piano. He had been in a band and his son asked me to keep the piano as I had the room for it. I sat down next to it to have a look. I just wanted to try and played it.</p> <p>“It was just as my friend's son was walking into the room and he asked if I had ever played before and that he didn't know I could play. I told him I couldn’t.”</p> <p>The pensioner, from Swansea, has since upgraded the piano to a new organ.</p> <p>Tell us in the comments below, have you ever suddenly found yourself with a new skill?</p> <p><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><a href="http://www.oversixty.com.au/news/news/2016/08/boy-with-autism-receives-20000-cards-from-strangers/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em>Boy with autism receives 20,000 cards from strangers</em></strong></span></a></p> <p><a href="http://www.oversixty.com.au/news/news/2016/08/war-veteran-first-millionaire-on-hot-seat/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>War veteran becomes first $1 million winner on Millionaire Hot Seat</strong></em></span></a></p> <p><a href="http://www.oversixty.com.au/news/news/2016/08/grandpa-and-granddaughter-attend-university-together/"><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Grandpa and granddaughter attend university together</strong></span></em></a></p>

News

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Pianist delivers performance of a lifetime at crumbling glacier

<p>An Italian pianist has delivered the performance of a lifetime at the Wahlenbergbreen glacier in Svalbard, Norway, to highlight the plight of global warming.</p> <p>As you can see in the video above, it’s quite a remarkable performance.</p> <p>Ludovico Einaudi performs <em>Elegy for the Arctic</em> on the baby grand piano, a moving piece he wrote specifically for the occasion. The soothing tones of his composition paired with the incredible visuals of the glacier make for a compelling video.</p> <p>In a news release Einaudi said, “Being here has been a great experience. I could see the purity and fragility of this area with my own eyes and interpret a song I wrote to be played upon the best stage in the world. It is important that we understand the importance of the Arctic, stop the process of destruction and protect it.”</p> <p>The timing of the video’s release is no coincidence as Greenpeace state in a blog post, “This week, delegates at the OSPAR Commission meeting in Tenerife, Spain, have an opportunity to take an important step in protecting the Arctic. The proposal before them would safeguard 10 per cent of the Arctic ocean, an area roughly the size of the UK.”</p> <p>Make sure you watch the video the whole way through. The compelling visuals combine with the soothing music that make this video a must watch.</p> <p>What did you think of the video above? Have you ever visited a glacier? And are you concerned about the impact of global warming?</p> <p>Share your thoughts in the comments.</p> <p><em>Video credit: YouTube / Ludovico Einaudi</em></p> <p><strong>Related links: </strong></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="/travel/cruising/2016/05/5-things-you-must-do-to-avoid-seasickness-on-a-cruise/"><em><strong>5 things you MUST do to avoid seasickness on a cruise</strong></em></a></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="/travel/cruising/2016/05/10-things-you-must-never-do-in-a-cruise-cabin/"><em><strong>10 things you must never do in a cruise cabin</strong></em></a></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="/travel/cruising/2016/05/po-ships-first-new-zealand-cruise/"><strong><em>P&amp;O’s first cruise around New Zealand</em></strong></a></span></p>

Cruising

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98-year-old granny blows audience away with piano performance

<p>During a recent appearance at the Grand Ole Opry, Nashiville, country music artist Josh Turner took a moment to give the stage to someone else.</p> <p>His wife’s 98-year-old grandmother, Lois Cunningham, was ready to take the spotlight. As she is helped into the chair of the piano, her grandson in law tells the audience “she’ll play when she is read”. Without a beat, she is.</p> <p>The nonagenarian performs “How Great Thou Art" on the piano and it's safe to say her talent blows the crowd away. Performing at the Nashville venue is a major accomplishment for any country star, and Turner's kind gift to his loved one shows that you're never too old to achieve your dreams. </p> <p>Be sure to watch till the end, Lois gets a standing ovation and she loves the crowd as much as they love her.</p> <p><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/retirement-life/2015/12/how-to-mentally-prepare-yourself-for-retirement/">8 steps to mentally prepare yourself for retirement</a></em></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/retirement-life/2015/12/reasons-to-volunteer-in-retirement/">5 reasons to volunteer in retirement</a></em></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/retirement-life/2016/01/what-you-must-do-before-retirement/">The one thing you must do before retirement</a></em></strong></span></p>

Retirement Life

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A homeless man sat down at a piano and blew everyone away with his talent

<p>A homeless man blew passers-by away when he sat down at a piano on the footpath, hoping to raise a few dollars. 51-year-old Donald Gould showed off his wonderful talent at the public instrument, moving people who stopped to watch and enjoy the performance.</p> <p>Facebook user Aroar Natasha took the opportunity to record some of Gould’s beautiful performance and uploaded it to Facebook earlier this week, where it has already received millions of views.</p> <p>Speaking with ABC media, Gould revealed that he came very close to becoming a music teacher, but when his wife suddenly died, his life went off course. As a child, Gould learned to play the clarinet, eventually playing for the US Marine Corps.</p> <p>The beautifully decorated piano was recently installed as part of the Sarasota Keys Piano Project, which aims to encourage more creative expression in public spaces.</p> <p>Since the video of Gould at the piano went viral, a local bar has indicated they would like to consider him as a potential performer.</p> <p><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/entertainment/music/2015/10/john-lennons-son-sean/">John Lennon’s son is the spitting image of his father</a> </em></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/entertainment/music/2015/11/best-george-harrison-songs/">The top 5 George Harrison songs of all time</a></em></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/entertainment/music/2015/11/best-inxs-songs/">The top 5 INXS songs</a></em></strong></span></p>

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Cruise ship entertainers reveal juicy secrets from sea

<p>A number of cruise ship entertainers including comedians, pianos players and more have revealed the juicy details of what really happens at sea after they’re finished performing. The result of the startling confessions has become an interesting insight into what happens at sea.</p> <p><strong>The job</strong></p> <p>It ranges from ship to ship, and depends on what you’re doing. Piano players usually work on contracts, pounding out sweet melodies every night on contracts as long as six months at a time. Comedians on the other hand are generally guest entertainers, maintaining a land-based career when between cruises, and hopping on stage once or twice during a week-long cruise.</p> <p><strong>The money</strong></p> <p>Again, this varies depending on what sort of a performer you are. Comedians are reportedly mostly in it for the travel, with the money being a lucrative bonus to the gig. Piano players on cruises are reportedly all about the money. One performer said he had earned enough in his six years at sea to “not have to do a lick of work” for another six years, with the tip jar making a huge difference.</p> <p><strong>Sex</strong></p> <p>One anonymous entertainer working for an unnamed cruise liner was reportedly encouraged to “mix with the ladies” during his time on the boat. Many of the entertainers revealed information about “cruise groupies” and said they were just another hazard (or perk) of the job.</p> <p><strong>What they really think of passengers</strong></p> <p>The unanimous opinion among the entertainers who were talked to was that passengers could become a bit tiresome after a while, and were “simply there to fill the tip jar on the piano”. Others spoke of rude cruise ship passengers and hecklers, with some even exchanging harsh words!</p>

Cruising