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Exam Accompaniment fees for ABRSM Exams

SE22 Piano School — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:57:49 +0000

We receive many enquiries (pretty much always last minute!) from instrumentalists sitting a graded ABRSM exam that require a pianist to accompany them. Accompanying a well-prepared student is usually very straightforward and requires just one rehearsal. For students that are not used to playing with an accompanist and/or are not able to play their pieces fluently, sometimes an additional rehearsal is required. Also, many teachers neglect to go through the Aural requirements and often state “Oh, the accompanist will do the aural tests with you”. Whilst this is beyond the remit of accompanying, we are happy to arrange additional lessons for aural training, but this is not included by default in our accompaniment fees.

2013 Accompaniment Fees:

For exam accompaniments, I charge the exam entry fee (+ 50% for Grades 7 and 8). This is a once-and-for-only fee and encompasses:

One full rehearsal of 30 minutes (one at an hour for G8, this can be split into 2 x 30 mins)
All my prep and travel time and expenses to the Denmark Hill/Camberwell centre.
The exam itself.

Additional fees:

Extra rehearsals and aural lessons are charged at our usual teaching rate of £25 / 30 mins.
Travel to Blackheath Conservatoire will incur an expense of £15 for train fare and time.

Pupils should provide original piano part. For copy right purposes, we Do Not accept photocopy materials. Teachers have no responsibility for providing the piano part.

Email lessons@se22piano.co.uk to enquire about accompanist availability.

Dancing With Dizzy

davethepenguin — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 18:04:25 +0000

Dizzy has been very busy getting to know a lot of penguins in “The Nucleus” of the Penguin Community today. That means that we have been getting to know her, too. She started off by teaching a dance class in Igschool. Spot told me that she thought that he was very good at performing the different steps she gave him to do. Apparently, she said he has a bit of an aptitude and puts it down to his excellent ice-skating skills. From what I hear, all the female kiddy-penguins absolutely loved the dance class. It would seem a lot of the male kiddy-penguins liked it, too, but were not keen to admit it.

This afternoon Dizzy held a dance class in the Swigloo for any adult penguins who were free and fancied trying it. I didn’t really want to go to it, but I thought that perhaps I ought to put an appearance in to show some support for Dizzy, and for Avril, really. There was quite a good turnout. So as to save myself the embarrassment of trying and failing to dance in front of the other penguins, (and in front of Avril, if I’m honest) I offered to play the piano for them. Dizzy was thrilled with my offer and accepted immediately. She was very lively and squawky and good-humoured with everyone she taught. Everyone she came into contact with seemed to like her very easily, even the penguins who hadn’t met her yesterday. I played the piano for a couple of hours, and really enjoyed it, but by the end of the afternoon Dizzy had somehow managed to persuade me, against my better judgement, to get up on my flippers and try some dance steps. Despite my reluctance, Dizzy was happy to be patient with me and taught me several steps I hadn’t known before. Much to my surprise, I picked them up very quickly and performed them better than I had expected to. Dizzy encouraged me, telling me I was doing well and that she believed I was a natural. Imagine! (Then she squispered* that she wondered why Avril was looking cross.)

*a cross been a squawk and a whisper

Mahler: Des Knaben Wunderhorn | Holzmair

orinococds — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 04:10:05 +0000

Mahler: Des knaben wunderhorn | Onyx4100 | $33 NZ

Des Knaben Wunderhorn (12 songs, 1901 version) Wolfgang Holzmair (baritone) & Charles Spencer (piano

Holzmair, one of the foremost interpreters of Mahler’s songs, is embarking on an international tour of this repertoire, which has been a central part of his career, to mark his 60th birthday. His interpretation of this music draws upon many years of experience and brings a deep insight to these wonderful songs.

The piano-writing is remarkable for its almost orchestral complexity and imitation of orchestral effects. Mahler would eventually score 12 of the ‘Wunderhorn’ songs for orchestra. The poems’ appeal to Mahler is easy to understand: nature, yearning, love, farewells, night, death, spectral goings-on, boisterous youth, high spirits and wry, crisp humour all combined with the agitated imagination and personality of the composer to produce some of the greatest songs by any composer. They also formed the fertile ground from which several of the symphonies grew.

John Button review in DominionPost, Wellington 9th October, 2012:
“Mahler composed his twenty Des Knaben Wunderhorn, settings of poems from the folk collection of Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano, over a ten year period, but mostly we only hear those he orchestrated, even the earliest have a delightful freshness … I find it difficult to imagine them better sung than here by one of Germany’s finest baritones Wolfgang Holzmair”

Is there a message here?

Russel Ray Photos — Wed, 16 May 2012 00:21:51 +0000

PICTURE OF THE MOMENT My other half is a staff piano accompanist in the Department of Music a

Google keeps me busy.

kristinawebb — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 18:56:00 +0000

I’ve been sick for the last few days. It either is the flu or a virus. I’m not sure exactly which, so I just call it the Fluvus. Works for me.

While I’m sitting on the toilet or lying in bed writhing in pain from stomach cramps, or while I’m sitting on my living room floor staring wistfully at the kitchen into which I haven’t ventured in four days because I can’t eat anything in there, I Google myself. (Update: I just realized how dirty that sounds.)

When I Google myself, I don’t put in my full name, because that only returns search results for me. Instead, I put in “Kristina Webb.” The results for this search term are far more entertaining.

And so I present, Kristina Webbs from around the world. They are in order of appearance on the Google search results.

Page 1: Here we meet Kristina Webb, an Australian who works in the IT industry and enjoys “Personal Development, New Age, Share Trading, Wealth Creation, Internet Marketing and generally learning new things!” She has a cat named Jasmin and loves nature.

Page 1: Kristina Webb Shapiro is an attorney from Baton Rouge, La. Her areas of practice include Probate & Successions, Interdictions & Guardianships, Estate Planning, Wills & Trusts, Community Property Partitions & Settlements, Divorces and Miscellaneous. So if you’re heading to court to take of that pesky old miscellaneous and you’re in or near Baton Rouge, give her a call.

Page 1: Another Kristina Webb, this time from Fort Lauderdale. Or is it Salt Lake City? Maybe Macon. No, I think it might be Nashville. Anywho, this Kristina describes herself as follows: “A little crazy and rough on the edges. You either love me or hate me , no in between. Love playing music/writing songs and fronting a band . I love playing golf and love gambling on the holes !” She has a grandson named Tater.

Page 1: Lots of great Kristinas on just the first page of the results, but here we find one who definitely lives life after my own heart. Kristina Webb is a 20-year-old from the United States, according to her Myspace profile. She believes that “to get to the rainbow, you gotta deal with the rain <3″ and she lives this mantra in every aspect of her life. From her dreams to be a Playboy Bunny to her belief that “bitches come && go so believe none of wutchu hear && half of wutchu see,” this Kristina believes she is “as real as it gets.” Good for you, sister.

Page 3: Kristina Webb from East Mesa is a piano accompanist who charges $20 an hour. She has 20 years of piano playing experience, and loves holiday arrangements. She is most familiar with classical arrangements.

Page 4: Kristina Webb is a musician by trade. She is a song writer, and wonders “what happened to music? Now a days people just make a song that sounds good in the club.Dont get me wrong we need club music, but your whole album does not have to be about shaking ass and drugs and how much money you have and cars.” Oh Kristina. We are such an introspective breed.

Page 5: Here we meet a Kristina Webb who also can be called Teenie, if she loves ya. According to her Myspace profile, she is a 40-year-old from California who loves glitter-letter graphics. She loves to dance, believes you should just enjoy life, and knows deep down that we all have capes. Her words of wisdom are like gems from God himself: “A little advise, DON’T LET THE PAST CRAP FUCK WITH YOUR FUTURE.” Kristinas, as I’m sure you know, are extremely wise. We poop wisdom like that.

One last Kristina for you to meet:

Page 5: Kristina Webb was arrested in Port Charlotte on Feb. 22, 2009, for petit larceny. She was released on $1,000 bond. At the time of her arrest she was unemployed. Her birthday is April 11, and she has hazel eyes. And she definitely is not me.

Not that I would mind being her. She has a certain charm.

Support your local Kristinas!