Dance Accompanying: How Dance Camp Turned me into a Ballet Accompanist

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As a Ukrainian American on the east coast, I have had the distinct pleasure of really getting to experience, learn about and grow into the culture of my grandparents free games fishdom. Ukrainian Americans in the NJ/NY area have at least a dozen established churches they can attend, there are a multitude of festivals and dances throughout the year to attend across the tri-state area, and a little Ukie child has their choice of which group to learn traditional folk dance with how to download video from youtube.

I first started Ukrainian dance lessons when I was very young, maybe when I was 8 or 9, and I studied with the legendary Pani Roma Pryma Bohachevsky herunterladen. She came to my elementary school (my Ukrainian church’s kindergarten – eighth grade school), and we had class once a week, and a performance at the end of the year herunterladen. By the seventh grade, I was SO. WAY. INTO. UKRAINIAN DANCE. and I asked my mom if I could go away to this dance camp that Pani Roma ran every summer at the Ukrainian resort in upstate New York (near New Paltz, in Ulster county) called Soyuzivka lieder kostenlos downloaden mp3 youtube. I would go to camp for the next four years, and every year, it was the hardest, and most awesome two weeks of my life. And for the ensuing six years, when I was no longer a dance camper, I felt a twinge of regret every time August would roll around, and I was not making my pilgrimage to study folk dancing film downloaden laptop.

But I stopped attending dance camp because the real passion of my life was taking over. The summer of 1998 was when I started preparing for my college auditions herunterladen. I practiced piano a few hours every single morning, and taking two weeks off to dance just didn’t seem like an option.

A few years later (after successfully getting into college as a music major, and then going and changing my major to English with a journalism minor, haha) I was back at Soyuzivka, during dance camp time of course, and was doing a little practicing in the dining hall live chat app herunterladen. The dance camp accompanist, Ada Helbig, was there, and came over to chat with me. Would I be interested in accompanying ballet classes next year? Why yes, yes I would zoom app windows herunterladen!

The following summer, in 2001, I came to the New York mountains once again for dance camp. I would be staying for two sessions’ worth of camp, an entire month instagram videos android. It was a life altering experience, with a little bit of trial by fire thrown in. I did not have much preparation or coaching before I took this job. Pani Roma, while she was an excellent teacher, was not so clear in what was expected of me as the accompanist, and since these were pre-Facebook days I don’t even recall if trying to get in touch with Ada for advice even felt like an option. I was handed some music that I was expected to learn – I still have the book, but the task of learning a daunting 15-20 songs in just under two months was something that I at that point in my life just couldn’t do. The first few days of classes were rough, but we hit a groove and I made it through the remaining time, with only one trip to the ER because of such severe pain in my wrist we thought I had possibly broken something. I didn’t end up breaking anything, but I did get a very painful case of a carpel tunnel flare up.

After such an experience, what do you think I did? Switched my major back to music, of course. I dove back into piano playing, and finished school as a music theory major (which I liken to learning how to be a mechanic to help me be a better driving instructor). Though it was a painful and hard experience – and even though I wasn’t really ready as a music professional for it – I grew and learned a lot my summer as a ballet accompanist. It was probably one of the most influential summers of my life.

Dance Accompanying: Seeds

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This summer I got back into accompanying ballet classes on piano again (it’s a thing, which is awesome, and preferred, if you didn’t know, which I will have to explain at some point in its own post because I foresee it popping up a few times in the next few articles I have simmering on the back burner) tia portal v15 herunterladen. And I came to this amazing realization.

I would not be accompanying ballet classes if it wasn’t for a friend of mine, Stefan Calka (an accomplished dancer and choreographer in his own right), requesting that I accompany his classes a few weeks ago during a dance workshop I was working at (mostly I was there to help wrangle kids, I was not actually there for music) minecraft für pc kostenlos downloaden vollversion.

I would not have even been able to accompany his classes had I not been heading home (and therefor able to pick up my music).

(I would not even have had ballet accompaniment music had I not already done this once before, about a decade ago.)

I would not have been playing piano for him to overhear me if I wasn’t working on a secret and awesome project with another dancer/teacher/choreographer, Orlando Pagan herunterladen.

I would not have started working on this project if I hadn’t worked at Ukrainian dance camp last summer.

I would never have worked at dance camp, if I had never attended dance camp in my youth office softwareen.

I never would have attended dance camp if I hadn’t been taking Ukrainian dance lessons at home.

And, of course, none of this could have even been set into motion if I was not a lifelong piano player windows media player 7 kostenlosen.

I sit here in my proverbial flower garden, and I am amazed at all the little seeds that had been sown here through the years. I am right now enjoying an amazing blend of two of my passions in life – music and dance – not because of a chance encounter in the summer of 2012, but because of a series of actions put into motion in 1986, 1987, 1994, 2001, and 2011 herunterladen. The winding path that has brought me to the moment I am in right now is absolutely astounding.

The Adventure Ducky Strikes Again

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I have a student. Well, I have many students. But this one in particular, he is the inspiration for this post today.

He is, what I would call, a stereotypical little boy.  First of all, he, and his two brothers, are just adorable (I happen to teach all three).  They like video games and comic books (and if they don’t, they probably will), and jedi and pirates, etc.  Sometimes they are at each others’ necks, sometimes they are the cutest little trio.  They are the kind of little boys you might expect to come in with a skinned knee, or perhaps a frog in their pocket (their mom will probably read this, she will have to let me know if there’s ever been a frog situation) winrar german free 64 bit.

This one brother, however, is the kind of guy who makes a mountain out of a mole hill.  He has been this way for a long time, and it’s something his mom has told me about, and something he and I have been working on.  He has gotten much better at letting the little mistakes stay little.  We haven’t really had a crisis in the middle of a lesson for awhile windows 7 kostenlos downloaden.

Yesterday, though, I could see it coming.

It was just the way he scrunched up his face, for just a second.  And then there was a sniffle.  We were on the brink.  One more mistake and we might have had a situation.  So I stopped him immediately, and launched into it.  I wish I could have recorded myself saying it, because I worded it perfectly for him.  And they were important enough words that I wanted to share them with all of my students, and with the world in general.  Here we go kika to.

The Adventure Ducky, at some point I think I named him Jean Claude, or Pierre, I don't know why I give my pirate ducks French namesDude, dude, dude!  Take a breath, dude!  This is not a big deal.  Let me tell you something.  Everybody, every student, every musician, who has ever lived, has been to the place where you are right now.  You are on the edge of the map.  Sometimes this happens a day after you have your first lesson, or a week, or a month, or a year, or ten years.  Everything comes so super easy for you, and then all of a sudden, it doesn’t anymore.  All of a sudden, it’s not fun anymore.  It’s work.  This isn’t a problem, this is just the edge of your comfort zone sour.

NOW is when you begin your journey as a musician.  Now is when the adventure starts, and the fun begins.  Sometimes the challenges and problems that come up are exactly what make music interesting!  Where would the pirates be if they hadn’t committed mutiny, left Captain Jack on the island, stolen the cursed treasure and became zombies??  THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN NO MOVIE!  Look at how exciting it was.  Sometimes adventures are tough but they can be crazy exciting, too animes kostenlos downloaden.

Right now you are just at the edge of the map.  Your adventure is just beginning.  Don’t be afraid of it.  Don’t be afraid of mistakes.  Mistakes just make the day more interesting.  Let’s get the pirate ducky out to remind us of the adventure that we’re on spiegel app kostenlos herunterladen.

And Adventure Ducky sat on top of the piano for the rest of one of the best lessons I taught this week.  I think everyone needs a little visit from the Adventure Ducky every now and again pr0gramm app herunterladen.

Happy New Year 2011-12!

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Welcome to a new school year!  We are into our second week of the school year, and by now, the cobwebs are dusted out of even the deepest corners in our brains and the spaces between our fingers.  Things forgotten over the long stretch of summer break are coming back to us, and I, probably even more than my students, am excited for the MissAdventures that this year holds for all of us fortnite herunterladen huawei p20 lite!

To celebrate the new year, I am encouraging all of my students to make a New Year’s Resolution.  Some of them have actually asked me if they can make two, but I have told them to limit it to one per instrument.  I appreciate their enthusiasm, but as I intend to hold them to these resolutions until their completion (or June 2012), I don’t want them to become overwhelmed bewerbungsformulare kostenlos downloaden.

What can one resolve to do on piano or guitar, one might ask?  PLENTY!  Last week I told all my students it could be very specifically related to their repertoire – I resolve to learn all of “Fur Elise” – or very general – I resolve to finish all the Level 1B books.  It could be related to technique – I resolve to keep my fingers rounded always – or related to their brain – I resolve to understand more about chords.  I gave them the whole week to think about it, and starting this week, we will discuss possible resolutions and make a game plan for achieving them adobe gratis downloaden.

I feel, though, that this is also a whole lot more than just a New Year’s Resolution (who keeps them, anyway?  I mean, besides my students and myself).  This is about setting a realistic goal, working towards it, and not giving up.  It’s about saying you’re going to do something, and then actually following through.  It’s sticking to your word, shouldering responsibility, holding yourself accountable.  It’s becoming more self-aware.  It’s delving into music on a level that, possibly, some of these kids have never experienced before.  There are loads of life lessons wrapped up in this, and also a great way to capture the enthusiasm of the beginning of the school year and stretch it out until the enthusiasm for summer break takes over quake 3 arena kostenlos download.

So much of education for a child is out of their control.  They go to the school their parents send them to, do the work that is assigned to them by their teachers.  Rules are set up for them, and boundaries are set.  But personally, I feel that a student should have a say in those boundaries.  Why limit learning?  Why not let the child’s own natural curiosity help to lead the way?  This is one of the things that I really love about private teaching.  The ability of the child to actively participate in the learning process.  They aren’t just on the receiving end, but a lot on my end of it all relies on them as well, and I it is my wish that they grasp that and enjoy it.  Not to just survive, but to thrive.  How often do you hear a student say, “I survived freshman year” or “I survived my high school years?”  How does that phrase change when you say, “I thrived during freshman year?”  “I thrived during my high school years?”

I know I’m getting off on a tangent here, but I feel like this is an important detour to take.  If we want kids to learn, they ought to want to learn.  And how better to get them to want to learn, than by letting them set their own goals call of duty spiele kostenlosen?

So.  New Year’s Resolutions.  Because I like the phrase “we’re all in the same boat” (and that’s not just because I secretly want to be a pirate), I am also making not one, but TWO resolutions (since I do actively play two instruments).  So here I go with mine pdf reader download for free german.

1) Fantasy Impromptu in c# minor, by Frederic Chopin.  Chopin is one of my faves.  If we were alive at the same time, I’d make it a point to go to all of his shows and meet him.  Maybe even ask him to jam.  I’d buy all his CDs.  I’d like him in Facebook (wait, I already like him on facebook).  This piece of music is one of my favorite pieces to listen to by Chopin, and also, one of the most technically challenging pieces I have ever had the chance to look at (I mean, I’m sure there are more technically challenging pieces, but I actually already have the music for this one, and it is hands down, the hardest piece I own the music to).  And since it’s been awhile since I actually challenged myself to anything on the piano (what with the tendonitis bout a few years back that sidelined me pretty much until this last year), I thought, this would be a perfect project for the 2011-2012 school year.  And in case you don’t know what it sounds like, here you go wie kann man tik tok videos herunterladen.

2. Flamenco guitar whatsapp foto niet te downloaden. A few years ago, I said to myself, I want to expand my chord vocabulary. That’s part of the reason why I enjoy playing so many old jazz standards, because they utilized a WHOLE LOT MORE than your standard I-IV-V progressions of today’s rock music games to roblox. And again, I haven’t really challenged myself in the guitar arena in awhile, so I thought to myself, what’s really hard for me right now sims 4 downloaden gratis mac? I’m a pretty decent finger picker, but I could be better. But, I’m not so much a fan of classical guitar. However. Flamenco guitar is pretty darned exciting. I also have a friend who does flamenco dancing (and have a few more who are interested in it), and I thought, this would be a pretty neat way to jam across the lines of art (I mean, I’d be on my guitar, meanwhile they would actually be dancing), so let me take a dive.

Of course, then I learned that flamenco music, is like, WAY HARD. It’s actually hard just to think about, at least for me, at least right now. It won’t just be a matter of learning a few songs, it will be more along the lines of learning a whole new set of theory and technique. I’m down for this. Totally. As it was recently explained to me, you basically have a set rhythm and a set chord progression. Everything else, from the strumming and melodies, to the lyrics and the dancing, is improvised. You learn all the rules and then you play with them (until your hand falls off, because in my case, it might). Here is an example.

Audience Participation Time
I’ve shared my New Year’s Resolutions. What are yours? Do you consider the new school year a time of new beginnings, or do you wait until January 1 to start yours? Do you even make resolutions or think they’re just a pile of lofty goals that are really a waste of time?

It’s Mwish Time!

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What’s a mwish?? It’s like, you know, a wish, but better, because there’s music in it! In addition to practicing, I need to think about what I need from my practicing (or my music in general) before I get to the bench herunterladen. So that when I get there (or wherever else I need to be) I will be better prepared to totally rock it out.

This week my mwish is simple.  I mwish to actually practice.  You know how you don’t realize how much you love something until it’s gone?  I am at this point right now.  And it’s not that I forgot how much I love piano, or guitar, or music in general, but music is one of those things that has become such a part of my routine (a very sparkly, wonderful, magical part), that I just grew accustomed to the sense of peace, accomplishment and joy that practicing injected into my everyday life.  Practicing has become both an important part of my life for my work and for my health.  And I miss it adobe flash player deutsch kostenlos downloaden.

It’s not that I am having an awful time up here in the mountains, sweating like a waterfall and destroying my feet, discovering new and interesting ways to make my body sore, but I am just not practicing any of my instruments the way I do when I am home, and I miss it.  So this week, I mwish for more practice time.  I’m not even sure how this is going to work out, as I have been trying – mostly unsuccessfully – for two weeks to practice, and if I haven’t figured out how to do it by now I’m not sure if I’m going to get it done ever final fantasy full version for free.

But a girl can mwish, yes?

Audience Participation Time
What are you mwishing for this week?  How is your summer schedule (if it is different from your school year schedule) affecting your practice schedule word computer?

Discipline for Beginners

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Dear Friends,

So I am right now in upstate New York at Ukrainian dance camp.  I bring this up because the teachers here, among other things, stress the important of discipline in the students’ practice google earth kostenlos download windows 10.

I am also right now reading a book called Zen Guitar (which applies the ideals and philosophy behind the Japanese dojo to the study of guitar) (and actually is a really great book that all musicians should read) and one of the principles outlined in the book is also discipline ubuntu linux german free.

I like this congruity.  I like being able to study the same thing in different places.  It helps me to be better at it in general.  And discipline is an important skill to be built for any student of anything, whether it is piano, guitar, or, say, engineering.  Or business youtube videos herunterladen und versenden.

So what is discipline?  To paraphrase Philip Toshio Sudo (the auther of Zen Guitar), discipline is completing a task to the best of your ability every time you have to do it.  Which is actually a lot harder to do than it sounds, especially once a student has gained some skill in any given subject herunterladen.

When one of my beginners sits down at the piano, all they can do is be disciplined.  Everything they try is so new that it requires all the focus she or he can muster together.  If a student is practicing on a regular basis without mommy or daddy reminding them, then that student is actually on the path towards becoming a disciplined student of music google analytics.

But as a student gains more experience on their instrument, they require more and more discipline to stick with it.  Working on a song for a few weeks at a time does not require much discipline, but reviewing Hanon, Czerny or Schmitt exercises, or running through scales, or other finger exercises as part of your daily practice for weeks, months or even years (like at the stage of the game I am at right now) requires a level of discipline that few students ever develop wie kann man fortnite auf laptop herunterladen.

But here is something that is, like, way important.  And this is something that I actually remind my students of on a regular basis.  And it’s what I’d like to leave you all with today apple mobile device usb-treiber herunterladen.

Discipline does not mean doing it perfectly every time.  EVER.  Discipline means doing your best every time.  I know, sometimes our “best” is nowhere near our idea of what “best” sounds like.  But if you are trying your best every time you sit down to play one note or an entire sonata, then eventually – and probably sooner than we realize – our “best” becomes what we expect it to be paint shop gratis downloaden.

Mwish No. 2: Staying Focused

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What’s a mwish?? It’s like, you know, a wish, but better, because there’s music in it! In addition to practicing, I need to think about what I need from my practicing (or my music in general) before I get to the bench herunterladen. So that when I get there (or wherever else I need to be) I will be better prepared to totally rock it out.

This week, Miss Anna needs some focus!  I am even having a hard time focusing on writing this mwish out sonos software herunterladen!

Why do I need focus this week?  We have one more recital coming up on Sunday.  Not only do my students have to perform, but I’ll be performing, too!  I’m really excited, for both them and myself.  But since this is our last week before the recital, and for my students to be focused and ready as we enter the home stretch,  I have to be focused and ready.  Super focused and ready, actually pinball for windows xp for free.

Although right now, the focus is not coming.  Perhaps will do some shiva nata, or just EAT SOMETHING (hmm, yes, I’m definitely hungry now that I’m thinking about it, isn’t i funny to not realize how hungry you are?), and hopefully the focus will come futura bold.

Audience Participation Time
What are you mwishing for this week?  Or at the very least, what are you regular, everyday shade of wishes for the week?  It’s a nice thing to think about on a Sunday night – the promise of all the things you can get done in the following six days gta san andreas free pc!

Mwish No. 1: Just some time, please!

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What’s a mwish??  It’s like, you know, a wish, but better, because there’s music in it!  In addition to practicing, I need to think about what I need from my practicing (or my music in general) before I get to the bench.  So that when I get there (or wherever else I need to be) I will be better prepared to totally rock it out cliparts programm kostenlosen.

This week I am mwishing for more time to practice!  While I do have a crazy schedule, I know that the time exists in it somewhere for me to get more practicing in!  I have to practice for the weekly open mic (so that’s guitar), a fun jam on Saturday (that’s guitar), and a gig on Father’s Day (that’s guitar, too!) how to download from youtube.

So that is a lot of guitar.  My poor little left hand fingers.

Here I am making a mental note of needing to get ink cartridges for my printer tkkg herunterladen. Just in case I need to print out any new lead sheets.

Additionally, I have been slacking on the piano practicing lately.  I’ve been focusing too much on my students.  A good thing, yes?  But I can’t forget my own playing.  So there’s that to get back into zdfmediathek.

That’s a lot of practicing I’m mwishing for this week.  Think I’ll get it done this week?

Audience Participation Time
What are you mwishing for this week?  Or at the very least, what are you regular, everyday shade of wishes for the week?  It’s a nice thing to think about on a Sunday night – the promise of all the things you can get done in the following six days disney plus herunterladen telefunken!

The Good and the Interesting No. 1: Chords

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It’s Friday, and Friday is as good a day as any to stop and evaluate all the Good, the Interesting, and sometimes, even the Bad.  If you notice something particularly funky while you are thinking about it today, why not spend tomorrow focusing just on that free horse games to download?

Good Things
I blogged!  You might be thinking this is old hat for me by now, but really, I sometimes find it really hard to get motivated to blog.  I have tried many different techniques to get myself to blog, and most of them failed.  This week, I didn’t.  What worked?  No clue.  Maybe that’s part of the fun zoom.de herunterladen.

Something else that’s actually pretty awesome this week is I got a new album by one of my fave bands, World/Inferno Friendship Society.  PARENTS YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.  It is a pretty amazing album, as far as their albums go, and I sat down and figured out not one, but TWO of their songs.  “Thirteen Years Without Peter King” and also “The Politics of Passing Out.”  They weren’t actually too difficult for me to figure out, but a search on ultimate-guitar.com (both my favorite place to find chords and the bane of my very existence sometimes) returns nothing on either of these songs.  So I guess what I consider “challenging” has shifted since the last time I actually tried to figure out a song on my own.  Which is actually kind of cool.  I got better virus protection mac for free. I have spent so much time teaching and making other people better, I didn’t realize my ears were getting better at stuff pretty much all on their own teams microsoft herunterladen.

Other neat thing this week – I spent two days babysitting the kids.  And by that I mean, I was working at Pianos Plus in Raritan.  It’s one of the cooler jobs I’ve ever had.  Where else do I get to hang out with 20 assorted pianos and keyboards??  Seriously!  One of the neat things is practicing the same thing on each piano.  You stop paying attention to what you’re putting into the piano and you really start paying attention to the subtle differences of what is coming out of each piano.  It’s fascinating, and an opportunity few rarely get songs aus amazon musik downloaden.

Interesting Things
What does Miss Anna find interesting anyway?  What constitutes “interesting?”  What is this “interesting” of which you speak?  One of my students YEARS ago came to the conclusion.  I never say something sounds bad.  It’s always, “That was iiinnnteresting.”  Which is pretty true song von soundcloud herunterladen.

Much to my surprise, nothing really interesting happened this week.  Hooray!

Bad Things
None of that happened this week. herunterladen. musically.  Personally, not so much.  But we’re trying to remain positive here, in general, yes?  So we are going to be thankful that at least nothing bad happened musically, and we are going to move on super mario world herunterladen.

 

Audience Participation Time
What did you do this week?   Discover anything interesting about yourself?  Did any bit of your playing take a leap or bound forward this week?  And don’t worry, if it didn’t happen this week or hasn’t happened lately, it will happen at some point.  It happens to everyone!  you wake up one morning and BING, you’re so much better at this one thing than you were before you went to bad last night.  It’s actually kind of neat alle games gratisen.

Believe in Something

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I’m preparing to give a presentation on my recent trip to Ukraine at my church next week. I can’t believe I’ve been home for a month and a half adobe fonts schriften herunterladen! While I’ve been sitting here, trying to figure out a way to organize my experience and my thoughts into something cohesive and coherent, I’ve also been thinking about what meaning can be taken out of all of this, what lessons can be passed on harry potter font for free.

And I think the biggest thing I can tell anyone in relation to my trip here, isn’t about the kids I met, or the consequences of the accident at Chernobyl, or anything at all even related to nuclear power cs go download.

It’s the importance of finding something to believe in, and believing in that thing 110%, no matter what, and without fail. Leaving my family and friends, and job and all my students for two weeks was not easy herunterladen. There were a few times during the trip where I was definitely very, very homesick. There were some sad moments when I wished, as much of a grown up as I was, I could just get a hug from my mother herunterladen. But in the end, I was witness to some amazing work and yes, if CCPI asked me to document another trip for them, I would say yes.

I’m not saying that everyone should go halfway around the world to volunteer for various charitable organizations skype for business download windows 10 kostenlos. But I am saying that you should not be afraid to believe in something – whether it is a personal goal or a philanthropic pursuit – and believe in it wherever it takes you 32 or 64 bit. My belief in my cause took me to Ukraine. Your beliefs may not take you to a third world country (maybe you’ll luck out and go somewhere glamorous ls11 mods kostenlosen! hah!), they may not even take you out of the country you currently reside in.

But the feeling you get when your dreams become reality is one of the most amazing feelings in the world invitations available for free word.