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If you didn't attend the New England Forums Party (at BeeLady's house) and the Piano Recital after the party, you missed One Great Day!
The food was wonderful, BeeLady's Steinway is gorgeous and the music was outstanding. A number of forum members took turns playing, and they all sounded great!
My thanks to BeeLady for opening her beautiful home in the country to us.
Members came from CT, NY, MA (including the Cape), and even Maine. And if the music, food, and companionship at the party wasn't enough, we had the special treat of the recital afterward which included our own Extremus.
The recital was held at the Parish Center for the Arts, a lovely old building in picturesque Westford, MA.
Pieces ranged from Gershwin to Chopin, Mozart, Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, and more! I can't even begin to describe what we heard, but I can tell you I was completely mesmorized.
All three pianist played superbly (Philip Feng, Timothy Peng, and Baw Ch'ng). Philip's bio takes up most of one page of the program, and I can see why (although I think the other two were being too modest). He played passages with his left hand I couldn't play with both hands!
Do yourself a favor, the next time this trio puts on a concert, be there. www.PianoRecital.org
Well, enough for now. It's almost 11:30 at night, and I'm sitting in my hotel room typing this out. Can't sleep, still on overload from all the wonderful piano music I heard today. Wish I had a piano here, feel like playing now:-)
All in all, I'd say the first New England Piano Forums Party was a rousing success!
Many thanks to everyone who attended and made it a special day.
My Keyboards: Estonia L-190, Roland RD88, Yamaha P-80, Bilhorn Telescope Organ c 1880, Antique Pump Organ, 1850 concertina, 3 other digital pianos ------------------------- My original piece on BandCamp: https://frankbaxtermrpianoworld.bandcamp.com/releases
Me banging out some tunes in the Estonia piano booth at the NAMM show...
Our very special Beelady (aka Kerri) sitting at the piano; standing l-r JF, Chris, Frank, Kathy & Bernard. Kathy & JF's daughter, Sophie in the center.
Loved every minute of being a part of today's gathering. Thanks to all who made it happen and to those of you who gathered and shared your day, your talents and your friendship. A truly wonderful experience.
Pics to come a bit later today. I must first make coffee and provide train station transport for our most charming houseguest! I'll be sure to do it today before Frank moves the site!
Ax did come and even played a duet with Kathyk. The open recital was wonderful, what a selection of music! Perhaps Ax will post the program....
Kathyk's son played too. WOW! The format after the regular program, allows anyone in the audience come and play. Other than Peter, no PW members were up for it. But to our delight, a little 7 year old boy got up and with his toes just barely touching the floor, he knocked off a Beethoven Bagatelle and Maple Leaf Rag!
Afterward, another round of goodies including a large cake had us socializing one last time before we called it a night. Looks like Frank may have gotten himself a new forum member out of the audience!
Piano parties are fun! I think we need to do this again. One thing I noticed was that this was the first party we have even thrown where the guests were NOT in the kitchen!
BeeLady
Life is like a roll of toilet paper...the closer you get to the end, the faster it goes!
Since I know the nature of the Piano World members that were there, I'm happy to announce that my first reaction to the "where the guests were NOT in the kitchen! " comment was NOT to recheck the photos for a gallon of "Cajun Dynamite" clam dip setting on the piano. . . . . . . But it looks like SOMEBODY should keep an eye on Bernard's "tip jar hand". Have you had your accountant go over the security tapes yet, Beelady? . . . . (Sorry to blow your cover-story about Wolf Blitzer and his CNN camera team, Bee.)
Ok, here goes...Pictures from the party. Some are a bit dark and fuzzy, took a while to find the teeeny tiiiny button on my camera to turn it on!
A441's lovely wife, next to her (with the sneaks) is FredShopin, Frank, ChrisW (then the top of A441's head), Axtremus' lovely bride, Kathyk and Axtremus at the bench playing Canon in D for four hands.
Ax warming up!
FredShopin (aka kathyk's son Peter), Bernard and ChrisW1
Some guests did hang out in the kitchen, talking shop...ChrisW, Frank and Mr. BeeLady
Frank, BeeLady and TerryTunes
Ax's contribution to the Potluck. It was huge! So we brought it along to the recital to share with the rest of the audience, much to the delight of the children there!
Frank does the honors!
Thanks to everyone for coming. My piano never sounded soooo good.
Ok, so who is hosting the next party???
BeeLady
Life is like a roll of toilet paper...the closer you get to the end, the faster it goes!
It really was a great time. This time around, I had already met most of you, so it felt even more like a group of friends than it did to me at the MH tour. Thank you Kerri/Beelady for having us! What a gracious hostess and host she and her husband were. And, yes, the piano was a joy to play. (Bob, you insinuatin' we're a bunch of piano hogs? ). Guess we probly are, because I don't think those ivories had a moment's rest. As my crew approached the entry way, we heard the piano going and I don't think it stopped 'til we all loaded up to go to the recital.
Bernard was playing a Chopin nocturne when we arrived. Peter and I both had ample turns. Jeremy caressed our ears with buttery smooth jazz classics. Frank thrillred us with his demo of how he "can't" play classical the way it's supposed to be played, starting with Moonlight sonata which turned into a rockin, rollin honky tonk piano stomper (think Elton John at his wildest). Chris did his Bach-Busoni chorale, Nun Komm Der Heiden Heiland - exquisitely beautiful and he does it sooooo well,(which both Peter and I are now racing to learn), I strong-armed Ax (not really - he was quite complicit) into slogging through some Brahms duets, the Pachebel, and the Schumann fantasy (finally! And he said agreed to work it up for his next recital :p ) and we even go Terry to play some of her fine old chestnuts with a little coaxing. What I find so awesome about these gatherings is witnessing firsthand the joy that the piano evokes in all of us and sharing the many different individual styles. Both times now, I have come away feeling truly inspired and with new ideas for my own playing and learning.
Oh, and the recital was great. Ax is such a fine pianist and performer. Unfortunately we had to leave at intermission so we missed the 6-hand Rachminoff, but we did get to see the rest of Ax's performance. Hopefully, we'll get to hear the CD.
I have a few more pics to share - not as many as I had planned on getting; I was just too busy playing, eating, drinking wine and talking!
Rats! Lloyd and I missed the party. We were looking forward to getting better acquainted with everyone, but twas not to be.
Bee Lady, I hope you received my email before the party. I emailed you Friday in a desperate attempt to let you know we couldn't make it. We did not have your phone # with us, so email was the only way I could think to reach you.
What Happened??? Blame it on PianoQuest!
This was our vacation week and Lloyd and I left Tuesday to look at pianos. We drove hundreds of miles to look at "particular pianos".
One of the pianos was not ready to be played when expected. This was not the fault of the dealer, by the way! So we decided to stay over an extra day. Instead of arriving home Friday, we drove home all day Saturday. We got home at 9:20 p.m.
We did enjoy our time there as the piano dealer was most accommodating and hey! we got to meet "Teeth Mover" (I think that's what he said his PianoWorld name is) and a few other really nice people. Boy, can Teeth Mover play the piano!
Well, it appears everyone had a great time at the Piano Pahty! I wish we could have been there to hob nob and hear the piano playing. I'm looking forward to reading all of the comments of those who attended. Great pix, Bee Lady and what a beautiful house!
I'd like to close by saying we've noticed some PianoWorld posts about meeting up with, shall we say, less than stellar individuals during their Piano Quest. Lloyd and I only had one experience like that at one particular piano dealer months ago. Except for that one time, everyone we've met we find to be interesting, talented, fun, exceptional kinds of people. It seems to us there are a whole lot of nice people out there connected with this business.
Just our experience.
Jeanne W
Music is about the heart and so should a piano be about the heart. - Pique
Apple, do it when you get a chance! Has there been Mid-West party? You could organize one. I know of at least three people who would be there in a heartbeat.
What a joyous time!!! Thanks to BeeLady and Kevin and the children and to Axtremus whose energy and talent amazes us all! Grahme (sp?) whose playing was a delight has a bright future period! I know how to spell "it" now. It was so great to see everyone and hear such great music on that jewel of a Steinway "A". What can you say about the recital except a joy to behold. Thanks Kathyk for the kind words. Peter, you are on your way. Your love of music spills over for all of us to enjoy. Good luck at Cornell! Frank (aka Jerry Lee Lewis) thanks for "The Mugs". Great fun to hear and watch you play. Terry, if you can find your keys, we may see you in July. Enjoyed your playing very much. My wife (Linda) enjoyed you all. Thanks everyone for a wonderful time!!! Jeremy Gloo A-441
Oh, So fine! The people, the setting, the atmosphere, the food and wine--oh, so fine! The music--so fine! The piano--so, so fine! BeeLady and her family--so fine, and so kind.
Once again I had the pleasurable experience of meeting a few new members for the first time; is there anything like it, I ask you? Those first few moments, searching, recalling the poster's numerous threads, putting them together with the live person for the first time. I love it.
BeeLady and her family opened their arms wide to make us all feel welcome and comfortable. Thank you, BeeLady and family. They also have a beautiful home in a setting that is to be envied--it's a dream of a place.
I'm sitting in the backyard writing this with pen and paper--relaxing after a lovely trip back to NY--and I haven't checked to see what's been posted. Perhaps it's already mentioned, but if not, BeeLady made little directional signs out of PianoWorld's logo and they were posted along the route to her house, once off the main road. Nice. I hope you will post a picture of them BeeLady.
It was a great pleasure hearing everyone play. kathyk and her son, Peter are both gifted musicians--the kathyk's have an abundance of talent among them. Can't wait to hear the violin next time! Congratulations to Peter on his performance at the recital; very nice.
I'm just wondering, Frank, do you have any recordings of your rock 'n roll band? Some that you might transfer to mp3 so we can all have a listen? That would be fun.
The recital. I love these small-town events held in century-old venues. Axtremus, I think what you and your friends are doing with these recitals is really important and very good. Even people who do not attend will pick up on the notion of live piano music. A side-glance at a poster here, a quick notice of an event at the hall will implant the idea in their minds, subsconciously perhaps, that people actually play and listen to piano music. You are making the world a better place. It was a beautiful program and I want to learn a few of those pieces too.
Ok, now I have a bone to pick! Re: The 3 Gershwin pieces and the Moonlight Sonata, where you each played a prelude/movement. Only the last performer got the applause!!!! I wanted to applaud you all but was robbed of the opportunity!!! Oh, no! I was waiting for all three of you to reunite at the end of the piece so we could give you your due. You all certainly deserved it.
To everyone: it was great to see you all again. What fun. Must do it again, soon!
BeeLady, good luck on the "big dig" and make sure those trees know which way they're falling! Thanks for the lift and everything else.
Frank, once again, thank you for PianoWorld, without which these events wouldn't happen.
"Hunger for growth will come to you in the form of a problem." -- unknown
You guys are making me blush. It truly was our pleaure to have you all here. A house is just sticks and stone until its filled with friends.
I would urge any other members in the country considering a Piano Party to go for it! It is fun and inspiring, not just for me. G is at the piano right now practicing!
Kathyk, I am so glad you got some pictures as well. I felt like I was taking many, but in the end few turned out too well. Like you, I found I was busy with food, music and friends.
Frank, what can we say, you make all this possible. It was pleasure to spend more time with you and hear you play. Thank you for Pianoworld.
Funny, but this morning my coffee tastes especially good. Must be the mug!
BeeLady
Life is like a roll of toilet paper...the closer you get to the end, the faster it goes!
Well done. I guess pianos can, indeed, seperate where people hang out.
Your piano has come a long way. I tried and tried to hear what you mentioned to me over the phone and simply could not. The right hand didn't have to pound its way out over a loud mid-section and getting soft was no problem. I know you didn't play mine much, though I wish you had. Brand new soundboards are so sweet to play.
The music everyone made was wonderful. There were plenty on hand to play socially lubricating styles . Jeremy, what can I say? I think you started off with Somewhere Over the Rainbow and then you somehow threaded it right into Someone to Watch Over Me. Kathy, not only was it great to hear you play the G Ballad again, but it was also nice to know there is another out there who is mesmerized by that piece. Your son, Peter, is really impressive. So much musical maturity at such a young age. Comfortable on stage, too.
I was the one who bailed and brought the chow mien from my local favorite. The rest of the food and company were wonderful. BeeLady's S.O. is a nice sharp guy to hang out with. I hope we get to do this again. The Fall, maybe? I am sure something will come together
Sorry to have left the recital a bit early. SWSBO was getting strung out when I got home and the babies sorely needed a relief pitcher to put 'um down.