I would like to share my two recent performance experiences at Edmonton Academy of Music.
At the Mid-Winter Concert on February 11, 2017, I had my first experience of performing in an ensemble with my co-workers. We were working on Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah. I had so much fun playing the piano part with Judith on the bass guitar, John McDonnell on the guitar, Leonard Patterson on the drums and Audrey Shonn on the French horn. Angie Money and Jennifer O’Donnell sang the lyrics. I learned to listen to all of my partners’ parts with absolute focus on playing my piano part and accurately coming in to join them throughout the performance. I had a great experience and I would like to play in an ensemble again in the future should an opportunity come up.
On December 9, 2017, I had another experience of performing as a soloist at the Square One Coffee House to pre-celebrate the Holiday Season. This was my first experience of performing on an electric piano of which I am not familiar with and have no experience in playing one in the many years of my teaching. When performing two Christmas carols, I found that the touch of the keyboard was flat and it was difficult for me to put in the expressions. If I perform again on an acoustic piano, I will have success in achieving lovely tone production because of the above experience. For me, playing on a piano is more fun because I can freely put in expressions. With arm weight playing down to the bottom of the keys, I can achieve big tone anytime I’d like. However, I hope to work on an electric piano in the future in order to gain more understanding about this instrument. Should I need to perform on an electric piano next time, I will be able to control the sound and the touch with more awareness and ease.
I want to thank Angie Money, the Director of Edmonton Academy of Music for hosting such opportunities for me to perform and to learn at the same time!
Pam Lang, piano teacher
