pianist, composer and music educator - Dagmar Feyen - The Tuesday Thing http://dagmarfeyen.com/blog.html Dagmar Feyen: The Tuesday Thing Jannis' PHPRss class - http://www.jannis.to/ Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:50:59 -0700 TTT 2010-07: an easy piece to start with http://dagmarfeyen.com/blog.html/ttt_201007_an_easy_piece_to_start_with Last summer, I was asked to play at a wedding ceremony for my former student Rebecca and Yves. There I improvised a piece which I now finished and recorded for you all to hear as TTT_2010-07.mp3


 

]]> http://dagmarfeyen.com/blog.html/ttt_201007_an_easy_piece_to_start_with Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:50:59 -0700 pianist, composer and music educator - Dagmar Feyen - The Tuesday Thing Time to pick up a good habit... http://dagmarfeyen.com/blog.html/time_to_pick_up_a_good_habit Now that the summer vacation is approaching its end, it is time to think about picking up my TTT cycle. I underestimated the burden of composing even a small piano piece on a specific single day (Tuesday). But now that the start of the work year comes nearer, I will take on the challenge of trying to compose a small piece every week on Tuesday. The only thing I'll change is that there will be no specific theme (or the use of a specific name) anymore, and that the level of difficulty is free. I have to compose for my students anyway, so why not use this incentive to do so in an organised way?


So you can expect a new composition af mine on September 7, and from then on every week ... except in holiday periods! Last time I reached 6 compositions; Let's see how many there will be this year!

]]> http://dagmarfeyen.com/blog.html/time_to_pick_up_a_good_habit Sat, 28 Aug 2010 11:33:30 -0700 pianist, composer and music educator - Dagmar Feyen - The Tuesday Thing TTT 10-06: Ok, I'm to late ... but this is stil a Tuesday Thing! http://dagmarfeyen.com/blog.html/ttt_1006_ok_im_to_late__but_this_is_stil_a_tuesday_thing In two weeks, I'm attending a conference of the Flemish Composer's Association (ComAV), where I will be playing a mini-recital with my own piano piece "XtC"... this is what the organisation expects because I let them know 6 months ago. As was to be expected, the piece was not yet finished, so I had to work really hard to complete it. Yesterday, that was the case, so my Tuesday Thing is postponed to ... Wednesday.


I have to admit that I cheated a little, because the theme name ("Xavier", a friend and collegue of mine) and the piece was laying on my desk for quite some time now, so all I had to do was finish it ...


A romantic ballad feel for TTT 10-06


TTT_2010-06.mp3

]]> http://dagmarfeyen.com/blog.html/ttt_1006_ok_im_to_late__but_this_is_stil_a_tuesday_thing Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:41:29 -0800 pianist, composer and music educator - Dagmar Feyen - The Tuesday Thing TTT 10-05: Very appropriate: a lullaby after a nights work (2:30 AM!) http://dagmarfeyen.com/blog.html/ttt_1005_very_appropriate_a_lullaby_after_a_nights_work_230_am Last sunday, we had the baptism of the youngest niece in the family. That's why I thought it suitable to write a little lullaby, inspired by her name "Trixie". I hope you like it,and PLEASE, please: start bombing this blog with names!


So here it is: a little lullaby for Trixie


>TTT_2010-05.mp3


 

]]> http://dagmarfeyen.com/blog.html/ttt_1005_very_appropriate_a_lullaby_after_a_nights_work_230_am Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:18:20 -0800 pianist, composer and music educator - Dagmar Feyen - The Tuesday Thing TTT 10-04: It's becoming a bad habit! http://dagmarfeyen.com/blog.html/ttt_1004_its_becoming_a_bad_habit So, if you think that vacation with the kids is good for your music production, think again! The Tuesday thing of this week is finished (in the US it is still Tuesday, so ...), but I barely made it. What you hear is also the Finale version (as it was last week also), but I promise to make a real recording as soon as possible.


The name of the week is Barbara, whom I know as a good singer. I wrote her a Romance with the seven notes of her name. It is more conventional than you will be used of me, but this is what it is, and I hope you like it:


TTT_2010-04.mp3


 

]]> http://dagmarfeyen.com/blog.html/ttt_1004_its_becoming_a_bad_habit Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:48:13 -0800 pianist, composer and music educator - Dagmar Feyen - The Tuesday Thing TTT 10-03 - delayed by a severe cold! http://dagmarfeyen.com/blog.html/ttt_1003__delayed_by_a_severe_cold Ok, the composition was ready yesterday, but normally I do the uploading in the evening, after I get home from driving my daughters to their music lessons. Now I just was able to crawl in my bed. I slept for 12 hours non-stop (if you know that mostly I sleep somewhere between 4 and 6 hours, then you get a feeling about how sick and tired I was!).


So this morning, I cancelled all my lessons for today, and now, I will upload my third Tuesday Thing, which is based on the nam "LUT". Lut is one of my adult students who has suffered a long period with problems on her shoulder. Monday was her first piano lesson in months and this little "Etude" is based on the three letters of her name.


 TTT_2010-03.mp3

]]> http://dagmarfeyen.com/blog.html/ttt_1003__delayed_by_a_severe_cold Wed, 10 Feb 2010 06:45:51 -0800 pianist, composer and music educator - Dagmar Feyen - The Tuesday Thing TTT 10-02: So somebody is paying attention ... http://dagmarfeyen.com/blog.html/ttt_1002_so_somebody_is_paying_attention_ One reaction has reached me by e-mail about "The Tuesday Thing", so as a reward, I immortalised his name in a small piano piece. But as it is sad that there is nobody else, I made some sort of blues of it. The name used is "Hans", and you hear it in the first four notes of the melody.


So Hans, enjoy your little piece!


TTT_2010-02.mp3

]]> http://dagmarfeyen.com/blog.html/ttt_1002_so_somebody_is_paying_attention_ Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:35:26 -0800 pianist, composer and music educator - Dagmar Feyen - The Tuesday Thing TTT 10-01: And the winner is ... http://dagmarfeyen.com/blog.html/ttt_1001_and_the_winner_is_ As was to be expected, nobody reacted to my first blog and posted a name for me, so I choose the name "Maurice". If you read the post of last week, this is not much of a surprise.


And I made it! It was close (I just realised this afternoon that it was already tuesday, and I had a lot of stuff to do, but here it is:


My first Tuesday Thing!


conveniently named TTT 10-01 (The Tuesday Thing 2010 n° 1)


I wrote it as a two-part invention, barely 30 seconds long, but it sounds fun enough. Listen to it TTT_2010-01.mp3


and PLEASE ... let me know what you think of it.


You can always post me names to use in my compositions.


see you next week (tuesday of course!)


Dagmar


PS. If you are a pianist, drop me a message and I post you the score of this little piece.

]]> http://dagmarfeyen.com/blog.html/ttt_1001_and_the_winner_is_ Tue, 26 Jan 2010 13:34:24 -0800 pianist, composer and music educator - Dagmar Feyen - The Tuesday Thing "The Tuesday Thing" kick off! http://dagmarfeyen.com/blog.html/the_tuesday_thing_kick_off Hi there,


As Tuesday is my day off from teaching, I have a little time on my hands. It so happens that a week ago I got a notice from hostbaby (yes, that is were my website comes from!) that there is now a cool "blog" application on my website. I thought: why not make use of it to spread some news around the www? I was also thinking of using this channel to boost my music writing a little bit, as I'm a little bit lazy, and creativity starts flowing only when there is a really, really urgent deadline to catch!


This got me thinking: I am a classical composer, what in ?!$!€ name is the benefit of composing one piece a week, just for putting it online for everybody to see (or hear, or both; I haven't figured thát out yet!)? As I said before: It will force me to write some music every week, and as Maurice Ravel said it also:


"inspiration is sitting at your desk everyday and start writing."


(For my procrastinating self, every week will allready be a huge victory!) He also was a master in setting up limitations for himself, to learn how to overcome them. So I'm going to compose the piece in one day, for piano solo (so I can play it myself), and using a name as inspiration. I hope that someone out there will read this blog and start posting names (first names, not last names).


So from next week on, there will be a fine piano piece waiting for you all to download and to play (You are all pianists, right?). I will also explain how I put the name in musical notes, and what kind of composition technique I apply (maybe something different every week, to make it fun...).


As good old Maurice also used to say (it is a program note for his "Valses nobles et sentimentales":


"... le plaisir délicieux et toujours nouveau d'une occupation inutile."
("... the delicious and always new pleasure of doing something useless.")


Who am I to disagree with that?


See you next week in TTT ("the Tuesday thing")


Dagmar

]]> http://dagmarfeyen.com/blog.html/the_tuesday_thing_kick_off Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:33:06 -0800 pianist, composer and music educator - Dagmar Feyen - The Tuesday Thing