Archive for the ‘In The News’ Category
NEWS: Everything Piano Has A New Look!
November 26th, 2009
What Do You Think About The New Layout?
The Everything Piano website has a completely new look! While the site has gone through some drastic changes, everything is still here, although a lot of unnecessary pages and content have been cut and slimmed down to provide for more easier navigation. My favourite feature is of course the elegant sliding menu at the top. Click on one of the photos to be brought to one of the many subpages of the website (the same pages as shown in the lower end of the sidebar).
After much work and hair-pulling, I’ve finally got everything in place. The last step was to actually write a whole bunch of 301 redirects from my old blog and pages to the new domains/sub-domains of the new site. It’s finally been completed.
Feel free to explore the new layout and check up on updated blog posts, which should be coming very soon. If you want to leave any feedback on the new layout, please do so! Leave a comment below or email me at elise @ elisemoreau.com.
Happy piano playing!
The Woman of Beethoven's "Fur Elise" Has Been Identified
September 29th, 2009
Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)
Ever since I was little, I have always been infatuated with Beethoven’s famous piano solo, “Fur Elise”.
I remember when I was sitting on the floor in a circle with my music class in grade 2, my music teacher started talking about a famous piano solo written by Beethoven.
“It’s named after someone in this class,” she said. I looked down at the floor thinking to myself, “It’s definitely not me.”
Then, to my surprise, she looked at me and said, “Elise!”
From then on, I’ve always loved this piece, even though I’ve annoyed myself by listening to it so much and spending my time in elementary school trying to learn it. I always felt like this was “my piece.” I did end up learning it and playing it for a piano recital, but I haven’t played it in years. I would have to re-learn some parts of it.
There’s no doubt about it that Beethoven is one of the most famous composers of all time, and “Fur Elise” is one of his most well-known piano solos. A beautiful piece, the three-page long Bagatelle in A-minor has been played all over the world and social media, even found to be popular as a downloadable mobile phone ringtone.Thousands upon thousands of piano players over the past couple of centuries have bought up Fur Elise sheet music, tapes, and CDs to enjoy for themselves.
Although the piece can still be heard very often these days, many don’t know about the mystery that surrounded it. The manuscript of Beethoven’s Fur Elise was not discovered until 40 years after he passed, so there was no way to identify the exact origins of the piece. From the German language, “Fur Elise” translates directly to “For Elise,” suggesting an obvious dedication. Historians and researchers never did identify exactly who “Elise” was.
Just recently, a German musicologist claimed that he finally discovered the true identity of the mysterious woman from Fur Elise. Renowned “Beethoven expert,” Klaus Martin Kopitz, says that the woman of Beethoven’s famous dedication went by the full name of Elisabeth Roecekl (1793 – 1883).
According to Koptiz, Elisabeth was a German soprano and sister to the tenor, Joseph August Roeckel, who played the part of Florestan from a performance of “Fidelio,” which he conducted in Vienna during 1806.
In 1807, Elisabeth accompanied her brother to Vienna where joined the composer’s inner circle. Later on in life, she had actually married Beethoven’s friend and musical rival, composer Johann Nepomuk Hummel.
Kopitz explained that Elisabeth was also known by the shorter name, Elise. This has been backed up by an entry in the christening records of St. Stephen’s Cathedral, located in Vienna. At the time of christening, she was named “Maria Eva Elise,” suggesting the fact that she was most likely known as “Elise” in Vienna, as opposed to “Elisabeth.”
As Kopitz goes on, he explains that both Beethoven and Elise shared a close friendship when he wrote Fur Elise in 1810. There was no other woman in Beethoven’s life by the name of Elise. There was also evidence noting that Elisabeth communicated that “during a dinner party,” Beethoven “would pinch my arm out of sheer affection.” Before Beethoven’s death in 1827, Elise had even kept a lock of his hair and allowed herself to be presented with one of his final quills.
Elise’s Musical Tip For The Day:
To me, this discovery has opened my eyes completely. Listen to the piece. You can actually “feel” the different emotions in the piece. It starts out slow and beautiful, perhaps Beethoven is trying to express Elise’s gentle personality or nature. The piece suddenly changes, to a fast and almost angry state. In my interpretation, maybe Beethoven is expressing his jealousy and anger toward Hummel, his rival and husband of Elise. Then, the piece returns to its original melody, maybe suggesting that even through Beethoven’s jealousy, he still loves and respects her. The piece goes on to change to a playful sound, which could reflect the good times that Beethoven and Elise spent together as friends. Finally, the piece returns to the main melody once again to finish the piece.
It’s interesting to make your own interpretations of music, especially with some knowledge about the history of the piece and the composer. See if you can understand what I mean by listening to the piece, or listen to some other classical pieces and try to interpret them for yourself.
Posted in Famous Composers, In The News, Song Reviews | 
Tags: Beethoven, Fur Elise, Piano Solo | 
2 Comments »
I Love Taylor Swift, But Not Kanye West…
September 16th, 2009
Even though this is not exactly piano related, it’s definitely music related. And it’s been a big topic for the past couple of days or so.
I didn’t watch the MMVAs or MTV Awards or whatever it’s called on Sunday night… but I definitely found out about the whole Kanye shocker with all the Facebook and Twitter and News updates. Finally, I asked my friends about it yesterday, and they explained it all.
Today, I was watching “The View” with my mom and I saw the clip where Taylor Swift gets up on stage and begins her thank you speech, before Kanye jumps up on stage, grabs the mic from her and says something along the lines of “Sorry Taylor, Imma letchyou finish in a minute, but Beyonce had one of the best videos!”
My friends said that when the camera flicked over to Beyonce’s reaction in the audience, she looked embarrassed. I actually don’t think she looked embarrassed, I think she looked flattered and surprised. Anyways, at least she gave Taylor the chance to come back up on stage (when Beyonce won something, I think) and finish her speech to thank her fans. I didn’t see this part, but I heard about it.
So, what do I think about all of this?
I dunno. I’m not so huge on the entertainment and movie star industry, but I definitely love Taylor Swift. She is so young and down to earth, and her music is so original and grow-up. I used to think she was one of those teeny-bopper girly singers who dance around like whores and have no talent whatsoever.
I love her music and she actually plays the guitar really well. She’s accomplished a lot for being so young.
I don’t know what exactly Kanye’s motive was. At first I thought it was because he was married to Beyonce, but then I remembered that Beyonce is married to Jay-Z, not Kanye. They kind of look the same and their rap music sounds similar, so I got confused for a minute.
Taylor Swift was on The View today, and she joked around about the whole thing. The women of The View asked her what was going through her head at the time and she explained her thoughts something like this:
“Wow! I can’t believe I won! This is so awesome!”
“Don’t fall, just keep walking and don’t fall.”
“I’m so excited I get to thank the fans!”
“Oh, Kanye’s here?”
“Wow, cool haircut.”
“Kanye, what are you doing?”
It’s great that she could put some humour into the whole ordeal. I know that I would have been mortified. She even had to perform like, 5 minutes after the whole Kanye thing, so it was amazing that she could just pull herself together like that.
Apparently Kanye West was on Jay Lenno show the other night. I didn’t watch it, but I heard from another friend that Lenno really stumped him when he asked Kanye something like, “What do you think your mother would think about your actions?”
That’s a tough one.
Apparently (according to Taylor on The View today), Kanye has not made the effort to make a phone call or email for a personal apology, but he stated on Lenno’s show that he would like to meet up and make a personal apology. Taylor said (again on The View) that she would be open to meeting up with him.
I think it’s a bunch of crap. The Kanye apology, anyway. Maybe he just said it because he was on the air. If he hasn’t made a personal apology by now, I don’t think he’ll really make the effort unless he realizes that it might help somewhat fix his reputation. He’s probably not so much motivated by any “self guilt” which he probably doesn’t even have about the whole thing…
Elise’s Musical Tip For The Day:
Don’t listen to Kanye’s music! Haha, well, I’m joking. I never really listened to his music in the first place, but now I REALLY don’t want to. I guess it’s sort like a watered-down version of the Chris Brown/Rihanna thing. Oh entertainment news… what would we EVER do without it? (That was a sarcastic comment…)
Posted in In The News |
Tags: Entertainment, Jay Lenno, Kanye West, MTV, News, Taylor Swift, The View |
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A Tribute to the Life and Music of Michael Jackson
July 21st, 2009
I’d like to take the time to express my thoughts about the passing of Michael Jackson this past June 25th, 2009.
I’ve been listening to Michael Jackson’s music since I was very young. I was born in ’86 and there are actual home videos of me and my sister dancing around the coffee table to his music when my dad played his “Bad” album on the record player. “Beat It,” is, and will always be, my favourite song of all time.
The day that my sister woke me up from a nap and told me that Michael Jackson died felt surreal. I felt like a small piece of me died as well. In fact, I felt panicky. Of course, I became skeptical later that day and even wondered about agreeing with others who were convinced that he faked his own death.
However, after I watched the memorial in honour of Michael Jackson (half online at work and half at home), I was completely convinced that there was no way he could have faked his death.
The emotions shown in the eyes of his family and close friends could not all be fake. And I must agree with most viewers that the shocking appearance and small speech given by his daughter Paris was enough to move anyone to a tearful gaze.
For my entire life, I’ve always hated how the media has portrayed Michael Jackson. They were always talking about his latest plastic surgery, his huge debt, his strange marriages, and his obsession with young children.
I think Michael Jackson’s memorial helped many open their eyes. Speakers at the memorial told stories of his kindness and genorousity through different means, such as charity work. Unfortunately, topics like these don’t make much money in the media or entertainment world. It really is a shame that Michael Jackson had to die in order to be seen as who he really was in life.
In Michael Jackson’s honour, I plan on learning the piano solo arrangement, “Man In The Mirror.” If you’re interested as well, you can purchase Michael Jackson’s Number Ones for voice, piano, and guitar by clicking here. I’ll be sure to post my performance on video (most likely via YouTube) as soon as I learn the piece.
Elise’s Musical Tip For The Day:
Sometimes it’s really fun to research some of your favourite popular songs as a piano arrangement. You’ll be pleasantly surprised to find that some unusual songs actually sound amazing as written as a piano solo. Just pick your favourite song from the radio and see what you can come up with in the search engines. See if there is a corresponding MIDI or audio sample file so you can listen to it first. You’ll be amazed to find that some songs with absolutely no piano or very little piano in the original song will sound beautiful if it’s arranged effectively.
Posted in In The News |
Tags: Man In The Mirror, Michael Jackson, Music, Piano Sheets, Popular |
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