WMV Music Web Log

Another idea about learning and practising. Over time we inevitably make little compromises and accept an increasing burden of small defeats. These must be completely thrown off - there really is no room for them at all! Absolute freshness, and emotional integrity like steel - as if you were just born. That is what it takes. You will never be satisfied with your music without these.

I never got the hang of teaching piano - for some reason, it always baffled me, so I don't teach. But every once in awhile, I think, "this would be a good thing for a student to know." My latest advice: forgive and ignore your mistakes. They are not very important, and it's much easier to enjoy music without paying attention to them. It's more of a positive feedback loop if you enjoy your own music-making anyway.

Another nice note from George Walker:

Dear Mr. Banner,

I enjoyed seeing the performance of the Viola Sonata on YouTube. I told several persons about the site. I neglected to mention some time ago that measure 9 in the first movement should be 6-8 instead of 5-8. Also,I wasn't sure if the two grace notes in measure 16 were played together before the dotted 8th in the piano part.

When I told Marcia Goldberg, who replaced her father as president of MMB Music about YouTube, she told me that she went to high school with your wife. An interesting coincidence.

Have a wonderful summer.

Kindest regards.

George Walker

It is good to imagine every once in awhile that Mozart was happy. Because it is plausible after all (Kierkegaard thought so). How can you not be happy creating? And why shouldn't we be happy too? Yes, the world is at war, artists are treated badly, there are silly discouragements and difficulties, one upon another, of course.

But there I was, absolutely blissed out because I am sitting at the piano on a beautiful summer day playing the slow movement of Brahms' c minor piano quartet; ironically, by the composer's own admission, composed in a suicidal frame of mind.

David Cheng has posted some of the Chaise Lounge songs from the June 10 Atlas concert as videos on YouTube. I watch them over and over with great fascination. I don't even know why I enjoy them so much, but it is just like when Charlie Barnett first played me "Bom" on his computer. Marilyn Older and John Jensen knocked my socks off.

Dear Dr. Walker,

Thank you for your kind words! It was a great privilege to perform your Sonata with Amadi Hummings, and I am delighted that it was received well. I sincerely hope that it soon finds its rightful place in the standard repertoire, along with Brahms and the handful of other masterpieces for viola and piano. I look forward to performing it again soon.

Best wishes,

Carl Banner

P.S. Our performance from the Atlas Theater is now available as a video on YouTube.
The links are:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edflGMJJeLI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovTeuYZfESY

Dear Mr. Banner,

Many thanks for the cd of my Viola Sonata. I was pleased to receive it from you.

I hope that you had a good audience for the concert. The performance went very well and your playing was secure and expressive. I had the impression that the viola entrance in the first movement was in a slower tempo than you set in the piano introduction. The entrance sounded more pianissimo than "mp esp." I enjoyed my phone conversation with Amadi Hummings.

With best wishes.

George Walker

(You can listen to our performance here):
Part 1
Part 2