Hannah's New Piano Pieces

I learned many new piano pieces over the spring months.

• Waltz Of The Flowers (from the Nutcracker Ballet'') by Peter Tschikowsky  
• Sonatina in G Major by Kuhlau
• March /Marche Op. 65, No. 10 by Sergei Prokofiev
• Dance by Dmitri Shostakovich
• Anna Polka by E. Strauss

First I played Waltz Of The Flowers ( from the Nutcracker Ballet'') by Peter Tchaikovsky. I had to press the pedal while playing the piece. This was my favorite piece because its from the Nutcracker Ballet and I like to watch the ballet. In the ballet, Clara is dancing with the nutcracker who turned into a prince.

The second piece my mother recorded was Sonatina in G- major by Kuhlau. For this piece I had to practice it slow, count, and play with strong fingers. Next my mom recorded the song March /Marche Op. 65, No. 10 by Sergei Prokofiev. For the is piece I had to keep the beat because it is a march.  I had to practice it with the metronome and it took a long time for me to learn. This  piece sounds like solders marching in a parade.

Next I recorded the piece called Dance by Dmitri Shostakovitch. For this piece, I had to play loud and quiet and also not rush the melody. My piano teacher wanted me to count out loud, but I never counted because I do not like to.  I also had to play with all the right fingers.

The final piece  I recorded was Anna-Polka by E. Strauss. For this piece, I had to count, and I to play staccato with strong fingers.  Both Dance and Anna Polka are  happy pieces because it sounds like people are dancing at a party.

I hope you enjoy the songs that I recorded. I have been practicing all of these songs very hard.

Which piece was your favorite?

Gala Finale Orchestra Concert.

In front of the performance hall

Earlier this month, I had my Final Gala concert for this year. This is my second year in Camerata Strings. We practice every Saturday morning 9:00-11:30. The conductor is very nice and chooses beautiful pieces for us to play. Everyone practices their part during the week, and she helps us put it together. After about 5 weeks of practice, she does chair placement. Chair placement is when you audition for her, and she chooses where you sit. The best players sit closest to the conductor. Everyone practices a lot during the week of chair placement. For chair placement, I got 4th chair. This was a big improvement for me because I started the year as a second violin, then the last concert I was first violin 9th chair and this final concert I was first violin 4th chair. I will now be working with my teacher to choose a new piece to audition for the symphony orchestra, which is a more advanced orchestra.

My day started early in the morning because I had to get dressed in a black skirt, white shirt, and shiny black shoes. It was a windy and cold day and our violins were becoming out of tune often. We had to leave earlier to allow time to park and find the performance hall. At 11:30 we had a dress rehearsal on stage to find our seats and practice our pieces. The performance was in a huge beautiful concert hall. The hall had very good acoustics, and you could here the echo of our orchestra throughout the entire building, even on the upper balcony seats.  Even if one person messed up, everyone would be able to hear it.  I was a little nervous when I got on stage, but when we finished and the audience clapped,I felt like we had done a good job.

We played four pieces:

• Spring Breezes(Folk Song from Taiwan) Arr Richard Meyer
• Eine Kleine Nachtmusic by Mozart
• Winter from the Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi
• A Grieg Portrait by Edward Grieg

In Spring breezes there were many solos played by the first chair. A solo is when only one person plays a specific part. This song wasn't my favorite because it kept repeating throughout the whole song. Eine Kleine Nachtmusic is a fast and light song.  Winter from the Four Seasons was my second favorite. It sounded like raindrops falling on the ground which represents Winter. A Grieg Portrait was my favorite because every section had a beautiful melody. It was three of Grieg most famous songs put together into one piece.



                               Here is a video of my performance.

Which piece was your favorite?