Will Hay

Tag: video clips

  • Snowflakes (SATB Christmas Carol with piano accompaniment) by Graeme Hopson

    Having worked with this carol for 12 weeks, I have grown to really like it as have members of my choir, the Neston Ecumenical Singers.

    The words are by the American, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The composition came about late in 2008 as a result of an annual competition organised by The Longfellow Chorus promoting the poetry of their founder. Graeme Hopson, the composer of this setting was a finalist in the competition with this work.

    The score is available direct from the composer or from SibeliusMusic.com

    The snowfall motif in the piano accompaniment delicately flutters throughout the snowflakes’ journey described in the lyrics until the ‘troubled sky reveals the grief it feels’. The harmony takes an anguished turn at this point as the heart rate of the choir members increases whilst the parts get a little more challenging to pitch! Effervescent tranquillity returns along with the carefree snowflake motif as the third verse draws to a close with whispered revelations to wood and field.

  • 5-finger Fur Elise

    For some beginners, five-finger arrangements of popular pops and classics prove to be more motivational than lesser known tunes serving purely as exercises.
    5 finger scoreThis simplified version of Beethoven’s Fur Elise for the absolute beginner requires only a slight change of finger in bars 9-13 where RH finger 4 moves from D# to E and RH finger 5 moves from E to F. At bar 14 the fingers return to their original position.
    Changing the metre from three to four eliminates the need for a pickup bar and though it elongates the rests, it is an easier rhythm to feel and play along with the backing track below.

    To download the backing track you will need to right-click on the download link then click save as…

    Fur Elise Backing Track

    Fur Elise Backing Track (100bpm)

  • Streetpianos – A municipal piano for your neighbourhood

    Play me, I'm yours

    What a wonderful idea. Birmingham, Sao Paulo, Sydney and now Bury St. Edmunds have all been the lucky recipients of a number of pianos installed in various public places to encourage artistic expression and communication. I am sure they must have encouraged many reticent pianists to come out of the woodwork.

    Following a recent visit to the streetpianos of Bury St. Edmunds I have uploaded photos and videos of them below. I was quite suprised how well some of the instruments had stood up to the elements and exposure to the public.

    [slideshow id=3]

    Comments encouraged …

  • Piano Concert raises £160 for Kampala Music School

    Students at 150309 piano concertA big thankyou to all those who attended or performed at the last piano concert held at All Saint’s Church, Hoole which raised £160 towards a piano bursary for Kampala Music School. 

    Some parents have asked about a DVD of the concert as there was video and audio recorded. I have considered this and thought about maybe selling them to further boost the KMS fund however I have decided instead just to make available digital videos of individual student’s performances to their parents if they contact me to request them. They can be available in either DivX for playback on Windows PC or 3GPP for mobile phones.

    Technology did not quite permit the live webcast stream with video as originally intended though there was a low bandwidth audio stream captured by the webcam.

    Some higher quality audio clips of the concert will become available on my gallery or by special request.

     

  • The Orchard

    Those working on the jazz syllabus may be interested to watch this demo of “The Orchard” from the Grade 2 syllabus.