SOUTH BAY CHAPTER
December Winterfest Gathering: (2nd Tuesday)
Date: Tuesday, December 11,
2018
Time: 6:30 pm
Location: Kawai America
2055 E. University,
Dominguez Hills 90220
In November we had part three of Bruce Stevens’ action analysis procedure, "The Process of Measuring and Establishing Balance Weight for the Grand Action." Bruce's objective is to make the piano enjoyable to play or to get the resistance on the players' fingers as evenly as possible across the keyboard. This is accomplished by split weight where the 2 weights together on the top is the down weight and bottom weight alone is the up weight. This system of measuring the weight of the keys is very efficient. In practice, this makes for an easy-to-judge procedure. The objective here is to determine the proper position of the key lead, this being the next step - installation. Thank you, Bruce, for a truly superb program, complete with hands-on guidance.
NAMM is coming. Stay tuned to the Newsletter and Journal for instructions on registering with your PTG membership for free entrance to all days of the show.
It's that time of the year for the December Winterfest gathering of the South Bay Chapter! Yes, it will AGAIN be Great Food! Great Fellowship! Great Music! Come and participate by bringing something to add to the fabulous buffet that has become a tradition over the years. If you plan to attend and can bring something for the buffet, please email Dianne Cottrell with those specifics (dbc440@juno.com)
This year, we will have the pleasure of the keyboard artistry of Dennis Thurmond & Sung-Hwa Park. Dennis, a former faculty member of the Berklee College of Music, Boston and Thornton School of Music, USC (retired), is currently with Yamaha, China and recently finished a 30-city concert tour. Sung-Hwa Park has served on the USC keyboard faculty since 2002, where she currently directs the Functional Skills program for keyboard majors. Together they will present our evening's entertainment entitled, “400 Years of Keyboard Improvisation.” They have sent the following to spark your interest and curiosity!
“The keyboard (harpsichord, clavichord, forte-piano, piano or digital piano) has been an excellent choice for musicians to use as a vehicle for improvisation. Be it the great improvisors Scarlatti, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt or the modern improvisors of today, improvisation is a vital part of keyboard performance. Dennis & Sung-Haw would like to explore with you some of the different directions that improvisation has taken during the last 400 years. They will begin with the teacher of Scarlatti, Bernardo Pasquini (1637-1710), and progress to some of the improvisors of today. They will use power point to give you the melodic lines that will be improvised on so that you can see the basic melodic and harmonic outline.”