It makes me think, with some surprise, how much even the mundane and irritating signs of the season – like the incessant carols on the radio – end up reminding me how much December is all about singing and how I’m a little bit lost without hearing our voices together.
How can we celebrate the turn of the year and all the festivals of light without singing? No Messiah, no chorus concerts, no caroling – just another screen view of those people we love, somewhere away from us, and wishing we could be together.
That’s why Amateur Music Network’s Singing Saturdays has been so meaningful for me: at Christmastime, there should be singing! Don’t let the pandemic prevent you from celebrating the holidays in song.
Join the Singing Saturdays series finale on Saturday, December 19, at 11 a.m. PST to sing seasonal carols and selections from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. Singing Saturdays is led by the amazing Ragnar Bohlin, world-renowned director of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, which has thrilled audiences and made many glorious recordings. Ragnar has spent the pandemic in his native Sweden. But through the magic of Amateur Music Network and Zoom he’ll be right in your living room, leading you and singers from around the world in an hour of focused singing to lift your spirits for the holidays. And there’s a special treat in store: we’ll celebrate Beethoven’s 250th birthday by reading through the Ode to Joy from the Ninth Symphony.
We know our online workshops can’t replace an in-person choir, and on Zoom nobody can hear you singing. But Ragnar’s unique ability to connect through the screen will have you feeling like you’re getting a personal coaching from one of the very best. And with Amateur Music Network the focus is always on being together in a community of music-makers, even while we’re apart.
AMN early music workshops featured in SF Classical Voice!
We were pleased to see this in-depth coverage of our Early Music for Modern Instruments series. SFCV’s article conveyed the adventure we hoped our community of musicians could travel, learning how to incorporate stylistic elements of “historically informed performance” into their playing for repertoire of the Baroque and Classical periods.
At Amateur Music Network we wear the “amateur” label with pride. The word comes from Latin—remember amo, amas, amat?—and it originally meant “someone who has a love of something.” For us, it still has that meaning. Love of music is what we’re all about.Think about your own love of music. Perhaps you played with a toy xylophone or took Suzuki violin lessons or were offered a free clarinet from the school orchestra. Did you sing in the church choir? Play drums in your friends’ rock band? Become a regular at karaoke night?
Maybe you took it further: A music-theory class in college. A stint in a community orchestra before parenthood or career became too demanding. Some private piano lessons because you really wanted to learn those Chopin waltzes. You don’t even have to play music to love music. Every time you listen to music it opens a door to your imagination. We all know the world of feeling that music evokes. Singing along in the car, in the shower, while you do the chores—that’s music-making!
But wait: there’s more!
Is it time to pick up that clarinet that’s been in the back of your closet since high school? To brush up your scales on that violin you used to love so much? To join a ukulele club and learn to strum some chords? Or if you are an active music-maker, to try something new like bluegrass, or Brazilian, or the blues?
Whatever your passion, Amateur Music Network can help you find a pathway to music-making that’s right for you. We’re here for you when you’re starting out, and we’re here when you’re ready to make a deeper commitment, too. Our workshops and conversations bring some of the best musicians and mentors in the music world to your desktop or phone. And our listings include teachers, coaches, and fellow musicians who can inspire and challenge you.
Look, it’s been a tough year. Not being able to gather in person has been sad and hard. But music sustains us and gives us hope. It’s what we love, and you know what the song says: love will keep us together.
It’s the fall season—the perfect season to fall in love with music!
This is a guest post by Nancy Friedman, an AMN volunteer.
You’ve played Bach, Vivaldi, and Haydn for years on your modern instrument. But have you ever wished to play that music in historically-informed style … without investing in costly period instruments?
Now you can! Throughout October, Amateur Music Network is presenting Early Music for Modern Instruments, a series of online workshops for skilled amateur musicians taught by early-music mentors Elizabeth Blumenstock (violin), Eric Zivian (piano and fortepiano), and William Skeen (cello).
Elizabeth, Eric, and William
“With most of us still stuck at home, there’s never been a better time to expand our musical horizons,” says AMN founder and director Lolly Lewis. “If you’ve worked hard on the standard classical path, you know the repertoire. Now you can learn new tools and approaches from early-music specialists that will give you even more appreciation of the music you love.”
What makes early music different from modern music?
The history of music is a history of technology—and of loudness. “Before the early 19th century, smaller ensembles were the rule. Large concerts were rare, outside of opera, and art music was mostly a private thing, something for the homes of wealthy patrons,” Lolly says. “It didn’t need to be very loud because audiences were small.”
That changed in a big way in the early 19th century, as instrument technology improved. Orchestras were getting larger and wind instruments could freely modulate and stay reliably in tune. Composers began writing virtuosic concertos to be played with the larger orchestras: “The solo artist needed to project over that big ensemble sound,” Lolly explains. Violins, violas, and cellos, the primary solo instruments, had to adapt to handle more string tension. Their bridges were raised to create more resonance; necks were set at a steeper angle; bows were redesigned with a concave curve to allow more tension in the hair.
“Now we have big, lush string sections and big wind and brass sections with a huge sound,” says Lolly. “That’s what ‘classical’ music sounds like to us—but it’s not how it sounded three centuries ago.”
When she isn’t managing AMN, Lolly is a recording producer. Her interest in early music was sparked in the 1990s when her studio, Transparent Recordings, worked with Bay Area early-music specialists the Artaria Quartet. “It was completely new to me,” she recalls. “I knew it sounded different from modern music, in the intonation and a generally more muted sound, but then I realized that the dynamic range was turned upside down! Instead of emphasizing loudness, there’s a potential for exploring a vast expanse of subtlety that’s almost unlimited. That was really exciting for me.”
Modern instruments aren’t just louder: they’re also able to play reliably in tune in any key. “It all changed with the piano,” Lolly says. “Unlike its ancestor the fortepiano, the modern piano has true ‘equal temperament’—the tuning doesn’t vary across registers and tonal centers. This results in a manufactured tuning system that’s equally out of tune in all keys. Sounds weird, but we’ve become so accustomed to it that this is what our ears are comfortable with now.” Once pianos set the standard, other instruments followed suit.
Professional early-music specialists invest in original or replica instruments—a good bow alone can cost many thousands of dollars. But skilled amateurs can adapt their modern instruments—and their technique—to explore the phrasing and articulation of historical style. The limitations of instruments in the past are now opportunities for discovery for the players of today.
Join us in October to explore some exciting new approaches to familiar and beloved works of music.
NOTE: If you already have Baroque equipment, that’s great! You’ll love working with these great mentors, too.
Amateur Music Network founder and director Lolly Lewis talked via Zoom with Cambrian Symphony founder and director Scott Krijnen about Mahler and the need to keep playing and listening to music. “We have to find ways to continue being creative,” Lolly told Scott.
