The future of Music

Hi, I hope you are having a great weekend. I am just working on my new book The Road to a Simple and Good Life. Checking my Facebook news, a dear colleague of mine has posted this article you will see below. I so agree with the writer's thoughts on music and education. My experience working at universities was that they are like a glass house, totally isolated from real life. Most of the lecturers hold on to positions throughout their whole life and die out from that position. On a national level it's like a musical chair, one moves and everyone shifts chair. 
I clearly recognized many years ago that to stay up to date and a real musician, I will need to leave the university and work for myself. I did not want to end up rigid, dogmatic and as an administrator instead of a musician and live in a ivory tower. It was a huge risk but it was worth it. I see a clear pattern emerging in my life that shows that my own personal and professional development and growth takes number one place instead of chasing jobs for money. Now, a few years later this clearly pays back in professional growth, productivity, creativity, happiness, lifestyle and in finances. I absolutely have no regrets. I wish, I had done this earlier!
The concerns mentioned in this article you will read have been my concerns for more than a decade and I have done myself what the author suggests. That's why with great passion and happiness I post her blog article here for others to read and share. The present crisis in our education system closely relates to these thoughts in the article.
Schools and educational institutions must keep up with technology and reform their teaching style to keep students interested. How irresponsible it is for music institutions to produce musicians who won't be able to make a living? Similarly, how many The Voice and XFactor shows should the TV run to make the impression that these young people will be stars and make a living as a performer? 

Please enjoy the article!
The End of the Symphony and How Today's Music Students Should Adapt

Today 18 years ago....

Big day. Today 18 years ago at midnight that I landed in Sydney first time in my life. Arrived for a position at the Canberra School of Music, Australian National University. Some could say I was stupid and adventurous to come to a continent I knew nothing about...I was terribly lonely and homesick but faced the challenges professionally. I enjoyed the traveling and learned as much as I could about the country, the land and its people. In this process I became one of them and grew to love it. I have seen more of Australia than most Australians do. Some videos are now up on my youtube channel on vargatube. I still miss Hungary but would be equally homesick for Australia as well. 

Check out my videos on vargatube!

I flew British Airways then Ansett (good old Ansett!) to Canberra. When I saw the land from the air approaching Canberra, I knew I would like it here. It was breathtakingly beautiful. Although I have lived abroad before in Europe, I did not anticipate the hardship that goes with leaving your country, home, family and friends and coming this far in a country you don't know anyone. Anyhow, I had incredible opportunities and did some great things I could have never done if I have not left. I made new friends and established myself professionally, built successful businesses and do new and fascinating things. Presently, I am working on the some great stuff so it is 'head down' time. Reflecting about the last 18 years is pretty emotional and makes me proud that I did not give up and run home where it was all comfy! Coming to Australia provided more challenges and makes me grow faster and go further. Forever grateful to my parents who always encouraged me to follow my dreams and believing that I can do anything and my brother Varga Pál for supporting me and being my very much loved brother. Just getting started in Australia :)

Hurray! Holiday!

Every teacher prays for the break to arrive. How about teaching during holidays? Hmmmmm....I am one of those lucky music teachers who teach in breaks. It just happened, years ago that I was asked if I could give lessons in the break. Now, it is an option for my students. Many of my mature-age students don't care about the school breaks so they want to keep having lessons. However, they are not alone. Many of my school-aged students have more time to practise and the parents want some holiday activity for the kids. A few of the parents or students just want to continue and enjoy the steady progress. I have a family in Brighton that I have been teaching for a few years now.

Tonight, after lesson we were standing at the gate with the mum of the two kids I teach and we were enjoying a great chat. She made a comment that made me think about this all. She mentioned that her younger child, a boy I started to teach this year after seeing her sister excelling in piano, was really looking forward to our lesson. Ryan has practised every single day,  played even 3-4 times a day so he was keen to see my reaction to his work! Mum laughingly mentioned that Ryan is an early riser and many times he is down at the piano at 6am! Somehow I can't imagine that he would be very popular in the family!!! Anyhow, the parents have a great attitude towards this. Hearing mum's comments after the lesson, I was glad that Ryan's work attracted my cheerful and demonstrative praise with lots of fun stickers acknowledging how well he is progressing! Kids truly respond well to positive feedback and praise when it is well deserved! Hmmm. Not only kids but adults as well!!! From the teacher's side, I need to admit that a good lesson puts me in a great mood and I never mind teaching during the holiday. The rewards are such that it i worth it.

Bach

Enviable life

I got the nicest compliment the other day from a mature student of mine. He commented that in his busy week as a successful businessman the hour he spends here in "Piroska's church" learning to play the piano, is when he clears his mind and has lots of fun. He also mentioned how much he envies me because I have so much fun teaching and writing music.  He made me think. He looked like he had everything. It looks like everything is not enough.

No bake health muesli bar

I have a few favourite health food shops where I get my TJ Clark Colloidal Minerals, Udo's Oil blend, Magnesium powder and healthy, organic ingredients, fruit and vegetables. I love spending time there and discover new things. One of the shops has a nominated day of the month when they offer discount. Of course I never get there on those days! Last time I was there they had a display table with products, recipes and food. This was the recipe of a health muesli bar I really liked so I thought I would share this yummy recipe with you! Let me know how you and your family liked it!

No Bake health muesli bar
Warning contains peanuts/nuts

Ingredients: 
2 cups Carman's fruit free Muesli (or favourite muesli)
2 cups Koala Crisp Cereal
1 cup Coconut
1/4 cup Chia Seeds
2 tablespoon Linseed Meal

3/4 cup Peanut Butter
2 tablespoons Tahini
1/2 cup Rice Syrup
1/4 cup Maple Syrup

Method:
In a small saucepan heat peanut butter, tahini, rice syrup and maple syrup until melted.
 Combine with muesli, koala cereal, coconut, chia seeds and linseed meal until well combined. Press into rectangular tin lined with baking paper. Refrigerate until set, 2-3 hours. Remove from tinm slice and enjoy. Store in fridge.

New Album released

Reason to celebrate. Just less than a year that I started to write and record my songs. While I am still holding back the ones with vocals in them, the songs that are only instrumentals have been released as my first album, for children called The Mandarin. Today I submitted the electronic distribution to more than 40 sites. In a few weeks time the album will be available for sale on many sites around the world. It is an incredible feeling!
So that my dear friends and followers could listen the album first and be the first to download the songs, I included on the the sites. Enjoy the album and feel free to leave comments!
Click here: The Mandarin on Reverb Nation

The Voice

I hate these TV programs. I always feel that they dumb down the profession. Anyhow, this time I had to watch it because the fact that the judges listened to the competitors with their backs toward them changed everything.  It was also interesting to get a feel as the competition went on of what they were actually looking for.
I got quite upset when in the first episodes they excluded people who were very mature vocally and had real star qualities. That is when I suddenly understood, thanks to Seal and Keith, that they are looking for potential and whom they individually capable of helping and mentoring.
Firstly, I need to say how much I liked that the program decided to hit a positive tone. The Voice easily could have gone with the usual nasty judges style and 'kill' many talented, young people who put themselves on the line in front of millions of viewers. Judge Seal comes across like a big, wise, black papa with his words weighing gold and every comment, even the tough ones coated with chocolate and kindness. The other judge whom I love and respect dearly is Keith Urban, whom I think is one of the nicest guys in the profession. Did I mention he is hot, hot hot? By the way. He is not the only one that is hot. I saw a posting on Facebook about Seal and I must agree. In a very unusual and masculine way, the ugly turned beautiful. He is sexy.
OK. Back to the competitors. The Voice. It proved what I knew through my own many decades of experience in the professional music arena. However, it is especially true for those in the performing arts. Let me use the same quote I used as the motto of my blog up on the top of this page by Stevie Wonder. “A lot of people say you need drive to realize your talent but the truth is, your talent is your drive.” Many competitors like the idea of fame and singing but will be not driven enough to make it.  Even when an incredible opportunity comes their way like The Voice. They don't have enough talent to shine through.  And many of them will shy away from the hard that that will be required to get to the top and stay in this profession. Real musicians breath music. It is like oxygen for them. They can't live without it. We can't live without it.  I definitely can't live without it! Music is not a job or work. Music is a lifestyle.

Anyone for an extra lesson?

Life is really great! Don't you just love this time of the year? Chilli morning and sunny, beautiful and warm during the day!
My music students are going well. Just yesterday I had a funny situation with one of them. I love chatting with the parents. We should have an extra 30 min just to catch up on news and chat. Anyhow, this lovely little one sat down at the piano and of course, with Mum we started to exchange the events of our days. He was sitting at the piano, waiting, waiting while we were still laughing and chatting. He told about his day as well and we started playing. He was absolutely brilliant. For a young student his sight reading is exceptional, his coordination is incredible and he even practices! in no time we made up the time we spent chatting with Mum because he learnt two pieces with such a speed that my jaw dropped. Then an idea came in my mind. I asked him and Mum if he would like to have an extra lesson on the weekend just to make up the 'chatting time'. He was quick to say yes, just a little bit earlier than Mum agreed. I could not stop smiling how keen he was to get an extra piano lesson. It is such a pleasure to work with someone like him and have such supportive parents like his Mum!

I am an IPad fan

Birthday present from my brother, Palko

A parcel arrived from Hungary for my birthday. It was from my very much loved and missed brother, Palko. A lovely card and two mysterious gifts wrapped beautifully. My brother always had a great taste and a lovely artistic handwork. When after teaching I opened the parcels, I got a real surprise. He really knows me well. He always knew what made me happy and with lovely taste was able to find the right gift to surprise me. He also understands that music is my life and that it gives me tremendous pleasure. He selected my birthday present exactly according to this principal. An art work from an ex-college of mine, Marianna Meszaros from Kecskemet, our town. Marianna is my friend on Facebook and I constantly see her works there.

Palko has posted one of her creations on the Transcendent Etudes by Franz Liszt which Marianna has made in 2011 for the 200th Anniversary of Liszt and won a second prize at a competition. I have been following her works on her blog and Facebook postings and I very much liked them. The fact that Palko decided to select this artwork for my birthday is quite amazing for many reasons. The facts that the artwork is from Kecskemet, from an artist whom I know and I am in touch with, artwork inspired by Liszt, the famous Hungarian composer and piano virtuoso whose Academy of Music I studied at seem to be almost too much connection. I was deeply touched by his insight and thoughtfulness. I also love these pictures because I just read that Liszt was such a powerful pianist that not many pianos could withstand his force and energetic performances. The famous Bosendorfer was Liszt's preference due to it's strength and beautiful sound quality. That is the brand we had at our school and I grew up with. This picture for me wears Liszt's touch, leaving a piano almost in ruins after a performance. I wanted to share with picture with my readers.
If you want to check out other members of Marianna's series on Liszt, visit her blog to see her pictures. Visit Art Brigad and enjoy the pictures!

How to chose a music teacher?

Finding a music teacher that is suitable to teach your child is not an easy task. Teacher and student need to 'click'. They need to like each other and get on well. It will be, hopefully, a long term relationship. The learning style of the student and the teaching style of the teacher need to match each other for a successful learning experience. You need to make clear about a few things. With private teachers, you get what you pay for. It is a very different type of experience to learn keyboard at school in lunch time in a group lesson or learn the piano in an individual lesson where the teacher teaches the student to read music as well. One will cost maybe $20 the other can cost $90 but the results will be miles away from each other. Unfortunately, many times the school group lessons turn the students away from music for a life time.
A good quality lesson with an expert teacher will engage the student for the length of the lesson and there will clear achievement and outcome at the end of the lesson. The student's concentration will be fully engaged and because of that in the long term, the attention span extended. Playing an instrument without reading is a little bit of a waste of time. Playing by heart only mostly means that there will be a very limited repertoire the student can play. While the procedure of becoming musically literate is hard and takes time, the outcome is that the student can learn a new piece and go ahead in the book even without the presence of the teacher. This is when real learning and fun takes place! In a few years' time the student becomes independent and a life-long engagement with music is established. This means that well after schooling, university, starting family and establishing a successful career, the love of music making and the ability to play and read music in most cases can continue and adults return to having fun and playing music again at mature age.

Sensual tea experience

My latest favourite place is called Malt. It is at the Beaumaris Concord, a little shopping village. This café is right on the corner and it has a warm atmosphere, not like many of the modern cafes, cold and unfriendly. The café has great staff, friendly and helpful, the owner is always on board and likes chatting with his customers. I think he might be Greek? He just walked up to me and now I know, he is Italian! The interior colours are brown and maroon, the furniture is mixed, the place has many different seating arrangement. One day I work on my laptop at the table, the next I sit in the armchair to read the paper. What I really like is the few little unique things they have. My very favourite is the rougelagh, which is a snail like folded pastry with lots of nuts. The other day I wanted a pot of tea as I am cutting out coffee, only have coffee and cake once a week max and one of the girls recommended to try the white Ambrosia tea by TeaForte.com. I must say, this cup of tea was a visual, aromatic and taste experience, engaged many of my senses! It came in a cute, beautifully design paper cone on a ceramic square plate designed for the tea with the F for Forte design and the cone had a little green leaf hanging out so when you open the paper cone to hand the tea in the hot water, you have something to grab. The tea bag is beautifully designed and the leaf stands out from the pot when you close the lid. How very cute! The moment you put the tea in the hot water, the aroma of the tea lingers around. The real enjoyment culminates in the taste of the ambrosia tea. It comes to my tongue in different stages. It has honey like richness and flower like lightness. It is the most delicious, sensual experience I had with tea! Today, I came back to do some work on my laptop so I ordered the white ambrosia tea with a small piece of almond biscuit. The tea was again as beautiful experience as tea can go and the almond biscuit was perfection in every way. Again, the owner had a few kind words to me and made me taste a Ginger shot Rochester Ginger that was extremely envigorating and it is healthy as well! Now I have a few things that are worth coming for and are unique! I love places like Malt!

I am in love with my guitar. It's mutual.

I got so inspired during the classes at my new music course I am doing at MWT Institute on Songwriting, Composition and Production that went and bought a guitar. I decided to learn to play it! I got a great deal at the 21st birthday at my local music shop, Pat's Music. The guy was very helpful and looked after me and put together everything I needed. Finding a good book was more of a problem. Some of them such rubbish music or too much music info I did not need. I only needed info on how to play the guitar and some nice music! After long searching I found one I was happy with so that night I got started! My first hour was not pleasant, I found the guitar strange to play, and I was not making a nice, resonant sound. Compared to the piano, I struggled with the asymmetric aspect of the instrument. I realized, what a huge advantage is the fact that I already play two other instruments and read music. My good ear also guided me on the strings and getting things right. I was progressing really well within two hours. My challenge was that sometimes my left hand was on a different string from my right. Two many strings! The last pieces included chords. Now that was a real challenge! To make all the notes sound and resonate properly! Diligently I am practicing every day and I am loving it. I am revising my pieces and the quality of my sound is much better. I ma really happy with my playing and my progress. Although getting started with my studies and buying a guitar happened almost accidently and suddenly, I have a feeling that I will get out many years of pleasure from it. 

Never too late

Two of my mature students surprise me every lesson. None of them had the chance to learn music in school. Both are intelligent, educated and successful in their respective careers. Both are men. Now that I write about this, actually three of them and the third is a lady.
Let me tell you a little about them. Ladies first. This lady started at the end of year. She is a mature aged students and she is en interior designer. Her husband surprised her with a small keyboard because she wanted to learn to play the keyboard/piano. From her comments during lessons I had the impression that she had learning difficulty in school and probably some bad experiences so she always thought she can't do well and is a slow learner. She is proving herself now. She like a dog with a bone. Determent. Committed. Every week she is there for the lesson for 45min to work through whatever the new challenge is. She always practices and her progress is impressive. The timidity and fear is gone. There are lots of smiles and laughter. Her confidence grows with every lesson. She surprises me every lesson.
Let's name S my male student I want to tell you about. He is recently retired and a very anxious but lovely person. He has been doing singing and piano for a year now. True dedication. An hour lesson veery week and always prepared for lessons. Impressive progress. A true performer from singing point of view. S would have done brilliantly well in music theatre. Strangely, he decided to put emphasis on piano which does not come that naturally to him. But the real surprise I got this year when we started to talk about theory and I gave him a little homework to compose a tune. S has a real flair for composition. He has a great time coming up with tunes and he is absolutely brilliant writing lyrics for his tunes. Who would have thought a year ago when he got started that he will stick with it and end up composing music?
The third person I want to mention is a new student, let's call him M. he is from England and works in the IT industry. M's parents had no musical interest and have never listened to music at home. It was not important for them to introduce M to music. The school did not have much happening in music and the little experience he had at school was not too positive. However, he always wanted to learn a musical instrument. When M approached me for lessons, he already had a keyboard and from the book that came with the book he started to teach himself. He is a lovely, kind, caring and warm personality. M is quite anxious and he always complains that his hands are sweaty. He committed to weekly 60 min piano lessons. He reads quite well and has good coordination. Most importantly, he is quite musical! After a few initial lessons I was able to take him away from the awful book he was using, that came with his keyboard. I must say, that is the worst ever music book I have seen and I have seen quite a few!!! I never understand how these people can publish it, sell it and make a load of money! So quickly I put him on some decent music and he naturally responded to it beautifully. M enjoyed playing his new pieces much more and was having less difficulty playing them because they flew naturally despite being more difficult music but better written! It is amazing to see this adult man coming to lessons diligently on Mondays at 7.30pm after work, always prepared and paying full attention for an hour. He is also part of  a theatre group and he just started to learn his new part and commenced the first rehearsals there. M gets lots of satisfaction out of making a great progress and we have lots of laughs!
Some would call music teaching a job. I hope that after just mentioning three of my students you get the feeling that it is a lifestyle, it is lots of fun, it is hugely rewarding and it is extremely satisfying. Most importantly, I feel honoured that I have the task of introducing them to the magic world of music and that I can be the tour guide of their fantastic journey!

New year new students

I moved to a new home at the end of last year. It is always exciting to move, especially when the new apartment is a few meters from the beach and it is one of the best beaches in Melbourne plus, as added benefit, there is a gorgeous beach kiosk right on the beach and the deck is facing the sea with 180 degree viewing! I am sure you guessed, it became my favourite place!
This relocation brought some big changes in my life regarding my lifestyle. Even healthier, more time on the beach in fresh air and I started to post a sea picture every single day on Facebook.

I was delighted that all my students from Brighton decided to travel and continue their music studies with me from last year. A few little flyers at the local shopping strip brought another few students. Than the local paper did a good job and the places started to fill and soon I had a very busy music teaching practice from home! The age range of my students at the moment is 4-73 years old, pretty amazing! I always loved to teach a variety of students regarding their age, skills and intentions. I find it extremely refreshing to teach kids and adults, very beginner and more advanced levels. It is wonderful.
I find equally satisfying to introduce a mature, experienced adult or to start a child and teach them the first steps in music. One of my greatest fun presently is a young man from Great Britain who has taught himself to play the piano and now he decided to make his studies official and is taking a weekly 60 min lesson. He is going famously well. He is one of my most dedicated student!
I can't tell you how I admire my adult students for making a commitment to fulfill their dreams when they have full-time jobs, families and plenty of other things in their lives but music, music is calling them!