If you ever took piano for any length of time, you likely learned this piece, L’Arabesque by Friedrich Burgmuller, for a recital or for a Guild Audition.   Burgmuller (1806-1874) was a German pianist that ended up in France.  He is known for composing a quantity of well-themed music for young piano students, that doesn’t require octave stretches, but has interesting melodies, and challenging enough technique.  I loved the pictures I found of him online, in one he looks romantic and Byronesque, and in the other one he looks like Jean Luc Piccard’s grandfather…

Number One Son and I have had fun telling GraceNotes what to do with this piece since both of us know it pretty well!  There are lots of YouTube videos of little tykes playing it.  Most take it way too fast, and do not use any dynamics, choosing instead to turn it into a horse race to the finish line.  We’ve all done that!  Played well, it is spritely and dance-like.  Grace presented this piece at the ODU Community Music Division Spring Recital on Sunday, May 6th. I did not record Grace’s recital performance because my phone was low on charge, but here is a recording of a good performance, lightly played, with good use of dynamics, and almost as good as Grace’s performance! 

We have another recital in early June, and are preparing for Guild Auditions in mid-June,  GraceNotes will be playing 10 pieces from memory, and NumberOneSon playing 4 pieces with music.  He is playing pieces by Mozart, Bach, Chopin and McDowell.  This will be our fifth year of participation in the Guild Auditions!  I’m frankly quite grateful to ODU Community Music Division and Sally Wright for providing a wonderful environment for learning and performing music!  I’ll keep you posted!