Piano technique is not only about the physical organization of the hand and body – what we’re really dealing with is the transmission of musical expression. This letter that I recently sent to the Pete Seeger Appreciation Page (http://www.peteseeger.net/) expresses my appreciation for a very valuable early musical influence…
Dear Pete,
When I was a boy, around 1960 my parents bought a Folkways record of you singing children’s songs. I think that one record formed me more as a musician than anything else. I think you’re one of the greatest musicians on the planet. I’m talking about the freedom with which you play, you take phrases out of the boxes they’re locked in and make them live, capital L Live, the way you sing ‘em it takes one’s musical soul out for a ride, makes it laugh, cry, dance, run & jump – it fills one up with joy. I am talking about real musical Art, which most classical musicians have in distressingly small amounts!
I am from Montreal. I had the great pleasure and privilege to hear you sing in Place des Arts one night, and my feeling then was that you filled the people there that night up with their own capital H Humanity more than any Montreal Symphony Orchestra concert ever did!
I just want to thank you and pay tribute to you. That old Folkways record is now doing the same thing for my daughter Masha that it did for me. We’re having fun jumping around, digging the ground, and all the time she’s learning what it is to be a real musician. The way you pluck the strings of that banjo sets the strings of one’s soul humming, and the way you sing makes one’s heart sing too.
So from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU Pete for the greatest gift a man could give me!
A Tribute to Pete Seeger
April 8th, 2008
Piano technique is not only about the physical organization of the hand and body – what we’re really dealing with is the transmission of musical expression. This letter that I recently sent to the Pete Seeger Appreciation Page (http://www.peteseeger.net/) expresses my appreciation for a very valuable early musical influence…
Dear Pete,
When I was a boy, around 1960 my parents bought a Folkways record of you singing children’s songs. I think that one record formed me more as a musician than anything else. I think you’re one of the greatest musicians on the planet. I’m talking about the freedom with which you play, you take phrases out of the boxes they’re locked in and make them live, capital L Live, the way you sing ‘em it takes one’s musical soul out for a ride, makes it laugh, cry, dance, run & jump – it fills one up with joy. I am talking about real musical Art, which most classical musicians have in distressingly small amounts!
I am from Montreal. I had the great pleasure and privilege to hear you sing in Place des Arts one night, and my feeling then was that you filled the people there that night up with their own capital H Humanity more than any Montreal Symphony Orchestra concert ever did!
I just want to thank you and pay tribute to you. That old Folkways record is now doing the same thing for my daughter Masha that it did for me. We’re having fun jumping around, digging the ground, and all the time she’s learning what it is to be a real musician. The way you pluck the strings of that banjo sets the strings of one’s soul humming, and the way you sing makes one’s heart sing too.
So from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU Pete for the greatest gift a man could give me!
Warmly yours,
Alan Fraser