The Five Browns
You may have noticed the nifty feature at the bottom of our SWEET new design (I totally dig it…especially the little nuances that Matt will talk about tomorrow) where it shows “His”/”Hers.” When Matt put this at the bottom of the page, I was like, “Dude! I want to talk about this!” (There are a few things that I get really excited about :))
A CD/DVD that I have acquired (somewhat accidentally, but that’s another story) recently is “The Five Browns” which is a group of five siblings that all happen to be almost piano virtuosos. The CD has arrangements of classical and popular favorites (Flight of the Bumblebee, arrangement of Westside Story songs, etc.) for five pianos (yes, that’s FIVE pianos) and comes with a bonus DVD that shows them performing a few of the pieces on their five (yes, that’s FIVE) GRAND pianos. It’s quite the show. The DVD also has an interview with them which explains how their mother started giving each of them piano lessons at the age of 3 and sat with each of them nearly every day as they practiced. No wonder they are virtuosos! They continued their studies at Juilliard with several of them being there at the same time.
One of the most interesting parts of the deal is they are young and fairly hip/normal-looking. This really gets the teacher in me excited because it portrays young people who really enjoy and excel at music, and also gives my piano students (I guess maybe some of you probably didn’t know that I teach piano on the side…well, I do!) a visual of “what they could be like someday” if they work hard (always a bonus in motivating students :)) I also like using their example to have my students notice dynamics, posture, expression, etc. One of the pieces on the album is “In the Hall of the Mountain King” by Grieg, and there just so happens to be a very basic arrangement of the same piece in one of the books I use with my students, so it’s fun to have them listen to that after they’ve played it.
I doubt there are many music teachers out there that read this blog, but even if you are a classroom teacher, this would make a great tool for listening and discussion. And if you’re just a random person looking for a little diversity in your CD/DVD collection, I recommend it :)
Yes, I can see my kids as virtuosos now… well, maybe not.
Rex wants to peal off and go guitar as soon as I’ll let him. Nina, on the other hand, enjoys piano so much that she is “teaching” her friend Emily how to play.
On a side note, Nina has also organized a Bible study club, so I think I have a budding teacher on my hands.