Karen Waltman & Marie Tesch entertain crowds before "The Nutcracker Ballet" in 2007 at the Rapid City Civic Center.

My regular duet partner is Anita Paige (yes, she is the one who makes Wonderful Wire jewelry).  Anita flies south for the winter and finds marvelous stones and stuff for her jewelry making.  She and I manage to practice a couple times a year - seriously.  We both are from the ol’ school of  sight-read at full speed and keep on rolling.  If we have trouble with a page turn, one of us does a few improvisations to fill in. Very entertaining!

Our group will be celebrating it’s second anniversary in February 2010.  Since 2008 we have been actively recruiting other players who enjoy duet practice.  Our major enticement is meeting in local piano stores - first Batchelder’s and then BH Piano Gallery - so that we could have 3 or 4 pairs of players.  Or, when we have just the core group, at least everyone gets to play their own grand piano.  What a sound.

IF THIS SOUNDS LIKE FUN, then please join us.  We are planning to meet again on Sunday, January 17, 2010.  Usually we meet at 4 p.m. but we are flexible on that point.  Call me at 342-3328 and I’ll provide details. 

 If you want more details, scroll back to old postings on this blog about PIANO PALS.

Thanks for stopping by. mlt

CAN YOU BELIEVE that someone named “piano lady” would take a hammer to a grand piano?  Well,  I did!  Of course, it was an ice sculpture that LOOKED like a grand piano, and, it was for a good cause.  Cracking the piano let the folks know who won the diamond necklace at the Black Hill’s Symphony League’s auction Saturday, Nov. 7. 

The auction was the wrap-up for the League’s Sneak-a-Peek.  Just over 100 people toured the five homes decorated in holiday splendor and met for feasting and quaffing at Arrowhead Country Club.  The silent and live auction, along with the necklace fun raised $4,012.

THE COMMITTEE IS BUSTING IT’S collective buttons since last year’s sum total was $2, 350. 

That’s all for now.  We are still adding the numbers and figuring out our bills.  Thanks to everyone who made this such a success.  mlt

 People from all walks of life love good music AND they put their money where their mouth is.  This past week I have whirled about the city collecting donations for the Sneak-a-Peek Gala.  We will be having a silent and live auction Saturday, Nov. 7 at Arrowhead Country Club.  Folks who purchased the $60 Sneak-a-Peek tickets for the Homes for the Holidays Tour will have an opportunity to join the fun as they bid for these practical (and not-so-practical) items.  Of course, they also get to have the delicious Vermont Cabot Cheeses that have been donated AND the marvelous wines donated by Smith’s Liquor Gallery AND the five different hor d’oeurves prepared by the chef at Arrowhead. 

Need I mention that the women who comprise the Symphony League have tirelessly worked for a year to bring this all together?  When you tour the lovely homes beautifully decorated by professionals it is obvious how much work has occurred.   What you cannot see are all the meetings, the planning, the worrying that goes into it.  Work by committee is not for the timid!  But like the ol’ cowboy said, “You can see this ain’t their first rodeo!”  

Thanks to the Rapid City Journal for the great write up they gave us in last Thursday’s paper (Oct 29, 2009) Home & Garden section.  You can check that out if this is all news to you. Let me show you some of the lovelies that have been donated.  Folks who bid and purchase these items are actually contributing dollars to the Black Hills Symphony and music education in our community…that’s the serious part.  Now here’s the fun.

Sylvia Cox created the necklace in the photo above.  It is entirely handmade of fine silver - that means is 99.9% pure and will not tarnish. 

Photographer Ryan Becker, in the spirit of the 75th anniversary of the Symphony Orchestra, is offering a certificate for $75 off any portrait session or wedding booking.  (TOLD you there was something practical.)

The Black Hills Dance Theatre sent us six tickets for “The Nutcracker” ballet being performed later this month, so I put that together with some other donations for NUTCRACKER SPECIALS.

Nutcracker tickets, ornament and Flowers by LeRoy gift card

Flowers by LeRoy gave us a sweet nutcracker ornament and inside that little black box is a $50 gift card.  We’ll be auctioning that off with two tickets to “The Nutcracker Ballet”. 

The other special is four tickets to the ballet and a certificate for music from Batchelder’s Plummer Piano.

Another practical auction item is the Artist’s work kit from Copy Country  with cutters, slicers, measurers, markers and more.  If you are a scrapbooker you are going to want this one.

 Jolly Lane came up with some surprising goodies for their donation basket.  Sue picked out Sweet Potato Butter and Black-eyed Pea Salsa from their line of canned goods.  Then she tossed in some popcorn, gloves, fertilizer and some tools.  BUT, like the Crazy Horse basket, the really good thing is in the little envelope - a gift certificate to spend in the greenhouse!  You can always use a little more cash when you are surrounding by living, blooming beauties!  

  I hope to see you at the Sneak a Peek Auction - good food, fine drink, excellent company and all for a good cause.  Thanks for stopping by. mlt

Garden goodies and gift certificate from Jolly Lane Greenhouse.

Books, CDs, a lunch pail, t-shirt, calendar, REAL ROCKS and a very special envelope are in the basket donated by Crazy Horse Memorial.

The photo shows the basket donated by the folks at Crazy Horse Memorial.  When I asked Ruth Ziolkowski for a  “little something” like lunch and admission for a couple, she said, “Oh, Korczak just loved the symphony so much.  Let me have Anne (one of her daughters) put something really special together for you”.

You can easily discern the books, cds and shirt.  But a lunchpail?  Who knew there was a lunchpail with Korczak on the front? …and check out the ROCKS ; these are bookends created from the granite blasted off the mountain.  One of Ruth’s 23 grandchildren, Heidi, lovingly polishes the fragments and creates unique pairs.

THE REALLY SPECIAL ITEM is the little white envelope you see peeking out from the center. In that envelope is a  gift certificate for four people : admission to the site, lunch at Laughing Water Restaurant,  a trip to THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN during the day ..PLUS a re-admit pass  for the night “Legends in Light” laser show.   If you are planning to entertain someone special this year, this would be a terrific basket to bid on at the auction.

RUTH ROCKS is the expression I am using today!  Let me use this opportunity to help you pronounce that last name.  The Polish language is a little tough with all those consonants, but let me make it easy.  Say JEWEL (like the gem), CUFF (like a bracelet), SKI (like going down a mountain). All together now Jewel-cuff-ski.  OK!  ( Thank you Ruth - I’ll be up to play the Steinway grand soon.)

MORE JEWELS - as in diamonds - will be part of the Symphony League Auction on Sneak-a-Peek night.  That’s because THE CLOCK SHOP really got into the spirit of things.  When Chris Johnson found out that it was the Black Hills Symphony Orchestra’s 75th Anniversary - the Diamond Jubilee - he smiled at me and said, “Oh, I can really do something special for you.”

HOW’S ABOUT A GENUINE, WHITE ROUND DIAMOND? It’s just a little over a quarter carat.  Chris asked me to trot across the street and have it appraised at Landstrom’s.  Marty gave it his approval and said it is worth about $400.   Now that is a ROCK.   It is very difficult to take a decent photograph of this lovely, so I am going to show you the beautiful clocks that live in THE CLOCK SHOP.  When I first came to Rapid City I chanced to be in the shop on a winter day just before 5 p.m. – one of the most memorable moments of my life.  When all of those beautiful grandfathers and grandmothers and GRAND aunts and uncles began to chime I was mesmerized.

THE SENTINELS OF TIME

THIS GORGEOUS PENDANT will be part of the Sneak a Peek auction for our Black Hills Symphony League.

Rapid City artist/artisan Anita Paige created it especially for us this morning.

What you see  is a black onyx cabachon pendant wrapped with sterling silver wire.  Twisting wire is Anita’s specialty.  She brought over a selection of wonderful stones and glass wrapped in gold and silver wire, but I stuck to the classic black when she waved her hand over the tray and said, “Pick one!”

We discussed the idea of having “ladies of the league” wear the lovely set for our concert tonight.  Yes, the first concert of the Black Hills Symphony Orchestra is tonight (Saturday, Oct. 24) at 7:30 p.m.  Be sure to come early and see this pendant up close …..and the sterling silver earrings.  These photos just can’t do them justice.  You must see them for yourself.

STOP BY THE SYMPHONY LEAGUE table.  See this wonderful jewelry that will auctioned off on Nov.7 at our Sneak a Peek Auction.  Find out about the other great items we have collected.  You can get your tickets for the Homes for the Holidays Tour and the Sneak a Peek.

It’s going to be so much fun and all for a good cause - our Black Hills Orchestra and music education.

You can’t beat that.    See you at the concert! MLT

FROZEN ASSETS are something that the Black Hills Symphony League understands.  We are going to freeze a diamond necklace in an ice sculpture and raise money in the process.

Why would we freeze a diamond necklace?  Well, to get your attention of course.  Are you looking at the photograph attached?  Yes, it is a 14k gold pendant encircled with a quarter carat of diamonds.  The appraiser told me it is worth $450 -$500.

It is the 75th anniversary - the DIAMOND JUBILEE - of the Black Hills Symphony Orchestra.  The Symphony League will be hosting their “Homes for the Holiday” tours on Sunday, Nov. 8.

THIS NECKLACE and many other treasures (including more diamonds) are part of the SNEAK - a- PEEK event held on Saturday, Nov. 7. 

There will be details on this blog because your Piano Lady is the newly-named Auction Chairman for the SNEAK - a -PEEK.  Watch the Friday Rapid City Journal for our ad about the limousine/champagne/roses prize.  Oh, we are going to have such fun!

Thanks for stopping by.  mlt

AT LAST I CAN WRITE that Jacqueline Schwab is on her way to the Black Hills of South Dakota.  This has been a work in progress for me the past two years.  I am thrilled.

Most people think that she is a stranger until I explain they’ve been listening to her play the piano in all the Ken Burns’ documentaries.   In September 2007 when “The War” ran for a week on Public Broadcasting, I was haunted each night by a piano arrangement of  “Nimrod” from the music of Elgar. By the third night I walked to my computer, found a web link and asked her how she came up with this wonderful arrangement of a cello piece.

IMAGINE MY SURPRISE when Jacqueline herself wrote back to me the next day. We struck up a friendship with messages flying back and forth about pianos, teaching and old time tunes.  As a result, she will be here for the first three days in November.  Here’s the schedule:

If you have questions about her itinerary, call me at 342-3328.  I am lining up luncheons, dinners and Black Hills tours for my wonderful friend.  By the time I get done, Jacqueline Schwab will be a familiar name and face for music lovers in our area.  Help me show our New England friend a real “South Dakota Welcome”.

Thanks for stopping by.  mlt

A lively Stephen Swedish claps out the tempo for a student pianist.

stephen-swedish-001

stephen-swedish-002

Concert pianist Stephen Swedish can switch gears on the fly;  he proved that yesterday (Saturday, Oct. 3) in a master class.  Local students played works by classical, romantic and impressionist composers and Swedish was ready to dive in and work through each one.

We were confident that he’d know his stuff.  What was impressive was his ability to make young players comfortable in such a short time.  Master classes are very scary for just about anyone but the master.  This fellow was having such a good time communicating with gesture, sounds and expressions that the student participants and the listening audience not only learned, they were entertained.

BUT don’t take my word for it.  I’ve put up two short clips today.  In Video One you will see an amazingly talented young lady (Sandy is only 14) as she works through  portions of  Beethoven’s Tempest Sonata (#17, Opus 31, D Minor) and Swedish encourages her.  In Video Two he demonstrates. 

Just listen and you will understand.   You will be so mad at yourself because you missed it…..BUT WAIT…you can see him in concert today.

I hope you can make it.

WHERE: Black Hills Piano Gallery, Tuscany Square, 333 Omaha, Rapid City

WHEN: 3 p.m. Sunday, October 4

Tickets on sale at the store.

I will see you there!  mlt