CREATIVITY IN ADVERSITY

Two broken bones in six months (unbelievable!) slowed the Alexandra Eddy Project down a bit—but just a bit. Breaking my knee in a freak fall late last summer was one thing, but then a few weeks ago ice hidden under a lot of snow took out my right wrist! There will be no violin playing now for quite some time to come.

However, adversity can sometimes lead to creativity! In the fall I wrote a brief piano piece, The Fashionable Gimpette, as a tongue-in-cheek musical comment on gimping around with a cane, and then made piano arrangements of some other pieces I had composed in the past. I am happy to say that the scores are available online, at https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/search?Ntt=Alexandra+Eddy. (Mp3 files are provided with each piece so that you can hear as well as see the music.)

And now that for the moment I can’t even pick up my bow, I have been exploring the surprisingly rich world of playing keyboard with one hand (though not the Ravel Concerto!). It is fascinating to arrange piano accompaniments for left hand, and I have already given one performance in this way. The next Project concert with my excellent violin student Jim was to have been violin duos by Leclair, Milhaud, and others. Though we can’t do exactly that right now, I am arranging and playing my parts on my exciting new instrument, a Johannus One keyboard-organ. The Johannus company is internationally respected for its fine electronic church organs, and the One is the company’s least expensive product, intended to be portable and for studio use. It has no pedals, so is not strictly a complete organ, but the sampled sounds—taken from famous American, English, French, and German instruments—are wide-ranging and glorious. They also include very fine harpsichord and piano sounds, so in effect I have four organs and two additional keyboard instruments available to me. All of them make wonderful partners for the violin. I can’t wait for our next series of performances, for which I will use many of them!

Photo by Alexandra Eddy: the Johannus One and some of Alexandra’s music

HOUSE CONCERT this Saturday in Broomfield

Please come to a House Concert in Broomfield this Saturday, March 10 at 4:30 p.m.! This is your last chance to hear the program Alexandra has been offering at various places for the last month or so: delightful solo violin music by Telemann, Massenet, J.S. Bach, Elgar, Miska Hauser, and Leroy Anderson. You will hear a number of the pieces in Alexandra’s own arrangements.

Admission is free, and all are welcome! There will be an opportunity to make a free-will offering to the altruistic work of the Alexandra Eddy Project.

THANK YOU! and more delightful performances in January

A heartfelt THANK YOU to all who have supported the work of the Alexandra Eddy Project, most recently at the Epiphany concert on January 6, where you raised over $600 for the music program at St. Augustine Church! As you know well by now, the Project's primary orientation is toward helping others, whether they be people who can't normally get out for concerts; or who have always wanted to learn an instrument; or victims of disasters; or who are devoted to worthy undertakings such as church music programs.

UPCOMING January performances to which you are warmly invited include a fun house concert of old-fashioned violin music at a beautiful home in Longmont in the afternoon of Saturday, January 20, 2018 and a concert and presentation at the Boulder Mennonite Church on the evening of Friday, January 26, 2018 (gorgeous music for violin and clarinet/bass clarinet—Mary Jungerman will join Alexandra again!). Admission to both events is free, and contributions to the work of the Project will be invited.

 

Photo (Epiphany Concert 2018) by Marjorie Eddy

UPCOMING NOVEMBER CONCERTS AND OTHER NEWS

The next House concert will be offered in just a few days, at 4:00 p.m. in Broomfield on Sunday, November 12, and you are invited! Clarinetist Mary Jungerman will join Alexandra in an enjoyable program of Classical music that Alexandra has arranged for violin and clarinet/bass clarinet. Most of the works are familiar and all, we promise, are delightful (who needs an orchestra? Just wait till you hear the Blue Danube waltzes on violin and bass clarinet!!). Admission is free and all are welcome; there will be an opportunity to make free-will contributions to help defray the cost of the performance. For more information and the address, please use the link below.

Then, at a 10:00 a.m. service on Sunday, November 19, Alexandra and organist Frank Slechta will perform Charles Gounod’s moving Vision de Jeanne d’Arc and Charles Callahan’s Valediction at St. Augustine Orthodox Church in Denver. For more information about this performance, please follow the link below.

Alexandra Eddy recently played a private violin concert in the home of Ken and Pat, a lovely older couple in Boulder. Pat is recuperating from a recent hospital stay, and both she and Ken welcomed the chance to have live music performed just for them. Several weeks prior to that, Alexandra played solo violin at the annual “Purrs and Paws” Gala of the Longmont Friends of Feral and Abandoned Cats, which took place at the Great Frame-Up in Longmont. It was a beautiful and pleasant event!

CONCERT FOR CHINESE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Recently Alexandra played a private house concert for three of her Chinese university students from last spring's Music and Literature course at the University of Colorado. These young people, from three different parts of China, spoke of the music Alexandra played as a "wonderful violin performance". During the evening's conversation, Hua, Ricky and Wei demonstrated the fascinating differences among their three Chinese dialects.

Photo by Hua Miao

PRIVATE PERFORMANCE FOR MARY LOU

One of the aims of the Alexandra Eddy Project is to provide music for people who are not easily able to leave their homes. On September 28, Alexandra played a program similar to that of the Hurricane Benefit concert in the home of Mary Lou, a fascinating person with much musical knowledge and life experience. Just one of the many fields in which she worked during her professional life was real estate: she earned her license at the age of 62!

She learned piano, clarinet, and voice as a young child, but because her family did not own a piano, she had to walk a long way to her grandmother's house in order to practice. She did so regularly until a kind friend gave her piano to the family for the price of a tuning and cleaning, to Mary Lou's great delight. She wishes she had had the instrument to practice on all along.

Mary Lou, who has a son and a daughter and four grandchildren, lost her husband in 2004 to Parkinson's with dementia and has lived alone since then. A number of health problems make it difficult for her to go to concerts or other events, and Alexandra was delighted to bring music to her. Between pieces, she asked thoughtful questions about the music, the violin, and Alexandra's training, and talked about her own musical experiences. "You have a style with your playing," she said, "and I am intrigued with it. I don't think I've heard another violinist whose style I was so intrigued by."

Photo by Jim Roecker

HURRICANE BENEFIT CONCERT A SUCCESS

The new Alexandra Eddy Project's inaugural performance, a hurricane relief benefit concert on Saturday, September 23, was a success! The audience was treated to solo violin music including Alexandra's arrangements of old English fiddle tunes and variations; the Telemann Fantasia in E flat major; and Edward Elgar's familiar and beloved song, Love's Greeting in Alexandra's arrangement. The performance raised over $200 for disaster relief. All proceeds are being sent through St. Augustine Church, Denver, as assistance to the victims of the recent hurricanes and the earthquake in Mexico.

THE ALEXANDRA EDDY PROJECT'S NEW WEBSITE IS LIVE!

The Alexandra Eddy Project has just launched its new website—come visit and explore! Offerings include violin and viola teaching and ensemble coaching; house concerts and private performances for people who can't get out much; and a series of writings on music, the arts, culture, and life.

Alexandra Eddy recently played at a 90th-birthday party! It was very hard to believe that Peggy, who is beautiful, lively, and young-seeming, could really have achieved that milestone. The party was lovely, and quite a few guests said that the music (tunes from the 20s through the 60s, with cellist Anna Leavitt) was "just right for the occasion".

An upcoming benefit house concert at 4:00 p.m. in Broomfield on Saturday, September 23 will raise funds for hurricane relief. Baroque and light Classical music for solo violin will delight you, along with other favorites! Admission is free and all are welcome. There will be an opportunity to contribute to hurricane relief, and all funds raised will go to that purpose. For the address, follow the button below.

Artistry classes for adult musicians are offered on a regular basis, to help players and singers develop musical expressivity and gain confidence. For children, there is Improvisation class!