November 7, 2001
Piano master class key for students
Avi Reichert provides musical direction for four aspiring players
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Snap, snap, snap.
With sudden staccato volley of his fingers, Avi Reichert stopped the music.
With the student's earnest eyes fixed on him, hanging on his every word, master pianist Reichert gave musical direction and performance guidance that could last a lifetime. Then play started up again until the next snap, snap, snap.
Reichert was in town last week for a performance with the Traverse Symphony Orchestra on Saturday night. On Friday afternoon, in what has become a tradition for area music students, the head of the piano department at Grand Valley State University also conducted a master's class for four aspiring young pianists in the region.
KC Brazeau, a ninth-grade student at Traverse City West Junior High was one of the four students in the master's class. Following the class format, Brazeau first played her piece, a Gershwin prelude, for the small audience at Lars Hockstad Auditorium.
Reichert sat with the audience and listened raptly, absorbing every note and nuance of her rendition. After her performance, he bounded up on stage and for the next 20 minutes gave out high-octane coaching, going measure by measure or note by note when necessary. He wrote notes on her score and guided her on finding her own interpretation of the piece.
For Brazeau, who has been playing piano for seven years, Reichert's coaching gave a boost to her playing.
"It was a good experience, getting to perform the piece on stage and getting a lesson on it from a professional," Brazeau said.
Josie Ballast, a seventh-grade student at Traverse City East Junior High and a master's class participant, said Reichert's coaching helped her discern the different voices in her Debussy piece entitled "The Little Negre."
"I'd heard them a little bit before but after playing a piece so much, you get lazy and begin to tune it out," Ballast said. "He really helped me hear them."
Reichert distinguished for her the violin and the viola voice in her piece, encouraging her not to lose the lower voice in her playing. He noted that she should play for the audience sitting at the back of the hall, making sure not to lose any part of the piece's orchestration.
"When you think of the two voices, it is obvious there is a top voice, it is in our face," he said. "But the challenge for you is to show the audience the lower voice, to show them the viola, that is much more interesting."
Reichert also encouraged Ballast not to lose the subtleties of her piece.
"Don't lose the trills and curls because if only one curl is missing, it is an ugly thing," he told her.
The master's class was organized by members of the Grand Traverse Music Teachers Association, which includes 15 teachers with private studios in northwest Michigan. This is the third year the TSO has sponsored a master's class for area piano students, said Nancy Skriba, owner of the Leelanau Piano Studio in Suttons Bay.
Skriba noted that a half dozen students auditioned for the master's class a week ago. The four chosen were younger than in previous years, which she said helped the local teachers because they heard Reichert's coaching for pieces their own students are learning.
The students in the master's class also benefit enormously from having a teacher of Reichert's caliber work with them one-on-one, she said.
"But I think the biggest benefit, for any student really serious about music, is an opportunity for them to get out and see another piece of the music world - that is huge," she said. "Given our demographic and geographic area up here, and because we are smaller, it is an important opportunity for students."
Piano student Ballast could not agree more.
"This class helped me fine tune the piece and the knowledge can be applied to other classes," she said.