Tony Caramia is a pianist of many talents who performs ragtime, jazz and classical music, sometimes all in the same concert. He has been playing piano since he was seven, but encountered ragtime in a serious way only when he began teaching at the University of Illinois in 1975, where one of the first numbers he learned was 'Dizzy Fingers'. He is currently a Professor of Piano at the renowned Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where he is director of Piano Pedagogy Studies and Coordinator of the Class Piano Program. Tony is a much-sought-after performer and master class instructor at music conferences, workshops and festivals worldwide. He has performed with such jazz stars as Clark Terry, Urbie Green, Terry Gibbs and Marian McPartland. Once he was asked, "Since you play classical and jazz so well why do you bother with ragtime?" His response was "Bother? Bother? I find ragtime charming, vibrant and full of joy! It's not Beethoven, but why should it be? After all, not all classical music is Beethoven." Caramia performs Novelty Ragtime, Classic Ragtime, Contemporary Ragtime and syncopated pieces composed in the 1920s and 1930s. He is one of very few performers who plays the rags and syncopated pieces of the English Composer Billy Mayerl. He has for many years been a featured performer at the prestigious Sedalia, Missouri Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival as well as ragtime festivals in California and on the East Coast. In 1999 he was also the Artist in Residence at the Scott Joplin Festival which included a ragtime master class. His four CDs span a wide spectrum of ragtime and syncopated music. He has also played and done master classes for the National and International Piano Workshops held in 1999 in Glasgow, Scotland; in 2000, in Graz, Austria; and in 2001, Australia. Recently he was artist in residence in the Quad Cities of Iowa and Illinois and played 32 concerts for a total of over 6000 people.
Tony Caramia
Eastman School of Music
26 Gibbs Street
Rochester, NY 14604
716.274.1524
tocr@mail.rochester.edu
The art of creatively choosing recital repertoire for the modern pianist seems at times a monumentally impossible task, a project and process taking on Herculean proportions. After all, if we really contemplate all the marvelous pieces written for the keyboard in the last three centuries, and then consider which small part of this literal "ton" of music might make for an interesting recital program, our mind goes numb (if not our fingers...). Too often we proceed only with the familiar; we take the safe route and avoid the mystery of the un-traveled, the undiscovered. We hear program after program that features a list of pieces that is seldom chronologically-challenged, as though it is written in some impresarioÕs code of conduct that "Since Bach lived before Beethoven and Bartok, we are obliged to perform them in the precise order of their birth" What this can lead to is an audience that is neither stimulated by creative programming nor challenged to listen with new ears, an audience immune to fresh ideas and exciting concepts. (I vividly and fondly remember an all-Russian recital I once heard performed impeccably by Vladimir Ashenazy. As I left the concert hall, I overheard someone remark... "I would have liked some Beethoven".)
In spite of the specter that narrow musical mind presents, what I would like to see is more modern pianists select repertoire and decide on programming that is as challenging to themselves as it is attractive to the audience. I strongly believe modern audiences would be intrigued to hear a program that is chronologically illogical: for example, starting with Bartok and ending with Bach, starting with Bolcom and ending with Haydn. Certainly this poses an interesting question - how does one want to end a performance? Must it always be with an explosive display of pyrotechnics, or can we exit with pensive, thoughtful and reflective sounds, that linger charmingly on the ear. Is the only reason for playing to get applause, and thus do we purposefully choose a piece that will guarantee a thunderous ovation? I realize there certainly is precedence in the Arts for the denouement: the final act of a play or the last reel of a movie should draw the various elements to a satisfying conclusion. After all, the killer in a murder mystery isn't revealed until the end. And I myself have often chosen repertoire that seems to build in artistic as well as sonic intensity; it certainly seems to make sense. However, it can limit us and perhaps restrict the art of programming into pre-packaging, into a McDonald's-like mind-set: the audience always gets what it expects. We as performers need to rise above that and seek alternate avenues for us and the audience to explore.
Sometimes a performer can get lucky: in 1998, the music world celebrated the 100th birthday of one of America's most beloved composers, George Gershwin. There was hardly a concert in any city that didn't feature his music, especially his piano compositions. Audience expected it; audiences loved it. In 1999, the Ragtime world was also in a celebrating mood, as that year marked the 100th anniversary of the publication of the "Maple Leaf Rag". Personally I thought it might be interesting to research other rags also written that year and so I discovered several delightful rags, sufficiently different from the Maple Leaf to provide a fresh appreciation for its magnificent sounds. The year 1899 was prominently and repeatedly displayed in this particular program because I also found that other musicians (Frances Poulenc, Hoagy Carmichael, Duke Ellington, and Noel Coward) were born in 1899 and that provided a most varied and appealing program (I hope). I performed Poulenc's Improvisations along with Ellington's Lots O' Fingers, Stardust and I'll See You Again provided a gentle if brief glimpse into the creative mind of Carmichael and Coward, respectively. In 2000, we honored 2 composers born 100 years earlier - Aaron Copland and Kurt Weill; their unique styles and musical perspectives supplied another satisfying musical evening. Copland's Four Piano Blues yielded nicely to Mack the Knife. There is always some birthday or event that can spark a unique perspective; in addition, one can find somewhat arbitrary but nevertheless rewarding sources for unique programming. There are "Theme Recitals", where one can string together apparently disparate composers or styles, but that are united simply by a nationality or title or musical form. One needn't feel compelled to do the entire recital on these themes - although there is certainly an abundant amount of material from which to choose. Some of these "themes" could form a section or portion of the evening's offering.
Here are some examples of Theme recitals
1. Women Composers of Ragtime
Imogene Giles Red Peppers
Grace Bolen The Smoky Topaz
Julia Lee Niebergall Horseshoe Rag
Irene Giblin Chicken Chowder Rag
Adaline Shepherd Pickles and Peppers
May Aufderheide The Thriller; Dusty Rag
These (and others) are available in Rags by Women Composers, Carol Lindeman, ed. (Theodore Presser), and Ragtime Rarities, and Ragtime Rediscoveries, Trebor Tichenor, ed. (Dover).
2. Ragtime by European Composers
Igor Stravinsky Piano-Rag-Music (1919)
Paul Hindemith Ragtime, in Suite 1922
Darius Milhaud Trois Rag Caprices (1922)
Billy Mayerl The Jazz Master (many choices)
Lothar Perl Syncopated Impressions (Schott)
Alexandre Tansman Sonatine Transatlantique (1930)
Ernst Fisher Zebra-Stripes; Dreaming Melody; Inkspots (many others)
Claude Debussy General Lavine; Minstrels; Le petit negre; Golliwog's Cakewalk
3. Rags by Contemporary Composers
The amount of superb compositions in the Ragtime idiom written in the last 25 years is astounding and well worth the effort to learn. Audiences are amazed by how Ragtime has "grown"; it is no longer just "The Entertainer". A few of the most interesting contemporary (and piano-friendly) modern rag composers:
William Albright The Dream Rags (Hal Leonard)
William Bolcom Complete Rags for Piano (E. B. Marks)
David Thomas Roberts Numerous titles (Ragtime Express)
Bryan Dykstra Original Rags (available from the composer)
William Albright/William Bolcom Three Novelty Rags (Jobert)
Robin Frost Numerous titles in 3 collections (Ragtime Express)
Glenn Jenks Triskelion; A Garden of Ragtime (Ragtime Express)
Frank French 8 Original Contemporary Ragtime Solos (Ragtime Express)
The Ragtime Express
5095 Picket Drive
Colorado Springs, Co 80918-3617
www.ragtimer.com
TheRagtimer@juno.com
4. An Evening of Etudes
Although a daunting task and possibly repetitive, the diversity of compositional styles - such as Bartok, Bolcom, Busoni, Chopin, Liszt, Messaien, Moskowsky, Stravinsky, and Waxman - could yield a smorgasbord of listening delights.
5. A Program of Preludes
Bach, Chopin, Debussy, Gershwin, Ginastera, Ott, Rachmaninoff, and Shostakovitch, etc., are just a few of the hundreds of composers who have written Preludes. I have found audiences intrigued by hearing some of BachÕs Preludes alone, without their Fugues.
6. "Blues" written by Classical composers
While not requiring any improvisation, these pieces reveal a solid and stylistic understanding of Blues.
Aaron Copland Four Piano Blues
Constant Lambert Elegiac Blues (1937)
Richard Rodney Bennett Excursions (1993)
George Rochberg Blues (from Carnival Music, 1971)
Louis Gruenberg Blues (from Jazzberries, Op. 25, 1928)
Samuel Barber In slow blues tempo (from Excursions, 1944)
Alexandre Tansman Trois Preludes en forme de blues (1937)
Morton Gould Boogie Woogie Etude (1943), Blues (from Interplay 1944), Pavanne (from Symphonette No. 2, 1944)
Frederic Rzewski Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues (from Four North American Ballads)
7. Dancing Keyboard (pieces with dance in the title)
(Cakewalks, Mazurkas, Two-Steps, Waltzes, Fox-Trots, Polonaises, etc.)
8. A Ragtime Feast
Cheese and Crackers by Homer Denney
Chicken Chowder by Imogene Giles
Crab Apples by Percy Wenrich
Dill Pickles by George Botsford
Eatin' Chocolates by T. Fred Henry
Eatin' Time Rag by Bess Rudisell
Frog Legs Rag by James Scott
Good Gravy Rag by Harry Belding
Honey Rag by Egbert Van Alstyne
Hot Chocolate Rag by Franklin & Lange
Pickles and Peppers by Adaline Shepherd
Pineapple Rag by Scott Joplin
Pork 'n' Beans by Lucky Roberts
Possum 'n' Taters by Charles Hunter
Spaghetti Rag by Lyons and Yosco
Sweet Pickles by Theron Bennett
The Lobster Glide by Malvin M Franklin
Whipped Cream by Percy Wenrich
Wild Cherries by Ted Synder
There is a cornucopia of wonderful pianistic delights in these and other non-traditional approaches to modern recital programming. I look forward to hearing about and attending future piano programs that reshape expectations as pianists tickle the ivories and the ears, delight the mind, affect the soul, and most of all, entice audiences to eagerly await the next performance of creative repertoire selection.
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