00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,800
So A Seat at the Piano is essentially a platform to raise the voices of a lot of composers
2
00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:13,520
who have been less heard or historically excluded or underrepresented. It is a database,
3
00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:19,360
it is a resource, it's a blog, it's kind of a lot of different things that we've combined into one
4
00:00:19,360 --> 00:00:25,840
kind of a one-stop shop for a lot of pianists, teachers, students to go to if they're seeking
5
00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:31,120
different kinds of repertoire that are outside of the normal kind of canon. During the summer of 2020
6
00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:38,080
our whole nation was dealing with solitude and also racial reckoning, social reckoning, a lot of the
7
00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:42,960
disparities that are within our society and I think there was a big call to action. I feel like as
8
00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:50,320
musicians even within our silo, within our bubble, in our sphere we can still do a lot of influence.
9
00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:54,400
I come at it from a pretty different background than a lot of people. I grew up in Canada,
10
00:00:54,400 --> 00:00:59,280
there is an organization, the Royal Conservatory of Music that I grew up playing their syllabus from.
11
00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:04,560
They actually have always included a lot of composers, usually Canadian composers, and Canada
12
00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:09,440
is a pretty new place so we've always had female composers and people of color and everything in
13
00:01:09,440 --> 00:01:17,280
that syllabus. I actually didn't realize till I moved to the U.S. that that gap was there and so
14
00:01:17,280 --> 00:01:22,800
for me part of wanting to do A Seat at the Piano was to sort of give people the experiences that
15
00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:29,920
I was lucky enough to have. So growing up I certainly was introduced to certain Black composers,
16
00:01:29,920 --> 00:01:37,200
however as a pianist growing up I certainly found myself making it a point to prove as a Black
17
00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:41,920
pianist that I could play Bach, I could play the Mozart, I could play the Chauvinet too as well as
18
00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:47,680
anybody else. I wasn't necessarily rejecting learning about more Black composers because it
19
00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:53,200
was still a part of my upbringing to a certain extent but I certainly wasn't going out of my way
20
00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:59,600
to necessarily make it a part of how I programmed so I was really excited to put a lot of effort
21
00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:05,360
into just expanding my knowledge of not only Black composers but of course that's where it started.
22
00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:12,960
Through this project I'm finding a part of my own identity because I from day one until I graduated
23
00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:20,640
with my DMA I've been playing Beethoven sonatas, Czerny etudes. The more I got to work with an ASAP
24
00:02:20,640 --> 00:02:26,640
the more I found all these cool composers that you know I almost feel like I was robbed of
25
00:02:26,640 --> 00:02:32,640
like learning this in my primary education. I guess working on ASAP has been really empowering.
26
00:02:32,640 --> 00:02:40,080
Come visit us at acetatthepiano.com or visit us on social media. I can promise you that you will
27
00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:47,200
find something that interests you. Tune in tomorrow night Tuesday September 19th at 8 p.m eastern on
28
00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:53,520
the Pianopod's YouTube channel for a fascinating conversation with the team of Acet at the Piano.
29
00:02:53,520 --> 00:02:59,840
The audio episode will be divided into two segments with part one launching simultaneously on your
30
00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:05,760
preferred podcast platform during the video premiere. Make sure to hit subscribe or follow
31
00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:12,800
the Pianopod. Find all the necessary links in the description. Catch you this Tuesday!