We sat down one afternoon with one of our Barcelona music teachers, Leandro Avalle, to get acquainted with his instrument of choice- the piano. Both performing and giving private piano lessons in Barcelona for a number of years, the accomplished Avalle was the perfect choice to introduce us to one of the most popular musical instruments for study today.
Relaxing in Estudio Shine amid a mish- mash of guitars, keyboards, the odd accordion and stacks of music notes Leandro told us how he began his piano career. Cutting his teeth on piano keys from an early age, Leandro watched his sisters learn the instrument. He insisted that he receive piano lessons too and was playing at age seven and performing in competitions by age 9. He dabbled in other instruments as well, like the guitar and chello but, “They were not the piano, so…” he ultimately returned to his first love and hasn’t looked back since.
Leandro believes that students should begin to study piano at a young age. Indeed one of his students at the Shine school of Music in Barcelona is only 3 years old. “I think it’s very important for the intelligence, even if most of them will not end up as pianists… It gives you tools to develop your brain, like math or language. I think it’s very important for kids to learn piano.” He explains that children’s motor skills are developed through the use of both hands on the instrument. Leandro has noted a marked difference in his students ability to concentrate as they learn to play and read music notes. “It’s amazing!”
Students at Estudio Shine are encouraged by their teachers to enjoy their instruments while learning and Leandro points out that this nurturing develops their talents even further. “Never get frustrated!” Learning will always be a part of enjoying music and studying an instrument, he continues. “You have to have this mind, where you will always learn.”
This mindful awareness allows for discovering new music and Leandro applies this to his own art. Taking a note from one of his teachers in Argentina, “she’s 85 years old and she keeps learning everyday. She goes to concerts and courses, her brain is amazing and I think that most musicians get to this moment in their life, and yet they still grow. So that’s what’s unique about music I think.”
Avalle advocates a curious mind. Although trained as a classical pianist in Argentina, when he arrived in Barcelona, he found that music continued to give him new experiences, and allowed him to connect with people in ways he did not expect. “I’m Argentinian and although I never played Tango, suddenly I was playing Tango!” In Barcelona, he now performs as part of a tango group. “You can learn like a kid! You will never finish learning!” He smiles.
True to his word Leandro is now discovering contemporary piano music and continues to expand his knowledge and love for music. He plays in a classical duo with a violinist from Chile performing all over Europe. Leandro reflects on performing as a soloist and as a group. “With a classical performance, you have to prepare a lot of pieces and you play once. The moment is unique!” As a group it’s very different, it’s fun, he gestures, playing the same numbers each concert. Traveling biannually to Argentina to play piano, Leandro is also kept busy with his Tango group as they tour, playing up to 20 concerts together at a time. All this while still giving piano classes in Barcelona.
We asked him if he thought the piano was still popular as an instrument. Responding with a grin, he affirms, “It’s a complete instrument. It’s easy and gentle to learn initially.” He goes on to explain that piano has a large range and can be played expressively, from soft to passionate, “so people enjoy listening to the piano in concerts.” Interestingly he tells us that in Barcelona people enjoy understanding the music and the story behind the pieces. He has learned to converse with his audience, drawing their attention to certain parts or explaining different melodies and meanings. This gives people a better grasp of the music he explains, and although he was surprised by this style of concert initially he now really enjoys sharing his knowledge and the history of the piano with his audiences, taking his music teaching out of the classroom.
Teaching piano at Shine Music School in Barcelona for a number of years, Avalle points out, “I think it’s the first instrument that you should learn.” From a technical point of view, if students learn to read piano sheet music, both the treble clef and bass clef gives you a bigger understanding of music. He continues to explain that from this point, students can read any music notation written for other instruments. Studying piano gives a fundamental understanding of music.
“Secondly it develops your sense of harmony and melody at the same time. This is quite unique to the piano. It’s a harmonic and melodic instrument and the repertoire of the piano is extensive.” Piano is a visual representation of music. Learning piano, the keys and notes, show how music is structured, making understanding music easy. The greatest composers, Avalle extrapolates, have been writing music for the piano for centuries. The methods these composers used and history is expressed through the music. Studying the piano affords you a wider, more complete musical base upon which to build. “You develop more accurate methods of study, ” Leandro explains. With the skills gained from learning the piano, it’s far easier to move onto another instrument and to be a successful musician.
You can watch Leandro perform as part of his duo and tango group, by keeping up to date with his piano concerts in Barcelona on the Estudio Shine Facebook page. You can also study piano with Leandro at the Shine School of music. The school has a number of piano courses from intensive piano course to piano courses for beginners. Contact Leandro at the Shine Music School and apply his thoughtful comments on learning and playing the piano to your own study and enjoyment of this classical instrument. Perhaps you will be lucky enough to be invited to one of his private piano concerts in Barcelona! The Shine School of Music rents pianos and offers piano summer courses. You can study in Spanish or English and we have a range of styles available from contemporary jazz piano to classical piano. The school also offers piano lessons over Skype. Thank you to Leandro Avalle for his time and to Rachel Huffman for conducting this interview.
As the school year winds down in Spain, and the temperatures in Barcelona rise, everyone prepares for the summer vacation. Music exams are furiously studied for and students practice for the annual music concert which takes place at the end of the year. It’s an exciting occasion and one that the Estudio Shine family look forward to each year. Students invite friends and family to come and enjoy all the musical pieces and the day is filled with a fun musical energy. Each year some of our teachers perform too, in an anticipated finale!
Concerts are usually in two parts, with a principiantes show and and avanzados concert, however you are welcome to attend both!
It’s a chance for students to show off their accomplishments from the year and also an opportunity to perform in front of a crowd, which is an important learning curve for students, and an extra skill!
Our concerts are advertised on facebook and our instagram pages, and we make announcements to students via email and at the school before the due dates.
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Study holidays have long been popular in Barcelona, where many people visit the city for longer periods of time on student visas. Barcelona boasts some of the top business schools, a respected Erasmus program and plenty of choices for studying Spanish. Study abroad is both a daunting and exciting prospect for young people, and often a right of passage.
Immersive study is a valuable way to learn and a good way to get to know the history, culture and people of Catalunya and Spain.
Shine school of music offers both extracurricular music lessons in Barcelona to students already in the city looking to expand their knowledge base and students wanting to do intensive courses on flamenco or classical Spanish guitar. Our guitar courses can be taught in Spanish, Catalan or English offering an alternative approach to learning the language. And we offer a host of other instrument courses from piano lessons to singing.
Barcelona is well suited as city for students. It’s generally safe with a large international community. The city is small enough to navigate easily and there are plenty of affordable accommodation options for students from home stays to shared apartments. Students can become involved in the vibrant meetup groups, and there are plenty of free, cheap and fun activities that won’t break the bank. Yoga in the park, jam sessions, exercise on the beach, the list goes on. Besides this, Barcelona has an action packed cultural calendar with festivals and fiestas planned throughout the year.
At shine music school we accept students of any age and welcome the chance to share our love and knowledge of music with the discerning learner. Why not study music in Barcelona with us. We offer tailored courses for individual study as well as group music lessons.
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Classes At Shine Music School Barcelonawith A5 Preset
Not long ago, the ukulele, no more than a comic prop to accompany your lei and grass skirt, was an endangered species. Now in its third heyday, the ukulele’s powerfully cheerful sound is permeating the pop charts, serenading us during TV commercial breaks and showing up in YouTube videos by the thousands. The uke can even be heard in jam sessions on Barcelona beaches and has infiltrated some of the city’s Meetup groups.
A Brief History
Based on several small members of the guitar family, the ukulele was first developed in Hawaii during the 1880s by Portuguese immigrants. Roughly translated as “jumping flea”, the ukulele’s popularity spread to the United States in the 1920s. Thanks to the production of millions of inexpensive plastic ukuleles, their presence in popular music surged from the 1940s to the 1960s, but interest began to decline after that.
Don’t worry. There’s a comeback in our story. The ukulele reclaimed centre stage due to the enthusiasm for Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s version of “Over the Rainbow”. Since its release on the album Facing Future in 1993, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World” has been heard so often on TV and in movies, young generations may not realise Israel actually redefined the beloved classic originally sung by Judy Garland.
“Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World” tops our list of the 12 most fitting, yet unconventional songs for the ukulele. Check out the other songs on the list here.
The Ukulele Movement Today
According to the New York Times article “Ukulele Crazy” from 2011, “The trend, building for a decade and now reaching a saturation point, is being fueled by a mix of Hollywood directors, corporate advertisers, professional musicians looking for a new sound and amateurs who have discovered how easy the uke is to use”. Each group’s interest may be driven by different motivations, but they are all united in their belief that the ukulele, with its folksy sound, invokes joy and sincerity in an electronic guitar and auto-tune-obsessed age.
And why shouldn’t the ukulele be this year’s trending topic? Its dainty size makes it a great instrument to travel with. It’s easy for kids and adults alike to play. It provides players with instant satisfaction—being defined in some music circles as “idiot-proof”, anyone can learn to play in a short period of time. No matter how off tune you go, it never sounds awful because of the uke’s sweet-natured sound. Playing the uke will enlarge your circle of friends. And it makes you and those listening around you happy.
Even George Harrison was a ukulele lover, quoted as saying, “I love them—the more the merrier…So get yourself a few and enjoy yourselves”.
More recently, stars like Eddie Vedder and Jack Johnson have taken up the ukulele, and its featured prominently on the TV show Glee. It’s become a habit for Zooey Deschanel to strum one while crooning sweetly with Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Tony Blair disrupts Labour Party conventions with one. The ukulele creates intimacy to scenes in Her and How I Met Your Mother. There’s even an eight-member Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain—originally formed as a bit of fun—that has given thousands of sold-out concerts across the world. We’ve come a long way from mocking the uke after Tiny Tim used it in his 1968 novelty song “Tiptoe Through the Tulips”.
Despite its higher profile, the ukulele still plays its role as an everyman instrument quite convincingly. “The ukulele has always fascinated me because it doesn’t intimidate other people,” said Hawaiian artist Jake Shimabukuro, whose career skyrocketed when his elaborate, introspective variation of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” on a ukulele went viral on YouTube with more than 13 million views.
There’s no right or wrong way to play the ukulele, only your way. So get out there and start strumming!
Where can you find an open mic in Barcelona? Matt Kaplan scours Barcelona for the best places to find an underground jam session and explains why it’s a rare and often impromptu phenomenon in the Catalan Capital.
Spain has an unbelievably rich culture of music and with it, comes a deep appreciation for its affect. From flamenco tablaos, to classical guitar concerts in the Palau de la Música Catalana, or even jazz combos in the Harlem Jazz Club, the streets are filled with music around every corner. With that being the case, why is so hard to find venues to play live music as an amateur musician? These events usually happen on a weekly or monthly basis in a bar or café and are called open mic nights (micros abiertos) or live jam sessions.
(Alfa Bar)
The reason for the difficulty in finding a suitable location is due to the strict noise pollution laws and regulations in Barcelona. Another factor has to do with the amount of space a venue has to offer. As most people from Barcelona would know, space is a precious commodity and for bars and cafés, there are many safety regulations involved. According to Azucena Milcó, project manager at Sound Diplomacy, the legislation that permits live music was considering smaller music in the same light as the more famous clubs. Here we have a problem. It gives the venues extra taxes, occupancy limitations, and restrictions that are not relative; that is to say for example that a smaller venue would have to pay for the same amount of soundproofing that a larger club would. Even with some monetary grants from the city council, these types of restrictions have pushed a lot of very popular “underground” venues out of the live music industry.
The good news is that with all of this in mind, I have been able to find a handful of venues that still offer you the opportunity to get out for a night to show off your developing talent. Two that I would recommend are the open mics at Alfa Bar or Freedonia. If you are interested in any of these options, I have placed the information below. Alfa Bar requires that you sign up ahead of time and both events are free to participate. Keep in mind that if you attend, these events are sometimes not just for music! It is very common for open mics to be open to all types of artistry including poetry and spoken word, comedy, and more. Enjoy these opportunities to get out there and play!
EDIT – our Instrument Rental Website has updated the list, here are a few more places that offer jam sessions and open mic nights for those of you interested in playing your instrument! Don’t forget to jump over to the Shine Instrument Rental blog, to see other interesting events and happenings in Barcelona for Musicians.
