Master Classes on early piano sonatas of Beethoven

PRESS RELEASE

[pic of young Beethoven from actual portrait 

 you can see a little wild rascal in his expression]

Piano Lessons Proposal : Sept 28, 2014

Conservatory Style Master Classes

focusing on some early piano sonatas of Beethoven

particularly #1, #3, #6, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14 and #15.

 
For the next few months, October through at least January, pianist David Burton, will be based in Sequim, Washington, not far from Port Angeles or Victoria, BC and within reach of the rest of Northwest Washington. Long an exponent of raising the level of amateur pianism, Burton would like to be able to conduct a series of master classes for no more than six students at a location with a better than average piano in reasonably good tune and preparation for serious playing. He would like to find such a location and would like to be able to record all these events for future posting at his website (dpbmss041010.blogspot.com): audio only. Links from the Piano World piano forum, etc. would announce their release. After that, these same podcasts could be posted anywhere freely on line. Burton would like to use these classes as a means to defray some of his travelling expenses for a visit that will include Washington and Northern California.  
Each session would focus on one sonata. Prospective students would be intermediate to advanced,, have some acquaintance with the music in question, would bring their own scores, etc. Each session could run up to 2 hours, longer with more people, which is why the number of students is to be limited. Some asked whether tickets would be sold to such an event, so people could come in and sit and listen, expecting the location might be some auditorium or church. Burton does not yet know what kind of location this mission of his would require. The location may even turn out to be someone's private home. It will be up to the consensus, exactly when they would most likely be able to attend such an event and arrangements, locations, etc. will be distributed via e-mail.  
After January, 2015, Burton's plans are less certain. He expects to travel to Northern California and will be based near Santa Cruz. Offers for classes and appearances will be considered. His repertoire at the moment focuses on music by Franz Schubert and Beethoven. He may supplement these with very simple arrangements of 19^th century songs, now almost extinct in memory, or music of his own composition. He wants people to be able to hear how even a simple piece of piano music can be played to great advantage. Two complete concert programs are under preparation. These will feature two sonatas of Franz Schubert, a sonata of Beethoven and the other mentioned pieces.  
The interested should contact David Burton right away at dpbmss@aol.com subject music proposal. Let him know which of the above mentioned Beethoven sonatas is of most interest, etc. He also wants to know the best times for scheduling these events.