Musical Cottages

Sarah Susanka is an architect who has made a name for herself with the idea of the "Not So Big House."  She has authored umpteen books about how smaller spaces tend to feed our souls more than the suburban mansions people have built in recent years.  She is interested in the materials and details of a home and how they effect the people who live there.  I like these ideas.

Edvard Grieg had the same idea about piano pieces.  He writes:

 It is not for me to build lofty places and mighty cathedrals of music, but rather cottages, in which men may dwell and rest their hearts.

I like that too.  I have a student, Lena, studying a few of his Lyric Pieces.  These are short pieces with a Norwegian character and many have programatic titles like "Butterflies" or "March of the Trolls" that truly paint a picture in our minds.  Maybe I like them because growing up I thought I was Norwegian.    It's just that my grandma and grandpa lived so close to Decorah, Iowa and we went to the Nordic Fest every year and ate all the foods and bought all the little Christmas ornaments of the little painted wood and yarn people.  I just assumed.  I still have a little Nordic Christmas Tree.

Uff Da. Turns out I'm Czech.  I should be giving students Dvorak and Janacek.  I'm still going to rest my heart in a few little Grieg pieces.  Good luck with Puck, Lena.