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  • Welcome to the new site. Here's a thread about the update where you can post your feedback, ask questions or spot those nasty bugs!

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
I'll shortly post some pictures of wonderful dedicated students on their first steps to careers in music.

This is then a place holder come back shortly!

Asher
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Let's start at the beginning. Once the popular new President of the Colburn School Introduced the faculty to the packed audience in the Zipper Auditorium, there was an amazing happening that no one might have predicted.

The two concert grand piano without their giant lids were set up end to end. Stage production put in place a special adapter to allow one young munchkin to play such a giant piano and control the foot pedals! Then two little kids came in. A young fellow in tails and a cute little girl in a gown. Both are students of Mina Perry who specializes in coaching advanced and especially gifted young pianists. The children had an air about them! They were perfect for some Southern Ball, except, after brief ceremonial bows, they went, each to a key board on either end of the two giant pianos. It was a sight to see.


_MG_9631_800 copy.jpg


Asher Kelman: Ray, 8 and Annette 9, Piano Duet

Sonata for Two Pianos Francois Poulenc (1899-1963)



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If one's eyes were shut, one wouldn't think children were performing. The 8 year old boy, in fact, thundered some pieces like a mature man and one needed to have a double-take, to confirm t was really happing. The girl was lyrical and dainty as a feather. A remarkable exprience!

Enjoy!

Asher
 
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Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
The Colburn School of Performing Arts is next door to MOCA on Grand Avenue downtown L.A. Across the street to the right is the famous Frank Gehry Walt Disney Concert Hall. Down the road s the Music Center, the Opera, Taper Auditorium and the Court Building.

What's so special about the school is not only the exceptional faculty but also the teams of folk raising money to pay for all this. The school has 1800 students are taken in without reference to national origin, race or handicap or cultural background. This is a massive operation but the students really have no idea except they are well looked after in beautiful surroundings.

The honors recital occurs once a year and is the last of a large series of selections throughout the year, competing for the highest positions in each music studio and instrument. A few of these are destined to be accepted to the Conservatory of The Colburn School for a graduate degree. That's another great story. One of the students I'll show later, has already succeeded in the selection and will start at the Conservatory, (all expenses paid by The Colburn Foundation), this fall!

Asher
 

Doug Kerr

Well-known member
Hi, Asher,

Your work with the Colburn energizes you in many dimensions and on many planes, and we all benefit from the radiant emission from that.

I know the "work" is often exhausting, but the results are fabulous - and I don't just mean the photographic output (although that is in fact superb).

You are truly a Renaissance man, and the Colburn project is your Renaissance, as well as that of so many talented performers and their mentors.

We do note however that, contrary to the report, only one of the grand pianos had its lid removed.

I'm very proud of you, Asher, and of course of your "subjects".

Best regards,

Doug
 

charlie chipman

New member
_MG_9631_800%20copy.jpg

Asher Kelman: Ray, 8 and Annette 9, Piano Duet​

I really like this picture.

It is the size of the piano's compared to the size of the player that captures me, that and Ray's little booster pedals. Such beautiful instruments.
 
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Prateek Dubey

New member
Hello Asher,
It's amazing that at such a young age, these children have an understanding of subtle nuances of classical music. The skill to render the music is another matter. I love the simplicity of the capture, I think it is solemn. It is not unusual for the camera to misfocus just at the critical moment, but then it could also emphasize the fact that music is greater than its performer. I wish my son grows up to be a musician. He's one and a half years old, but the way he shreiks, he could well turn out to be a ballerina....or who knows maybe someone like Rob Halford.
Prateek
 

Ruben Alfu

New member
_MG_9631_800 copy.jpg


Asher Kelman: Ray, 8 and Annette 9, Piano Duet

Sonata for Two Pianos Francois Poulenc (1899-1963)


Hi Asher,

The view of these imposing instruments at the hands of two little kids is a bold statement of the kind of talent we are facing here. Good timing capturing their movements.



I'm not convinced about this one, I like their expressions but IMHO this is a photo where a sharp focus on the performer is essential. Of course, this photo might be quite useful for certain usages anyway.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Hi Asher,

The view of these imposing instruments at the hands of two little kids is a bold statement of the kind of talent we are facing here. Good timing capturing their movements.

The first thing one needs to do is to get above then and as far away as possible in order to see both key board and their hands. Timing is critical as one kid might pause or be playing with head buried to the far end, (lower notes), of the keyboard while the other is in perfect view. Then, assuming everything is right, each pianist has to be "doing something" that shows they are playing music with passion.

Afterwards, sorting images takes a long time and then each has to processed several times or else one has a perfectly exposed face but no hands or empty space instead of white keys. (That's because the light from above is harsh, makes strong shadows and gives a giant dynamic range beyond the means of the camera at ISO 3200!) Then the layers have to be masked to get the final result.


I'm not convinced about this one, I like their expressions but IMHO this is a photo where a sharp focus on the performer is essential. Of course, this photo might be quite useful for certain usages anyway.

The pictures shows exactly as the kids stood for a moment. Then the little magic imps "scarper off", run for it, escape and vanish, LOL. The aperture is close to f 2.8 and the 5D II is not the 1D Mark IV for quick focus anyway. That's about as good as it gets. With the 5D II one can expect only 60% to be in perfect focus at this low light condition. I have been considering getting the 1D mark IV for this very reason. Its focus system is much more accurate in low light. However, the incremental benefit of having this picture tack sharp is questionable! Bowing kids are not too effective in such a single picture. Once they are up, they are off, one turning before the other! What's likely with a 1D Mark IV is to be able to catch a more direct pose by continuously shooting as they approach and complete the bow.

Here the purpose is just to memorialize the cute shy kids dressed as if they are ready for formal entry to a Royal party! For such celebratory images these work well. I could reshoot them in the studio, but then the tentativeness of the scene would be lost. They are a mirage, after all!

Asher
 

Mike Shimwell

New member
The pictures shows exactly as the kids stood for a moment. Then the little magic imps "scarper off", run for it, escape and vanish, LOL. The aperture is close to f 2.8 and the 5D II is not the 1D Mark IV for quick focus anyway. That's about as good as it gets. With the 5D II one can expect only 60% to be in perfect focus at this low light condition. I have been considering getting the 1D mark IV for this very reason. Its focus system is much more accurate in low light. However, the incremental benefit of having this picture tack sharp is questionable! Bowing kids are not too effective in such a single picture. Once they are up, they are off, one turning before the other! What's likely with a 1D Mark IV is to be able to catch a more direct pose by continuously shooting as they approach and complete the bow.


Asher


Asher, the camera has grabbed focus on the piano just behind them and there's not much room for manouvre at f2.8.

Love the first picture - the scale of the piano to the children is daunting and the level of talent they must possess and have dveloped at such an early age is humbling and sobering.

MIke
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Asher, the camera has grabbed focus on the piano just behind them and there's not much room for manouvre at f2.8.

Exactly! I should use a second, faster camera, without the Sound Blimp, as there is not time to make sure one is focusing right. The 1D IV would nail them. Perhaps my 1DII under-exposed would work fine. I now believe that noise removal has so improved that ISO 1600 on the 1DII under-exposed and shooting at f 4.0 would be far better. I have to work on this. Pose I have no control over, it is what it is, but focus is technically correctable!

Love the first picture - the scale of the piano to the children is daunting and the level of talent they must possess and have dveloped at such an early age is humbling and sobering.

MIke

I am thrilled to be the one privileged to photograph them. I struggle to improve my skills, approach and workflow. I try to do better each time I set up.

One day, they might very well be world famous. Now they grab one's heart! Imagine the devotion to them of their teacher Mina Perry and their respective parents. It's such an opportunity but also a responsibility to guide and train them with love, discipline, technique and not crush their personalities or turn them into withdrawn obsessional oddities who have no childhood or time for fun.

Asher
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Very nice ones, Asher. I would love some close ups too. These asians are weird... At the age of 3 they know how to play any instrument!!! Have seen the stats of IQ for each country? Take a look and be affraiiiiddd!!! LOL!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IQ_and_the_Wealth_of_Nations
That reference to IQ and economic success is really a hoot but likely nonsense! First, one needs to establish that IQ was measured well and provide a degree of certainty to those measurements. Otherwise, there's no difference between the range 98 +/- 10 or 15 for your average IQ's in the table.

My observation is that the differences are foremost cultural. The training on certain societies allows one to take I.Q. tests more effectively. One needs twin studies and genetic markers to be able to understand what components that appear to be hereditary, or indeed so.

Back to the Asian kids, just remember that Mozart was European but he was brought up with the language of music in which he was fluent as a child. At the Colburn School there are indeed a lot of talented Asian students but but we also have musicians from every culture and race. It so happens that some cultures value soccer, baseball or basketball more than music and so get less representatives at a particular time. When Jews came out of the Ghettoes and Pale of Settlement to the cities, education exploded and then there were abundant Jewish musicians and composers where there none before. So it's likely that the rise of Asian musicians is related to an explosion of opportunity.

However, when the stage is full, all races are present and shine! The Colburn School has an outreach program and has hundreds of scholarships for disadvantaged students to nurture talent from all quarters of the city. Obviously, it's harder for a child to be brought to the school when the parents, themselves don't have much of anything in education or the values of the Arts. So the opportunities are open from the earliest age to be able to plant seeds and then nurture the children so creativity and talent is valued.

In addition each summer, 60 teens are brought in from the most troubled neighborhoods for an intense summer Encounter program. Here they are transformed by coaching for self-worth, community, acting, singing and playing instruments. At the end there's an amazing performance of a transformed group of friends, each destined not to be part of another lost generation.

So for the IQ's, yes it a fun thing to quip about. Reality is more likely cultural values, economic opportunity, role models and enthusiastic guides that are the arbiters of all progress where education is part of the process.

Asher
 
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