Aston, Sheffield
Welcome to my SoundCloud page and a variety of audio recordings. A good set of headphones is advantageous and recommended for listening. To continue reading, please click 'Show more' below:
My first piano lesson was on my tenth birthday and ever since, the piano has been a life-long study with a pursuit of classical music. By 18 years of age I was able enough to achieve Grade 8 piano with distinction from The Associated Board of The Royal Schools of Music as well as Grade 8 Theory of Music (Grade 8 being the final student Grade) and at the time, quite rapidly discovered that Grade 8 was not the end but just the beginning in terms of musical skill and musical development and knowledge.
Post Grade 8 and after further study I achieved two piano performance diplomas (ALCM) and (DipABRSM), I then went on to be successful with the highly demanding and prestigious Licentiate of The Royal Schools of Music Piano Performance Diploma Examination (LRSM) which is recognized the world over; the LRSM examination involved the performance of demanding repertoire, an extensive viva voce of verbal questioning and also, in my case for the 'Quick Study', a previously unseen baroque-style whole Gigue to prepare and perform with only 5 minutes preparation time; there are several examiners assessing live and the whole exam was audio recorded to ensure a rigour and standard appropriate to holding the LRSM.
Also, I am twice piano performance Licentiate of Trinity College London (LTCL) with different repertoire, and twice piano performance Licentiate of The London College of Music at The University of West London (LLCM) with different repertoire; this along with other music successes including an academic FLCM (Fellow of The London College of Music) - some of my academic study in music being with the London College of Music at the then Thames Valley University.
My qualifications in music are as follows:
LRSM (Piano Performance), LTCL (Piano Recital), LTCL (Piano Recital), LLCM (Piano Recital), LLCM (Piano Performance), DipABRSM (Piano Performance), ALCM (Piano Performance), LVCM(Hons) (Piano Performance), FLCM (Diploma in Music Literacy – Research Thesis (Music)), FVCM(Hons) (Musicology (by Thesis)), FVCM(Hons) (Composition), BA(Music), MMus, PhD(Music).
As a student I also studied singing and the organ. The study of the organ gave rise to fluency in the performance of 4-part SATB hymnody, church repertoire, and traditional Christmas Carols etc. as well as skill in playing 'lighter' pieces such as the Cuban rhythms in Ernesto Lecuona's 'Siboney' [See-bo-nay] Cuban Carnival Dance or the sheer power of volume in 'Hava Nagila' or the indigenous character of 'Dark Eyes', 'Swedish Rhapsody' and 'El Jarabe Tapatio' etc., all of which appear on this SoundCloud page.
Also, music of spiritual depth such as Morten Lauridsen's 'O Magnum Mysterium' [Mis-tare-ree-um], Peter Warlock's 'Bethlehem Down' and Bob Chilcott's 'The Shepherd's Carol' etc. is played on the piano and appears on this SoundCloud page.
My music teaching career has spanned almost 40 years encompassing private tuition and higher education level work. Whilst still teaching, being semi-retired I enjoy more time to play for pleasure, compose and arrange music. My own original piano compositions consist of Opus 1 'Reflections' (13 piano pieces) and Opus 2 (4 piano pieces dedicated to my wife, Mrs Sandra Spacie) all of which appear on this SoundCloud page.
I was lucky enough to purchase a hand-crafted acoustic 'Welmar' piano in 1989, this being manufactured in 1987 by the piano factory Whelpdale, Maxwell and Codd, London. It has a delightful responsive touch and 'warm' sound and resides in my dedicated music room at Aston, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, UK.
Each item digitally recorded by me was done in one ‘take’ without any technological tweaking per se. Also, a big thank you to all those many listeners who have 'liked' tracks. Statistics are not displayed publicly as all tracks are then presented equally as pieces of music. I like to let the music speak for itself and communicate accordingly.
Performances are perhaps best when they portray musical beauty, power of emotion and spiritual essence as well as fun and enjoyment rather than unemotional sheer bravura. I hope to share more music with you on my SoundCloud page in the future.
Thank you very much for visiting my SoundCloud page. I can be contacted by email using gmail.com with prefix: pianistmusicianmikespacie@
Best wishes,
Dr Michael Spacie
Mike Spacie, LRSM, LTCL, LTCL, LLCM, LLCM, etc.’s tracks
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