ARTICLES
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This article appeared in the June, 2010 edition of Education Update:
A Harmony of Music and Marriage:
Abigail Lumsden & Les Horan
By JOAN BAUM, Ph.D.
Performers and music teachers Les Horan and Abigail Lumsden
not only finish each other’s sentences,
they knowingly and lovingly take each other’s “measure” and riff on intuitions.
That’s “measure” as in musical measure, a bar of music that one of them starts
— on the piano, violin, viola or drum, or just sings —
and the other moves into, improvising, playing with the beat, changing the mode,
maybe going from classical, to jazz, to blues, to Latin, to rock,
to gospel, to Broadway pop, even a bit of hip hop.
They’re Upper West Side New Yorkers
— urban, informal, community-minded and passionate about music
and about culture in all its diversity.
Their home is their studio, a comfortable, high-ceilinged warren of rooms on West End Avenue
equipped with a grand piano, keyboard, percussion, upright,
recording equipment and knick- knacks everywhere
that speak of their separate lives, now conjoined, never to be put asunder.
And to think it all began in a laundry room
of the spacious apartment building they share as man and wife and musicians.
“We started to talk, I asked if I could try his piano,” says Abby.
“And two hours later,” Les adds, “we knew this would be It.”
A marriage of true minds, as Shakespeare might say, that admits not impediments, but innovation.
Indeed, one of the marvels of the Horan-Lumsden relationship is
how each cherishes individual style while yielding to, and learning from, the other.
This unusual partnership is, they think, what makes them effective educators.
What they allow each other, they invite from their students.
Both trained in conservatories but early on pursued different career paths.
Les, with advanced degrees in music, psychology and education,
has been teaching, composing, playing, arranging
and writing about music in the metropolitan area for over three decades.
(He is also working on a memoir, tentatively titled “I’m Not Jewish! Yes You Are.”
about his surprise as a youngster, brought to this country by his family
fleeing Nazi Czechoslovakia, to discover his origin.)
Describing himself as musically looser than Abby
(“she’s more serious” he laughs),
he credits her with sharpening his technique.
She works more on the “technical stuff,” he says,
while she argues for his wider arsenal of songs and ease at improv.
At times they refer one of their own students to the other for a lesson
— to Abby for a session on fingering exercises,
perhaps, or to Les for self-expression in blues.
Though a U.S. citizen, Abby studied and lived for a while in Holland,
concentrating increasingly on conducting and voice coaching.
Back in the states a few years ago, she cut down slightly
on the number of choruses she was conducting and arranging pieces for
because of an increasing dedication to Heart’s Journeys, now into its 11th year,
an ever-expanding, ever-shifting multimedia “show with a story line”
that usually includes dance and visuals.
Staged at various venues around the city, including Symphony Space,
she speaks of “Heart’s Journeys” as “therapeutic.”
She was thrilled when an audience member at a health facility once came up to her saying,
“You’ve warmed my soul.”
Nowhere is their goal of community and communion more apparent
than in the responses they get from students challenged with physical or mental difficulties,
such as the autistic boy, now 14, with whom both Les and Abby have been working
“moment to moment, exactly at his pace — showing him the songs he loves best.”
After five years, they report, he’s finally learned to practice on his own and “is very proud of it.”
Abby also has two autistic men in her Peace of Heart choir, ages 20 and 24,
who love the “warm social atmosphere” of the group,
and their deepening connection with it has made their respective parents “ecstatic.”
Their mantra is “At Your Own Pace — In Your Own Way,”
and they subscribe to it for all their students who range in age from 3-and-a-half to 80.
Students come to them largely by word of mouth
and from viewing their videos on YouTube.
There, at least a dozen musical performances can be seen,
including Abby doing what she calls her “vocalantics.”
One joyous video features Les bopping with a Japanese classical pianist,
another shows Abby with bongos.
What do they think they do that makes the difference as music teachers?
As Les says, they create lessons around individuals, but also go with the musical flow.
On request, they thread their way into the main piano room to demonstrate,
he at the 88s, she taking out a violin.
They do a bit of Bach and then “Happy Birthday.”
“Let’s do it in E-flat,” Abby suggests, “with a little bit of D and F,” and they do,
their enthusiasm instinctively prompting a visitor from Education Update
to join in, harmonizing.
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Performers and music teachers Les Horan and Abigail Lumsden
not only finish each other’s sentences,
they knowingly and lovingly take each other’s “measure” and riff on intuitions.
That’s “measure” as in musical measure, a bar of music that one of them starts
— on the piano, violin, viola or drum, or just sings —
and the other moves into, improvising, playing with the beat, changing the mode,
maybe going from classical, to jazz, to blues, to Latin, to rock,
to gospel, to Broadway pop, even a bit of hip hop.
They’re Upper West Side New Yorkers
— urban, informal, community-minded and passionate about music
and about culture in all its diversity.
Their home is their studio, a comfortable, high-ceilinged warren of rooms on West End Avenue
equipped with a grand piano, keyboard, percussion, upright,
recording equipment and knick- knacks everywhere
that speak of their separate lives, now conjoined, never to be put asunder.
And to think it all began in a laundry room
of the spacious apartment building they share as man and wife and musicians.
“We started to talk, I asked if I could try his piano,” says Abby.
“And two hours later,” Les adds, “we knew this would be It.”
A marriage of true minds, as Shakespeare might say, that admits not impediments, but innovation.
Both trained in conservatories but early on pursued different career paths.
Nowhere is their goal of community and communion more apparent
Their mantra is “At Your Own Pace — In Your Own Way,”
On request, they thread their way into the main piano room to demonstrate,
Alan Chertock wrote this article for the Berkshire Courier,
talking about a band the two of us played with in high school
"THE SATI-LIGHTS"
by Alan Chertock
I picked up the trumpet from the corner,
put some oil on the valve and began to play.
Every time I do it, all those memories
come pouring back. I remember that
it's been 26 years since the Sati-lights
The Sati-lights ("For music out of this world")....
The amazing band was put together by my brother
Lewis who found the work, arranged the dates
and recruited the personnel.
The band was immediately successful
for a number of reasons. The most
inportant was that we had good people.
Our pianist, Les Horan, had the gift.
You could play him a tune once and he would
write out a four-part harmony in 10 minutes.
He was the kind of player who made you want to
put down your instrument and never play again.
You just knew you were never going to be
as good as he was.....
The band stayed together for several years, then fell apart
when the piano player figured he
was into the big leagues and big bucks.
By then we were all off into our lives - college and the like.
But the experience could fill a book.......
Weddings, Bar Mitzvas, and all festive occasions
was the way the business cards read.
All-nighters on New Year's Eve, and bleeding lips.
And of course the dates we made with girls at the dances.
Damn, I wish I could play that horn the way I used to.
Does anyone out there feel the same way?
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In August 1997 Sybil Maimin describes one of my annual student recitals.
"Music Recital - Fun For All"
By Sybil Maimin
"The spring piano recital of the Les Horan Music Studio
was a fine illustration of the relaxed, fun-filled, supportive atmosphere
that characterizes instruction at the school.
Les Horan was an active participant
as more than twenty students played short pieces
ranging from show tunes to pop to jazz, to Bach.
Mr. Horan left his perch on the floor
to escort the informally dressed performers
from their seats in the audience,
and then shared the keyboard in duets with some of them,
accompanied others on the synthesizer,
or in the cases of the very youngest performers,
sat them on his lap on the piano bench
as they pounded out notes
and experienced the first taste of applause.
Les Horan’s method is to cultivate and sustain a love of music
by allowing students to direct their own programs.
They start by choosing songs they wish to learn
which he adapts to their level.
For new students the beginning is easy and fun.
As they become more serious,
the technical and "harder" aspects are introduced.
His goal is to get students so excited by what they are able to do
that they happily practice and become increasingly
comfortable with music and their instruments.
The performers were clearly "into" the music,
enjoying the opportunity to share their accomplishments.
It was obvious that the enthusiastic audience
of parents, siblings, and friends
were having a grand time.
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Here is a review of my book "Instant Blues" - published by St. Martin's Press, July 1993
"Instant Blues"
St. Martin's Press
For anyone who ever yearned to tickle the ivories
but never got close enough to try,
"Instant Piano" was a breakthrough introduction
to the magic of musical creativity.
Now Les and Layla Horan have applied "instant Piano"techniques
to the blues, in all of their rich variety:
from old time boogie-woogie and rhythm-and-blues
to country, rock & roll, and jazz.
You could be playing the blues in a matter of minutes. Here's how:
Simply turn on Side One of the "Instant Blues" cassette
while you play along on the black keys,
or Side Two while you play on the white keys.
The unique compositions of the "Instant Blues" cassette
will make music out of your playing - instantly!
"Instant Blues also lets you learn as you play,
with simple techniques to expand on the black and white system,
fingering exercises, helpful hints on how to play without the tape,
and tips that will make your playing better and better.
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}When a student of mine, Ken Kurland, had one of his musicals produced,
I helped him by being the pianist and musical director. Here is one of the reviews.
"DELILAH"
Review by Seth Bisen-Hersh
".......The pianist/ musical director, Les Horan, was really quite good.
Playing off lead sheets, he improvised intricate piano parts,
as well as some nonstandard arpeggios....."
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Les Horan and Abigail Lumsden
212-666-1289
PianoLes.nyc@gmail.comabiwhale@gmail.com
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