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About the Lister-Sink Institute

The Lister-Sink Institute is an educational organization dedicated to promoting a healthful, well-coordinated keyboard technique to maximize musical artistry and help prevent potential injury at any point in the career.

Audio/Video Gallery

Performances by Students of Barbara Lister-Sink

Claude Debussy, Ce qu'a vu le vent d'ouest ("What the west wind saw")

In 1907, Danish author Hans Christian Andersen’s tale “The Garden of Paradise” was published in French. Andersen’s imaginative personification of the wind likely inspired this tumultuous prelude. The mother of the winds says that her son Zephyr (Danish for “west wind”) “was a nice boy once, but that was years ago.” (trans. Jean Hersholt) Later, Zephyr appears “looking like a savage,” and describes what he has seen on his latest adventure: "I gazed into the deepest of rivers, and saw how it rushed through the rapids and threw up a cloud of spray large enough to hold the rainbow. I saw a wild buffalo wading in the river, but it swept him away. He swam with a flock of wild ducks that flew up when the river went over a waterfall. But the buffalo had to plunge down it. That amused me so much that I blew up a storm, which broke age-old trees into splinters.” Zephyr’s imposing recklessness is depicted by pianistic techniques in the style of Franz Liszt, such as thick, dissonant chords that rapidly span the entire keyboard. Debussy sweeps the listener up into this frightening and bizarre journey. Préludes Book I, No. 7: Ce qu’a vu le vent d’Ouest (What the West Wind Saw) by Claude Debussy (composed 1909-1910) This recording is from my Master's Recital at Salem College, December 2, 2018. Special thanks to Dr. Barbara Lister-Sink and all the Salem College School of Music faculty! -David Holter

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Robert Schumann, Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood), Op. 15

“As to the Kinderszenen, I owe you one of the most invigorating joys of my life.” Franz Liszt’s letter to Robert Schumann echoed the set’s favorable reception when it was published in 1838. Unlike his later Album für die Jugend (Album for the Young), Schumann intended the pieces to be enjoyed by adults. He wrote, “They are reminiscences by a grown-up for grown-ups.” These 13 “scenes from childhood” span a range of youthful experiences: wondrous (Von fremden Ländern und Menschen), boisterous (Hasche-Mann), pleading (Bittendes Kind), innocent and carefree (Glückes genug), dreamy (Träumerei), frightened (Fürchtenmachen), and poignant (Der Dichter spricht). Though he had not published any songs as of 1838, these masterful melodies revealed his blossoming skill as a song composer. Soon after, 1840 would be his “year of song,” during which he wrote 138 of them! Träumerei, one of Schumann’s most famous pieces, exemplifies his ability to capture profound emotional experiences using the smallest of forms. Like many of the Kinderszenen, Träumerei is in ABA form, in which the B section contains a similar melody to the A but reharmonizes it to new effect. Schumann then begins the A section as before, but colors its highest note with a new and unexpected chord in a magical, suspended moment of wonder. Throughout these short pieces, by balancing structural repetition with surprise, Schumann captures the enchantment of childhood. From my Master's Recital, December 2, 2018, at Salem College. Special thanks to my teacher, Dr. Barbara Lister-Sink, and the Salem College School of Music faculty. --David Holter 0:00 Von fremden Ländern und Menschen (Of Foreign Lands and Peoples) 1:40 Kuriose Geschichte (A Curious Story) 2:50 Hasche-Mann (Blind-Man’s Bluff) 3:35 Bittendes Kind (Pleading Child) 4:36 Glückes genug (Happy Enough) 5:28 Wichtige Begebenheit (An Important Event) 6:32 Träumerei (Dreaming) 9:24 Am Kamin (At the Fireside) 10:25 Ritter vom Steckenpferd (Knight of the Rocking Horse) 11:16 Fast zu ernst (Almost Too Serious) 13:03 Fürchtenmachen (Frightening) 14:43 Kind im Einschlummern (Child Falling Asleep) 16:50 Der Dichter Spricht (The Poet Speaks)

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