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Modern Architecture - Centre Georges Pompidou

Anil Gupta

The Pompidou Center (Centre Pompidou in French) is one of the most impressive buildings of Paris. It was designed

In fact, the Pompidou Center has been a great success with its easily available public library, its art exhibitions and the French National Museum of Modern Art. The Museum has large collections of paintings spanning the 20th century and including works

The construction forms a huge transparent box whose uncovered frame of tubular steel columns carries trusses spanning the width of the building. External mechanical systems - elevators painted red; escalators in clear plastic tunnels; and giant tubes for air (painted blue), water (green), and electricity (yellow) all are noticeably placed outside the main columns.

Considerable controversy arose over the assertive industrial style of the Pompidou Center, whose bold exo-skeletal architecture contrasts violently with surrounding houses in the heart of an old section of Paris near the H??tel de Ville. However not withstanding the controversy the Center has been hugely successful, with its many art exhibitions and the National Museum of Modern Art, attracting more than 160 million people since its inauguration.

The Beaubourg Plaza in front of the Centre remains a very lively area - its jugglers, mimes and humorists from all over Europe constantly attract a crowd. This Paris tradition, which survives from the Middle Ages, can also be spotted in other areas like Saint-Germain-des-Pr??s and the Place de la Contrescarpe (near the Panth??on). The Beaubourg area is especially lively at night, offering visitors plenty of bars and restaurants.

The Centre has one of the world s most important public collections of twentieth-century art, architecture, and design. The third and fourth floor is dedicated to this section. The exhibitions have become landmark events for a public that is eager to meet all the art forms of its times and follow their development.

The Centre National D`Art et De Culture Georges Pompidou is dedicated to the diffusion of today s creation, in all its forms. . The Centre Pompidou boasts one of the largest museums in the world, a large public library, theatres, cinemas and a musical research institute all in the same complex. Its multi-disciplinary vocation is clearly revealed in the prestigious exhibits and events it houses.

The cultural and artistic center named after Georges Pompidou, has sparked many a lively debate about its daring and strange architecture. The strange cultural crossroads was accepted only slowly and with great difficulty into the rhythm of daily life in the area. But successful it is.

The Piano Student`s Guide to Effective Practicing. - book review

American Music Teacher , June-July, 2002 by Sylvia Coats

by Nancy O`Neill Breth. Contact author to order at [email protected] or 3324 N. Kensington St., Arlington, VA 22207. $8.95, plus shipping, for pamphlet; 10% discount on an order of five or more copies. All levels.

Have you wished for a practice guide for students to use during practice? Now we have one thanks to Nancy O`Neill Breth. The colorful 9 1/4 x 6 1/4 fold-out card will fit on the music rack to remind students of effective practice procedures. The guide may be ordered from the author at the contact information above.

Breth provides tips under five headings to assist students during practice: 1) mentally practice before playing (Pre-Practice Mapping); 2) read carefully (First Steps); 3) analyze (Asking Questions/Finding Answers); 4) make the hard parts easy (Practice Tips); and 5) review strategies (When All Else Fails). Students are challenged to make a pact with themselves to be patient and practice faithfully, to be aware of what they are playing, to be curious by asking questions about how the music sounded and to use tunnel vision, tackling one problem at a time in small sections. Three tools she suggests for use at each practice session are a pencil, metronome and tape recorder.

The first step of mental practice requires active participation with pencil in hand, marking phrases, form and trouble spots. The second step gives a list of five steps that are most effective if each is played slowly. The guide`s value is that it will encourage students to think when they practice. If they make a mistake, they are prompted to ask themselves, "What did I hear that was wrong, why did it happen and how can I solve it?"

In "Finding Answers," Breth lists eleven musical qualities, including coordination, accuracy, expression, speed, continuity and four to seventeen two-word practice tips under each quality. Thirty-four practice tips are then described to make the hard parts easy. She tells students to pick and choose practice methods, or the teacher could assign tips by number to suggest ways to practice at home. Sample tips are: 1. Back up. Practice backwards. 2. Keep track. Record metronome speed achieved each day. 15. Button up. Play a game with reward buttons for correct repetitions. 20. Voicing. Play the predominant note forte and legato and the rest of the chord piano and staccato. 33. Three S`s. Play all notes slowly, softly and "gently" short.

Breth packs a lot of information into the card format. The well-organized topical guide will be especially useful to late-elementary, intermediate and advanced students and will be a handy tool for the teacher`s studio for use in lessons with all students. These practice tips are the tried and true ones, but Breth`s presentation is so clever, with some new twists, that students will be motivated to try them. Reviewed by Sylvia Coats, Igqchita, Kansas.

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