Lady Gaga’s radical approach to “The Star Spangled Banner” — and February piano events

If you’ve ever wondered why it’s important to learn music theory and meter, listen to Adam Neely’s entertaining description of how Lady Gaga changed the time signature from 4/4 to 3/4 in her inauguration rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner.” In this video he provides a measure by measure analysis of Lady Gaga's interpretation of the national anthem and the powerful effect of her meter and chord changes.

Upcoming performances (online):

Jan 29. The New School’s Mannes School of Music will present Beethoven’s last three piano sonatas at 4:00 pm (PST). The concert is free at coparemote.com/mannessounds .

Feb 6. Last month I mentioned that the Seattle Chamber Winter Festival starts Feb 3. In addition to last month’s recommendations, I’ll add Robert Schumann’s “Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano in D minor, Op. 121.”

Feb 12 — 19. Simone Dinnerstein is an inventive pianist who created an intimate online recital from her living room, where the album was recorded during quarantine. The performance is presented free by the Meany Center for the Performing Arts.

Ongoing: Jon Batiste (Stephen Colbert’s bandleader and classically-trained pianist) is featured — along with a cat — in a new Disney movie called “Soul”, available at movies.disney.com