Hochstein piano student Uche Ofurum, who studies with Dr. Julia Goodwin, performed Florence Price’s “Ticklin’ Toes” at an all-school recital on February 12. Julia says, “I chose this piece for Uche because of its vibrant elegance. She responded to it with enthusiasm.”
Florence Price (1887-1953) was the first Black woman to have her work played by a major American orchestra – the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1933. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, she studied at the New England Conservatory in Boston and had a successful music career in her own time yet faded into the background after her death. In 2009, stacks of her papers were found in an abandoned house in Illinois and her lost scores led to a renewed interest in her music. Alex Ross wrote in The New Yorker that her music “deserves to be widely heard.”
Biographer Rae Linda Brown tells us in The Heart of a Woman: The Life and Music of Florence B. Price:
“Florence Price wrote piano pieces for students from the beginning to advanced levels. ‘Ticklin' Toes’ is one of several teaching pieces Price published in 1933. Although considered unusual for its 4/8 time signature, it is indicative of African American dances, especially the juba dance (cakewalk), and allowed Price to write complicated rhythms for student pianists. Like the well-known and popular piano rag, the left hand maintains a regular beat while the right has syncopations.”
A junior at Our Lady of Mercy High School, Uche has been playing the piano since age 7, most recently studying with Julia Goodwin at Hochstein. Uche has played other instruments like snare drum, bells, timpani, and suspended cymbals in the orchestra class at Mercy. She also enjoys dancing and basketball.
Julia and Uche agreed that this would be the perfect time for her to perform the piece in celebration of its wonderful composer, with February as Black History Month and March as Women’s History Month.
Hear Uche play “Ticklin’ Toes” in the YouTube player below or using this link.