You’ve heard of pocketbooks, pocket watches, pocket battleships and pocket money, but what about pocket symphonies? According to Wikipedia, “a pocket symphony is a song with extended form. The term was popularized by English journalist Derek Taylor, who used it

intense, immersive, impassioned, hugely demanding and hugely enrichingJonathan Biss, pianist It’s the single most humane music imaginableIgor Levit, pianist Somewhere in the world right now, as I write, a pianist is performing or recording the Beethoven Piano Sonatas, maybe just

You can always count on musicians for a much-needed smile and some solutions, even during this global pandemic. The Coronavirus Etude—For Piano and Disinfecting Wipe is a must for all piano teachers. To be played Molto RUB-ato, and Molto Detergere.

The author Umberto Eco has a library of an astonishing 30,000+ books, most of which he has not, and probably never will read. Nassim Nicholas Talib (author of The Black Swan) calls this an “anti-library” and believes it represents an

Celebrating her 20th season at the helm of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra this year, JoAnn Falletta is the first woman conductor to be appointed music director of a major American orchestra. At a time when women conductors had to overcome

Musical gestures in some films are all about mirroring or inferring movement. But, as we see in certain movies like Hitchcock’s Vertigo, the music suggests the mental condition of the lead character, Jimmy Stewart, who suffers from vertigo. This spinning

When I was a student at The Aspen Music Festival and School, the conductor and music director at the time, Jorge Mester, brought his fluffy English Sheepdog to rehearsals. The enormous dog loved to stretch out on the podium while

In part I of this series, we heard several examples of how film music is designed to affect us psychologically. In this part, we look closer at why movie makers need to include music that pulls our psychological strings. In