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Pop Goes the Orchestra
In the US, it’s known as ‘Pops Music’ (not to be confused with Pop Music). It’s music for the lighter side of classical, music that the entire audience can just sink back and listen to, and, on occasion, sing along
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Live lessons – thoughts on performing
Performing can take many forms – from informal playing at home with friends to a recital at a world-renowned concert hall – and each performance presents its own difficulties, stresses, pleasures and revelations. I believe it is important to perform
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Forgotten Cellists: Felix Salmond
Felix Salmond (1888-1952) was one of the most influential cello teachers in America. As a professor at the Juilliard School, and later the Curtis Institute of Music, his pupils include Leonard Rose, Samuel Mayes, Orlando Cole, Bernard Greenhouse, Frank Miller,
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Anatoly Lunacharsky:More than the saviour of Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Prokofiev, one of the greatest composers of Russia, would never forget that day after the Revolution. He left Russia with the official blessing and warning of the Soviet Minister Anatoly Lunacharsky: “You are running away from events, and these
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Full Steam Ahead
Musical Train Journeys
Life is a journey, and truth be told, when it comes to transportation I much prefer trains to airplanes.
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Be More Amateur
The self-help/life coaching section of my local bookshop is full of books on how to learn from the professionals – think like a pro, act like a pro, be more pro. We are encouraged to draw inspiration from successful professionals
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Sounding Cosmology with Stephen Hawking (1942-2018)
The British physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking published his Brief History of Time in 1988. Overnight, it turned him into a best-selling author, and into an unmistakable figure in pop culture. The reason he decided to put his groundbreaking research
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Forgotten Cellists: Kermit Moore
Although African-Americans have excelled in jazz, gospel, R & B, hip-hop and other genres of music, the many influential artists, composers, and performers of classical music in the twentieth century are relatively unknown. They include the cellist Kermit Moore who
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