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A Short Image of a Musical Ekphrasis
The ancient Greeks used Ekphrasis as a method for training students to describe a visual object. Ekphrasis is a verbal or written description of a visual object. Down through history it has been used by artists to relate to other
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My Beethoven by Maureen
One of the things that we are often unaware of is how much our first hearing of a work can influence our thoughts on that work. I don’t think I really paid attention to the music around me unless I
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Finding Inspiration in Isolation
The arts don’t exist in isolation.David Byrne, musician Musicians, like writers and artists, need quiet time and solitude to pursue their work. The desire to withdraw, often for hours on end, is not necessarily a sign of unsociability nor introvertedness
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Playing With Musical Terms
Why are there so many words when it comes to music? And in so many languages, like Italian, German, French, and even English! Often, one has to decipher obscure words to read the score and the musical directions, which include
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All Music Is Dance Music
I have always thought that the music I create could never be used as dance music. I hear certain slow pieces on the radio and think that there is no way anyone could choreograph movement to this near static music.
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Dragging It Out to the Bitter End
What do old opera singers do when they age out? The early 20th-century soprano Nellie Melba did a farewell tour and then another one and then another one, so much that Webster’s dictionary made a verb of it. ‘To do
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Musical Schizophrenia: Mr. Jekyll & Dr. Hyde
I have observed a bipolarity in my musical self that reflects through my two main musical activities; improvising and composing. Both completing each other — not through their similarities towards a creative goal but rather through their differences of qualities
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Ernesto Lecuona (1895-1963): The Ambassador of Cuban Music
The above picture was taken backstage after a performance at Hollywood Bowl in 1931. Ernesto Lecuona, far left, played George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue at the concert. Known as “The Cuban Gershwin,” Lecuona brought popular music onto the prestigious concert
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