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Classical Music Myth-Busting
There are many myths and preconceptions surrounding classical music, many of which are either inaccurate or just plain wrong… Classical Music is only for old peopleClassical music is for anyone of any age You have to wear special clothes for
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How Your Community Can Help with Music Education
During my sophomore year in high school I waited breathlessly for our cue. It was the opening night of the charming opera in one act Amahl and the Night Visitors by Gian Carlo Menotti. Students were waiting in the wings
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The Memory of Music
Do you dream about music? I do. I hear music in my sleep. Sometimes it wakes me, and I get up to write it down. There has been quite a bit written about exposing babies in the womb to classical
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Schubert’s Moments Musicaux
A Distinct Soundworld in Microcosm
Published in 1828, the year Schubert died, and written between 1823 and 1828, the six Moments Musicaux (literally “musical moments”) are amongst Schubert’s best-loved works for piano and are as accessible to the competent amateur pianist as they are to
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We the People
Revolutions and Music
Revolutions have always been part of human history, and they certainly have been central to the formation of the modern world. We frequently use the word “Revolution” in generic ways to describe various phenomena like the “industrial revolution” or the
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Baroquism
Over the years, I have come to realise that somehow my tastes in classical music often balanced between baroque and minimalism. For some reason, each period seemed to refer to the other—the latter more than the former. I felt like
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Presaging the Future of Opera? Thomson and Stein’s Four Saints in Three Acts
In 1926, the American composer Virgil Thomson went to the fabled address of 27 Rue de Fleurus, where the American poet and writer Gertrude Stein lived with her companion, Alice B. Toklas. Thomson was familiar with Stein’s writings and spoke
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The Concert Programme as Menu
Composing a concert is like composing a menu…. If you start with light pieces and play a 45-minute sonata after the interlude, it’s like starting dinner with hors d’oeuvres and dessert and finishing with a Châteaubriand and vegetables. – Arthur
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