“Mom. I hate piano! I’m not practicing, and not going to lessons anymore,” my thirteen-year-old son announced on a wintery day after a frustrating attempt to play a piece of music that he’d been working on for—well it seemed like

The orchestra string section rests on two supports: the double-basses and their smaller cousins, the cellos. I say cousins because the cello and the double bass actually have different antecedents. The cello is part of the violin family and the

The following is a continuation of the story ‘A Day in the Life of A Musician’, starring the pianist Alexander Kravetsky. Having spent the morning adjucating a youth music competition, Sasha now faces a long afternoon of teaching… 1:50pm As

This is a fictional story about the pianist Alexander Kravetsky. All characters appearing in this story are fictitious. Any resemblance to real people, living or dead, is purely coincidental. 8:45am I arrive at the foyer of the Rathborne auditorium, where

As I settled in for my million-hour flight from Chicago to Hong Kong, I eagerly scanned the audio channels to see what was scheduled for the classical section. Hmmm, no contents list for the playlist in the magazine, so I

“The Transformation of American Piano Making” Some inventions completely revolutionize the further development of an instrument. Take for example the 1837 worldwide patent registered by the Boston piano manufacturer Chickering & Sons. They introduced the first practical casting of a

Ah, the poor viola, butt of a thousand jokes (What’s the difference between a violin and a viola? The viola burns longer), but, in the end, provides the warm sound that counteracts the often brittle violin sound. In a string

Music is powerful. It can make us smile, laugh and cry. It gives us something to enjoy or think about while we wait for the bus. It makes us want to dance. It gives us food for thought. It can