Blogs

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Opera for Everyone: In Memory of Carl Reiner (1922-2020)
First broadcast on Caesar’s Hour on 19 October 1955 on NBC television, we have a version of Pagliacci that everyone will understand, even if they can’t understand Italian….and especially if they can’t understand Italian. In Sid Caesar’s inimitable pseudo-Italian, we
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The Freeing Disciple: Mime and Music
What can a musician learn from a mime’s art and training? We were speaking the other day with Valérie Aimard, cellist with Cello Kids and learned that some 15 years ago, she’d taken up another discipline: Mime. As she said
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The Complete Pianist
From Healthy Technique to Natural Artistry – Penelope Roskell
The Complete Pianist is exactly that: a comprehensive, generous guide to playing and teaching the piano, and one of the most significant volumes on piano technique to appear in recent decades, written by renowned pedagogue and British concert pianist Penelope
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Always Wanted to Learn How to Read Musical Rhythms? Some Fun Hints
We recently explored how to learn to read the notes of a piece of music. But that’s only half the battle! We can’t read music until we learn the rhythms too. Counting involves mathematics…not always everyone’s favorite subject. As a
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Le Mozart Noir
Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1748-1799)
Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1748-1799) was the darling of French Society, and he was one of the most accomplished men of his age. Born in St. Dominique—now Haiti—to a wealthy plantation owner and his black Senegalese slave Nanon, “said
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Expert Examples: Cello Kids
If you’re a cellist, and particularly if you’re early in your cello education, the thing you need most is an example. Actually seeing how a cellist plays the instrument, how she moves her bow, and what her fingers do is
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Contemporary Music for Film: Three Great Soundtracks
I am not always convinced about soundtracks. On the one hand, I regret music being composed, recorded and produced for the sole purpose of being an accompanying sound to a busy image. On the other hand, when developed rightly there
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Always Wanted to Learn How to Read Music but No Time to Try? Some Fun Hints
I started the piano when I was five. My parents, both musicians, sensed I had talent because after my mother taught a piano lesson I would pick out the tunes with my pudgy little hands. But my first lessons were
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