Blogs

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Rudolf Tobias (1873-1918)
The Estonian Trailblazer
When we hear music originating from the ancient shores of the Baltic Sea, we immediately think of the Estonian composers Veljo Tormis and Arvo Pärt. Of course, they are very famous right now, but their successes built on the ground-breaking
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Starting Over Again
I haven’t touched the piano for six months. I have a beautiful early 20th-century Bechstein model A grand piano which has been sitting, untouched, in my piano room/office. There is music open on the stand – Schubert’s Piano Sonata in
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Folk Instruments on the Pop Stage: Eurovision 2024
If you saw the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final in May, then you saw two different groups with instruments far out of the norm. The Norwegian group Gåte played Ulveham (Wolf Pelt), which is based on a medieval Norwegian
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Pen & Paper: Different Approaches of Composing Music
There is an exclusivity to the approaches to composing music, as opposed to all other artistic forms. It is that music can be created through at least two different mediums. The one of the instrument or the one of the
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Lost in Time and Now Found
Maria Herz’s Orchestra Suite, Op. 13
Maria Herz (née Bing) (1878–1950) came from Cologne where her family ran a successful textile business. The youngest daughter, Maria, played cello in the family string quartet but actually loved the piano more. It was said that her performance of
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Indiana Jones and the Missing Donizetti Songs
Indiana Jones Jr. is probably one of cinema’s most famous characters. Portrayed by actor Harrison Ford, Indiana Jones Jr. is a professor of archaeology who finds numerous famous mythological relics, such as the Sankara Stones, the Ark of the Covenant,
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Why Learning to Play the Piano or Any Musical Instrument Saves Lives Part II
“Once you’ve sung in a choir, or played in a band or orchestra, or played in any music ensemble, you’re never the same again. Your ears, your eyes, and your heart are opened up in ways not possible by any
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What Happened to Mozart’s Children?
Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and singer Constanze Weber were married on 4 August 1782. Their courtship had been dramatic. They had started dating the summer of the previous year (after Wolfgang had initially fallen in love with Constanze’s sister). They
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