As a lover of jazz, especially early jazz, the thing that pulls me towards this form is the improvisation that gives jazz its unique quality. Not all jazz is improvised. In fact, most is not. But at the heart of

That’s right! This article is about cat-inspired music. I love cats, and I have two cats. My older cat, Miss Cruncher, is turning four and she likes listening to music… at least she never runs away when I practice the

For many people, their first (and perhaps only) exposure to the sound of the orchestra has been through film music. We can all think of the big blockbusters and films we cherish from our childhoods, and the big, lush, orchestral

My first recollection of anything was the sound of music. At age five, so my mother told me, I used to sing from behind a curtain in our lounge room to my family. Supposedly, I was too shy to have

When I was four years old, I received a toy piano as a Christmas present. I loved it. I remember I spent at least half an hour playing it almost every day. I made up songs, and then I performed

Paris has always provided the fertile soil for specialized music societies. Some have focused on early music, individual composers or single genres. Others were born from political division, or attempts to bridge them. A good many societies were based on

Erik Satie: Gymnopédie No. 1 A celebrated interpreter of Erik Satie’s music, Aldo Ciccolini (1925 – 2015) was born and raised in Naples, Italy. Enrolled at the Naples Conservatory at the age of 9 as an exceptional case, he studied

How many times were you told as a child or teenager during your piano lessons that “practice makes perfect”? It’s a well-worn cliché and like most clichés it contains more than a grain of truth. Not only does regular practice