Blogs

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Snuggling at the Piano
I was at a concert the other evening where the opening work was Schubert’s Fantasia for Piano 4-hands. Two pianists, sitting side by side, at one piano performed one of Schubert’s greatest pieces. The two pianists angled their benches carefully
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The Beauty of the English String Sound
We forget how much the English contributed to the beauty of orchestral music through their lush pastoral string writing. And the Bridge is Love, a new recording by the English Chamber Orchestra led by Julian Lloyd-Webber, brings all of this
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A Fresh Perspective into Ensemble Playing
The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao recently presented a nine-screen multi-channel video installation by the young Icelandic performance artist Ragnar Kjartansson, who is known for featuring music in his works. Bliss, his 12-hour work starring a live performance of a scene from
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“Power Poses” Musician Style
“Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are”
When you walk out onto the stage for a performance, audition, competition or jury do your thoughts go wild with self-doubt or do you exude confidence? Do you slink into your seat and look down at the instrument or do
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Mozart in The Jungle
Spoiler alert!
Beware—Mozart in The Jungle recently released on Amazon has sexual situations, graphic violence, adult content, and adult language. A racy shoot-em-up movie? No. It’s a ten part series about classical musicians in New York City and ostensibly what they have
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Name That Tune!
How on earth do you remember all those melodies, all those little turns of phrase and all that invention by all those composers? We know from brain studies that combining words and music is a positive way to combine both
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Music Lessons? 10 Tips for Parents
My parents were both musicians. There was never any doubt in our household. Music lessons were essential. I took lessons both on cello and piano with the requisite theory lessons, and that was that. No instructor, no teaching style, no
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Does She Really Love Him?: The Berio Ending for Turandot
Giacomo Puccini’s final opera was Turandot, set in exotic Peking. The story of a Chinese princess who keeps herself unattainable by the perplexing riddles she sets her prospective suitors, only to be brought down by a riddle that she, herself,
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