Blogs

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More Than a Double Quartet: The Joy of the String Octet
The string quartet, made up of 2 violins, viola, and a cello, was one of the great developments of musical genre. With these three instrumental sounds, an entire world of music was created. One writer compared it to four intellectuals
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How to Improve Your Sight Reading
While it’s true that good sight readers often have a solid technique to back themselves up, sight reading is a skill that needs care and attention in its own right. The method to improving sight reading is a long journey,
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The Greatest Composers of Film Music
Satie, Ibert, Tailleferre, Milhaud and Honegger
I was still too young to actually see the first “Tomb Raider” film release in 2001. But when I first watched it some years later, I thought it was the biggest thing since the invention of the handbag. Finally, there
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Thinking About Returning to the Piano?
Here are some tips to help you on your piano journey It may be two years or twenty since you last touched a piano, but however long the absence, taking the decision to return to playing is exciting, challenging and
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Presenting the Possibilities: The Life of VP Music Production Queenie Li
Hong Kong–born Queenie Li has taken her music training forward into a field that very few venture into with such success. She is VP of Music Production for 14th Street Music in Los Angeles, working on the post-production end for
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The Post-Covid Opera
We were thinking about what post-COVID opera might be like. Can we really go back to operas with parties with women coughing themselves to death in the corner (La Traviata), with false doctors (any number of operas from 1730 forward)?
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Women Composers You Should Know V
In the 19th century, we have women composers with famous brothers, such as Fanny Mendelssohn (1805-1847) and women composers from famous musical families, such as Pauline Viardot (1821-1910) and Maria Malibran (1808-1836). In Clara Schumann (1819-1896), we have woman composer
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Fine-Tuning Vladimir Horowitz
Franz Mohr
One very special person has played more in Carnegie Hall than all pianist superstars put together. His name was Franz Mohr, and he was the piano tuner to the stars. You see, he was the chief concert technician for Steinway
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