Blogs

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Narrow Repertoire Can Hold Us Back, Musically and Culturally
When I was having piano lessons as a child and teenager from the early 1970s to the mid-1980s I never played any piano music by women composers, except perhaps some very rudimentary pieces by the late Fanny Waterman (though I
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The Best Performances
“Nessun dorma” by Giacomo Puccini
Talk about a strange story. Calaf is one of three suitors for the hand of the prickly Princess Turandot. Her suitors must solve three riddles, with any single wrong answer resulting in execution. Calaf manages to solve all three riddles
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Impressionism, a Three-Part Series: In Europe
The following article is the second of a three-part series on impressionism around the world; in France, in Europe and in our Modern World. In these articles, I explore the genre of impressionism. Born in France, it is known to
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Never Stop Learning
“I am a beginner. I am always learning”Fou Ts’ong (from an interview with British journalist Jessica Duchen) Frédéric Chopin: Mazurka No. 13 in A Minor, Op. 17, No. 4 (Fou Ts’ong, piano) This wonderfully humble quote from Fou Ts’ong, the
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For the Love of More Musical PUNS
Musicians and music lovers enjoy musical puns. Who doesn’t need a laugh these days? I thought why not expand on some of the puns colleagues have shared with me, of course omitting the ubiquitous viola jokes! (Special thanks to prolific
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Discover Influential Latin American Composers of the 20th Century I
Latin American music is one of the exciting topics among musicians these days. However, a lot of Latin American composers remain undiscovered. We cannot truly explore such diverse styles of Latin American music without knowing more composers. This article discusses
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Drama in Mozart’s D minor Fantasy K397
Composers use a variety of means to create drama in music, from simple devices such as dynamics (level of sound) or tempo (speed) to repetitions, the use of rests and pauses, and changes of harmony or key (modulation). Mozart’s Fantasy
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Impressionism, a Three-Part Series: In France
The following article is the first of a three-part series on impressionism around the world; in France, in Europe and in our Modern World. In these articles, I explore the genre of impressionism. Born in France, it is known to
Read more