I don’t know about you, but I see the name Wagner in the news on an almost daily basis. Specifically, the name is attached to a private paramilitary organization, known as “The Wagner Group.” Essentially, it is a private military

“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” This quote from the French artist Edgar Degas could be paraphrased for music – Music is not what you hear, but what you make others hear. In other

A great deal is said and written about “integrity” and “honesty” in musical performance. For most people, this means respecting the score by following the composer’s markings and attempting, as far as possible, to interpret the composer’s intentions in the

In my first article on ‘letting go’ as a musician I explored how we know when it is time to “let go” of a piece of music we have been learning and set it free in a performance setting or

In my first article, I discussed how musicians can judge when it’s time to ‘let go’ of a piece of music and decide it is ready for performance or should be put aside for a while. In this second part

Julian Johnson is a lecturer in music at the University of Oxford. In his book, Who needs classical music?, he asks why isn’t classical music popular? He doesn’t answer the question, either because he can’t, or no one can, or

To frame the subject of can music be intelligent, we must first disregard most music that has lyrics or words from the subject. Studies have shown that people who received musical training displayed improved intelligence. But can music by itself

It seems a simple question, doesn’t it? And the simple answer is that music lessons are for learning music / a musical instrument. But learning an instrument, either via formal music lessons or self-teaching, offers so much more. Gustav Holst: