The solo violin has long been acknowledged as the perfect instrument to express emotions like love, longing, heartbreak, rapture, and romance. The Romantic era lasted from the early nineteenth century to the early twentieth century and produced numerous works that
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The Music of Poetry
Paul Verlaine: “Mandoline” April 19th, 2020When Paul Verlaine’s Fêtes galantes was published in 1869, Théodore de Banville penned the following critique in Le National of 19 April. “There are art-crazed minds, enamored of poetry more than of nature, who want Amintes and Cydalises deftly coiffed -
Whole Body Learning April 19th, 2020 A Complete Approach to Learning Music Whole Body Learning (WBL) or kinaesthetic learning is a way of teaching and learning music which engages body, mind and emotions, drawing on the principles and approaches of early 20th-century educators such as Orff, -
Music Under Quarantine
Nose to the Grindstone April 18th, 2020There are always two sides to everything, and that includes working from home. Some people greatly prefer a 40-hour week in the office, while others believe they are happier and more productive at home. Ever-evolving technologies have made it possible -
Stuck at Home With Your Kids, and Losing Your Mind?
Music-Making Ideas During COVID-19 April 18th, 2020With our kids at home, many of us are at a loss as to how to continue their music education while also finding time to practice or get other work done ourselves! There are certain prerequisites before beginning music lessons. -
Orchestral Hints – Parts and Marking Up April 17th, 2020 It may sound strange if I told you I get warned on a regular basis at work – but it might not be for the reasons you would think. I’m talking about the world of orchestral parts; often well-used, dog-eared -
What’s the Point of Talking About Music? April 17th, 2020 As a composer and concert reviewer, I sit in a unique position of being someone who creates music and then has to write about it. Leonard Bernstein was a composer, conductor and educator like few others. Here Leonard Bernstein discusses -
Writing the National Music History
Rimsky-Korsakov’s Russian Easter Festival April 16th, 2020The Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) was unusual in that he combined his music career with his professional career in the Russian Navy, first as an officer in the Navy and then as inspector of the Naval Bands. His musical -
On Isolation April 16th, 2020 The current world situation and the spread of the biggest pandemic of the century — resulting in quarantine and isolation —has brought many people in front of one of their scariest fear: solitude. Contradictorily, for the artists it is a