Welcome to Wedgebill Music, the home page of Greg Smith, Australian composer and pianist.

PUBLICATIONS
– Sheet music
– Recordings

COMPOSITION SERVICES
– Composition
– Arrangement & Orchestration
– Transcription

EDUCATION AND RESEARCH
– Tuition (piano, aural, harmony, analysis, music history)
– Analysis
– Anecdotes
– Articles, papers, and program notes
– Quotes
– Research services

COLLABORATIVE PIANO
– Accompaniment and solo performance

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Featured content

Debussy improvising
Debussy would sit himself down without speaking at the piano of the little study-cum-library and start to improvise. Anyone who knew him can remember what it was like. He would start by brushing the keys, prodding the odd one here and there, making a pass over them and then he would sink into velvet, sometimes […]
The creative urge
“The creative urge is the demon that will not accept anything second rate.” —Agnes de Mille (1905-1993), American dancer and choreographer. Gardner, Kara Anne. Agnes de Mille: Telling Stories in Broadway Dance. United States, Oxford University Press, 2016.
Dividing the concert takings
In 1866 Brahms and the violinist Joachim gave a concert tour through Switzerland.  One of their concerts was in Aarau. After the program, Brahms and Joachim went to a tavern, where they opened several bottles of the best vintage Swiss wine, including the popular vin mousseux of Lausanne.  Brahms felt decidedly genial. “How did we […]
To a friend
Title: To a friend Composer: Greg Smith Text: James Fenimore Cooper Jr. Instrumentation: TTBB Product medium: PDF score Sample:
Two paths for the future of classical music
Greg Sanders ponders the position of classical music and describes the need for it to catch up with culture, without simply “dumbing it down”: “Of course, I think that if we really understand current culture, we’ll want to go the other way, and make classical music smarter.” Greg Sanders, Arts Journal Blog, February 2, 2009. […]
The Lord Has Revealed To All Nations His Saving Power (Setting ii) – Psalm 97 (98)
Title: The Lord has revealed to all nations his saving power (Setting ii) Text: Psalm 97 (98): 1-4. R. cf. v.2 Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano Product medium: PDF score and part Sample:
A typical recital in England in 1897
John E. Borland described in a paper of June 1897: It was customary to commence with a Bach prelude and fugue (usually perverted from one intended for the organ), a Beethoven sonata (choice limited to four or five), some Chopin pieces (there were about twelve orthodox ones to select from), and a Liszt rhapsody. These […]
A courteous conductor
Brucker was invited by Hans Richter to conduct one of his symphonies with the Vienna Society of Friends of Music. At the rehearsal he stood on the conductor’s platform, stick in hand, with a beatific smile on his face. The orchestra were all ready to begin, but he would not lift his stick to give […]
The effect of art
“There’s a phrase I’ve often heard from audience members at popular musicals (but, oddly, never anywhere else): the show, they’ll say, “really took me out of myself”.  They are saying something basic and profound about the ecstasy of art, the act of being taken out of one’s normal state to a different level of being.  […]
Popular classical music is great too
“A lot of what you call the great repertoire is popular, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a great work. I mean, come on. Rachmaninoff 3 is great. There shouldn’t be ‘If this work is so popular, then don’t do it.’ In the art world it is only what you feel right to perform.” Lang […]