“Do you know why I abandoned all my personal affairs and took up the theater? Because the theater is the most powerful pulpit, more powerful in its influence than books or the press. This pulpit fell into the hands of the rabble of humanity, and they turned it into a place of depravity. … My […]

Title: Peace is what I leave you Text: John 14:27 Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano Product medium: PDF score and part Sample:

The dilemma of “old” versus “new” style is evident in the comments of the Johann Adolf Scheibe in reference to his elder fellow musician, Johann Sebastian Bach. In 1737, 29-year old Scheibe write in The Critical Musician: A musical composition must naturally be pleasant and tickle the ear, it must also please the reason … […]

‘”There are two golden rules for an orchestra: start together and finish together. The public doesn’t give a damn what goes on in between.” – Thomas Beecham, conductor.  Cited at: Quotationsbook

Title: Air I Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Piano Duet Level: Piano I – level 2 (several five finger positions, left and right hands) Product medium: PDF score & MP3 accompaniment track0 (Audio sample of accompaniment track only)

“There is something very satisfying about composing…you are letting yourself go, you write in a kind of trance, feeling you are doing very well. The next day you are quite capable of seeing that it wasn’t all that good, but that doesn’t matter so much.” Leonard Bernstein, 1971 Cited at: Leonard Bernstein (@LennyBernstein) “There’s something […]

“You musicians, you poets, prose-writers, actors, pianists, conductors, whether of third or second or even first rank, you do not have the right to meddle with a Shakespeare or a Beethoven, in order to bestow on them the blessings of your knowledge and taste.” – Hector Berlioz, on tampering with fine creations (in this case, […]

Mozart’s comments on the musical style of his piano concertos (K. 413-415) portray his underlying aesthetic principle that music should be clear and accessible: I still have 2 concertos to write to complete my subscription concerts. – These concertos are a happy medium between what’s too difficult and too easy – they are Brilliant – […]

Long before the tune Danny Boy even had words the tune existed as an Irish folk melody.  A study in 1979 revealed that Londonderry Air was related to Aislean an Oigfear (The Young Man’s Dream), which had been collected in 1792 from harpist Denis O’Hampsey  He was over ninety at the time and had played […]

“You cannot set art off in a corner and hope for it to have vitality, reality, and substance.” – Charles Ives, American composer