Knowledge represents inner strength“Knowledge is not a passion from without the mind, but an active exertion of the inward strength, vigor and power of the mind, displaying itself from within.” – Ralph Cudworth, Treatise Concerning Eternal and Immutable Morality (1731)
Skye Boat SongTitle: Skye Boat Song Composer: Scottish folk melody (arr. Greg Smith) Instrumentation: Piano Product medium: PDF score
A tribute to Beethoven“The Last Master of resounding song, the tuneful heir of Bach and Handel, Mozart & Haydn’s immortal fame is now no more. The harp is hushed. He was an artist – and who shall arise to stand beside him? He was an artist – thus he was, thus he died, and thus he will live […]
Taste and See the Goodness of the Lord – Psalm 33 (34)Title: Taste and see the goodness of the Lord Text: Psalm 33 (34): 2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9. Alternate verses: 16-23 Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano Product medium: PDF score and part Sample:
The Vineyard of the Lord is the House of Israel – Psalm 79 (80)Title:The Vineyard of the Lord is the House of Israel Text: Psalm 79 (80): 9, 12-16, 19-20. R. v. 5:7 Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano Product medium: PDF score and part Sample:
Warmed pianosThere was soon to be no excuse for not practising in the chill of the winter. This excerpt is from The Musical Times, April 1869: WARMED PIANOS (G. Price’s Patent) – These Instruments invite playing in Winter, when the coldness of the keys of all others makes it unnecessarily uncomfortable, if not painful, to many, […]
Tips for composersRob Deemer highlights several aspects needed for a composer to survive in the artistic community: – ability to accept “failure” (entering competitions, etc.) – maintaining a “stubbornness” to achieve recognition – promoting not only your best works, but also occasionally enjoying the success of your “foibles” – having a sense of “who you are” as […]
One way to get a doctorateRobert Schumann aspired to be awarded a doctorate degree. On January 31 1840, Robert Schumann asked a friend to appeal to the University of Jena to give him an honorary degree, or set him a degree to pass, on the grounds of: “My sphere of action as an editor on a high-class paper, which has […]
Mattheson on the allemandeAn allemande is a stately processional couple dance. The dances formed lines of couples, extended their hands, and moved forward and backward throughout the ballroom. It was a common stylised dance in baroque music. Johann Mattheson described it in 1739: Now the allemande is a broken, serious, and well constructed harmony, which is the image […]
Tchaikovsky as a teacherTchaikovsky disliked teaching at the best of times, but he particularly didn’t enjoy teaching female students, most of whom, in this period of history, were of an amateur status: Although it is a dreary business to have been forced to explain to my young men’s classes for eleven consecutive years what a triad consists of, […]
