I am not highbrowAfter writing his opera Porgy and Bess, producers in Hollywood started to think that Gerswhin was turning “highbrow”. George and Ira Gerswhin’s agent told Ira :”They think George is too highbrow. Can’t he write a few words and explain to them?” George wired: “Rumours about highbrow music ridiculous. Am out to write hits.” – George […]
It’s not hard work“Talent labors, genius creates.” Florestan (one of Schumann’s characters) Robert Schumann,Gesammelte Schriften über Musik und Muisker (Leipzig, 1854), IV. Cited in Weiss, Piero & Taruskin, Richard (2008) Music in the Western World: A History in Documents. California: Thomson, p. 306.
Haunted SpooksTitle: Haunted Spooks (silent film soundtrack) Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Piano Product medium: PDF score (47 pages) Background: Written by: H. M. Walker Starring: Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, Wallace Howe, Sammy Brooks, William Gillespie, Mark Jones, Gaylord Lloy, Sam Lufkin, Ernest Morrison, Dee Lampton Directed by: Alfred J. Goulding & Hal Roach Film released: […]
A task no longer“Set me a task in which I can put something of my very self, and it is a task no longer. It is joy and art.” -Carman Bliss, Canadian Poet Cited at QuotationsBook
The beginning and the end“Genius begins great works; labor alone finishes them.” – Joseph Joubert, French writer Joubert, J. (1983) The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert: A Selection. Translated by Paul Auster. San Francisco: North Point Press, p. 76.
I Will Sing Of Your Salvation – Psalm 70 (71)Title: I will sing of your salvation Text: Psalm 70 (71): 1-6, 15, 17 Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano Product medium: PDF score and part Sample:
A performance can be greater than themI remember a few years ago being at a summer academy in the south of France, with Dominique Merlet. The whole atmosphere was great there, as we were a group of like-minded people, keen to learn, work and share ideas in the gorgeous setting of a little medieval French village. The concert at the end, […]
Theme from The OfficeThe theme to the comedy series The Office is based on the 1967 song “Handbags and Gladrags” (written by Mike d’Abo). It was arranged by Big George in 2000.
The limits of imaginationYou’re travelling to another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound… but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land, whose boundaries are only that of the imagination… you’re entering… the Twilight Zone… – Rod Serling, The Twilight Zone
Obedience and liberty in creativityA great work, I believe, is made out of a combination of obedience and liberty. Such a work satisfied the mind, together with that curious thing which is artistic emotion. Stravinsky said, “If I were permitted everything, I would be lost in the abyss of liberty.” On the one hand he knew the limits, on […]
