Habit is stronger than willpower or inspirationIn writing, habit seems to be a stronger force than either willpower or inspiration. Consequently there must be some little quality of fierceness until the habit pattern of a certain number of words is established. There is no possibility, in me at least, of saying, “I’ll do it if I feel like it.” One never […]
Music is a mysterious form of mathematicsMusic is a mysterious form of mathematics whose elements are derived from the infinite. Music is the expression of the movement of the waters, the play of curves described by changing breezes. There is nothing more musical than a sunset. He who feels what he sees will find no more beautiful example of development in […]
Satie’s daySatie wrote that “An artist must organise his life.” In 1913, he set said out a schedule in which he stated he would be inspired between 10:23 and 11:47am, and 3:12 to 4:10pm. The timetable allowed for daily house riding, and various other activities such as fencing, reflection, immobility, visits, contemplation, swimming, etc. The day […]
Quasi Dance IITitle: Quasi Dance II Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Cello and piano Product medium: PDF score and part SAMPLE:
Escaping the every day world“Those around me refuse to accept that I could never live in the everyday world of things and people. Hence the irrepressible need to have to escape from myself, and go off on adventures which seem inexplicable because no one knows who this man is – yet maybe he’s the best part of me! Anyway, […]
Art and patience“Good art is nothing more than infinite patience.” William Wallace Kimball, founder of Kimball Piano Company Cited in: Cited in: Kimball, K., Petersen, R., Johnson, K. (1990) The Music Lover’s Quotation Book. Toronto: Sound and Vision, p. 85.
The purpose of education“The purpose of education is to keep a culture from being drowned in senseless repetitions, each of which claims to offer a new insight.” — Harold Rosenberg, American writer, educator, philosopher and art critic. Harold Rosenberg, “On the New Cultural Conservatism”, Partisan Review, 1972, vol. 39, no. 3, p. 444. Digitally archived at http://archives.bu.edu/collections/partisan-review/search/detail?id=326096, accessed […]
Parry on choral musicHubert Parry, who taught Vaughan Williams composition, instructed the composer to “write choral music as befits and Englishman and a democrat.” Vaughan Williams recalled that “this attitude to art led to an almost moral hated of mere luscious sound…” Vaughan Williams, cited in Holmes, Paul (1997) Vaughan Williams. London: Omnibus Press, p.17.
Bunking down in the PhilharmonicCellist Gregor Piatigorsky, after running into some problems with his accommodation, was spending a cold November day in the Tiergarten, Berlin, in 1923. Throughout the course of the day, he was approached by Paul Bose to play Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire. It began to rain. In Moscow it probably is snowing now, I thought absently, making […]
Dee-da-dee-da-dee-da-splat“I also like to play the famous tunes because there’s nothing like inspiring a whole bunch of kids who are struggling to play these pieces on flute. And then they see me ripping through them. They all want to play Flight of the Bumblebee when they’re 11 years Old. And it goes something like “dee-da-dee-da-dee-da-splat!” […]
