Environmental soundscapesIn the 1960s, the Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer founded the World Soundscape Project at Simon Fraser University. The research group explored the sonic environment. Later projects would include The Vancouver Soundscapes of Canada (1973), European Sound Diary, and Five Village Soundscapes. In his book on the subject, The Tuning of the World, Schafer wrote […]
Guiding concepts of artistic creation“…few of us talk and write about the bigger picture of how our musical and tactical efforts are guided by three distinctly non-musical concepts that don’t get talked and written about often or openly enough: positive vision, abundant thinking, and a sense of self-worth. Thanks to technology, we now live in a world of vast […]
Prokofiev is evictedSergey Prokofiev was once evicted from his apartment for playing the same chord 218 times. A tally was kept by the downstairs tenant. Source: Lawrence, Christopher (2001) Swooning. Sydney: Random House, p.69.
The key of E-flat“[The key of E-flat] was reserved mostly for moments of sublime seriousness, appropriate for dying thoughts, or of love unto death, whether human or divine.” – Heartz, Daniel (2003) Music in European Capitols. New York: Norton. Cited in: Siblin, Eric (2009) The Cello Suites. Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin, p. 144.
Not just a one hit wonder … but there was an audience favoriteRachmaninoff’s Prelude in C-sharp minor proved very popular with the public. At times, it was programmed “by request” (1), and if not was freqently expected as an encore. In 1922, Rachmaninoff performed in the Queens Hall (London). A critic in the Musical Times described the event: It was clear that the bulk of those who filled Queen’s Hall […]
Elgar on his Violin Concerto“It’s good! Awfully emotional! Too emotional, but I love it…” Edward Elgar on his own Violin Concerto Jeremy Pound, “First Violin”, BBC Music Magazine, October 2010, p. 36.
A $1.2 million piano“Spotlights dance down on 216 jewels of lead crystal, set in dazzling diamond patterns into the piano’s black lid, sides, legs, fallboard and bench. Each jewel features several hundred to several thousand intricately cut, ground and polished pieces of crystal — nearly a half-million in all.” Glass artist Jon Kuhn has collobarated with Bosendorfer to […]
You Have Been Our Refuge – Psalm 89 (90)TITLE: You Have Been Our Refuge (In Every Age, O Lord, You Have Been Our Refuge) TEXT: Psalm 89 (90):3-6, 12-14, 17 INSTRUMENTATION: SATB and piano PRODUCT MEDIUM: PDF score and part SAMPLE:
The Harmonic Palette: Exploration of Music Style1 1
I dream …“I dream, therefore I exist.” —August Stringberg, A Madman’s Defence (Le plaidoyer d’un fou)
