“Creative people, as I see them, are distinguished by the fact that they can live with anxiety, even though a high price may be paid in terms of insecurity, sensitivity, and defenselessness for the gift of the “divine madness,” to borrow the term used by the classical Greeks. They do not run away from non-being, but by encountering and wrestling with it, force it to produce being. They knock on silence for an answering music; they pursue meaninglessness until they can force it to mean. “
– Rolo May, Courage to Create
Creative people produce being
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‘Real’ instruments in popular music
“We’re seeing a big evolution of production, of recording techniques, and of the actual sounds. Everything’s getting sampled and synthesized…. When we do have an acoustic instrument like a saxophone, it tends to get processed to where [it’s] almost unrecognizable.” Jeff Harrington, saxophonist. Cited in, Kelsey McKinney, “Where Did All the Saxophones Go?”, https://getpocket.com/explore/item/where-did-all-the-saxophones-go?utm_source=pocket-app&utm_medium=share, accessed 29 […]
Horowitz’s stringent requirementsWhen Vladimir Horowitz performed in Japan: …. a kitchen had to be built in his suite because he insists that all his meals – fish or chicken only – be taken there. The electrical wiring ran afoul of Tokyo fire laws, requiring new wallpaper and a special floor. Several critics suggested in a music journal […]
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.
Piper’s TaleTitle: Piper’s Tale Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Piano duet Level: Piano I – 2 (five finger position – pentatonic scale [black keys]) Product medium: PDF score and MP3 accompaniment track SAMPLE: (Audio sample of accompaniment track only)
What is an artist?“What is an artist? An artist is a tortured being who, when he opens his mouth to scream, only beautiful sounds emerge.” (Or something like that.)… Do I believe this at all? It was John Cage who first exposed us to this gorgeous phrase. In 1945? Cage the Romantic? Ned Rorem (2000) Lies: A Diary […]
Rachmaninoff and phrasingA student of Rachmaninoff, Ruth Slenczynska, recalled: I remember how Rachmaninoff explained to me the problem of phrasing: he showed me an elastic band and stretched it slightly, then allowed it to bounce back; next, he stretched it beyond a certain point, and it snapped. He meant to say that no part of a musical […]
I Will Walk in the Presence of the Lord – Psalm 115 (116b), Psalm 114 (116a)Title: I will walk in the presence of the Lord Text: – Psalm 115 (116b):10, 15-19 (R. Psalm 114 (116a):9) – Psalm 114 (116a):1-6, 8-9. R. v.9. Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano Product medium: PDF Score and part Sample:
Franz Joseph Haydn: Piano Trio (Hob. XV, No. 25) “Gypsy Trio”I. Andante II. Poco Adagio III Rondo all’Ongarese Chamber music in the eighteenth century was written for and performed for the aristocracy. Music was an aesthetic pleasure: thus an emphasis was placed on musical balance and clarity in the context of an expressive style: evident particularly in the first two movements of this trio, which […]
Ode ITitle: Ode IComposer: Greg SmithInstrumentation: PianoPerformer: Greg Smith (January 2010) Your browser does not support the audio element. Sheet music
The logic of opera in English“Opera in English, is about as sensible as baseball in Italian.” – H. L. Mencken, twentieth century American journalist, critic, and satirist. Peter, Lawrence J. (ed) (1977) Quotations for Our Time