There’s a crack in everythingThere is a crack, a crack in everythingThat’s how the light gets in. Leonard Cohen, “Anthem Related: “There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in”: The story of Leonard Cohen’s “Anthem”
You don’t need permission to createGus Fairbairn (aka Alabaster dePlume) on the success of his album, To Cy & Lee: I was not expecting that with this piece of work. I made them not thinking that anyone would want to listen to them. It all goes to show that no one will give you permission to make the great things […]
Feed the inner beastLou Dorfsman, design chief for CBS Radio and later the CBS Television Network for over 40 years, once said, “In reality, creativity is the ability to reach inside yourself and drag forth from your very soul an idea.” However, nothing comes from nothing. You must continuously feed the inner beast that sparks and inspires. I […]
Claude Debussy: Suite BergamasqueI. Prélude II. Menuet III. Claire de Lune IV. Passepied The term “bergamasque” refers to the ancient city of Bergame, located forty kilometres east of Milan. The character of its citizens (“rustic and clumsy”) was personified by a series of dances and the Italian comic character Harlequin (1572). This comic character is evident particularly in […]
Harbouring doves and crocodilesBeethoven, who is often bizarre and baroque, takes at times the majestic flight of an eagle, and then creeps in rocky pathways. He first fills the soul with sweet melancholy, and then shatters it by a mass of shattered chords. He seems to harbor together doves and crocodiles. A review of Beethoven’s First Symphony, Tablettes […]
The art of pedallingThe one bee in my bonnet is over-pedalling, and I give my students a hard time about that. It’s the lack of being able to play a true legato with the fingers. People rely on the pedal for that, and the pedal is not there for that. The pedal is for putting the gloss on. […]
Anxiety“Anxiety is the handmaiden of creativity”. — Chuck Jones, animator Goleman, D., Kaufman, P., & Ray, M. (1993) The Creative Spirit. New York: Plume.
Talent is best used“The person born with a talent they are meant to use will find their greatest happiness in using it. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, poet
The line and the harmonyPhrases have their own topography—they move forward with the line but also remain wedded to the ground with each change of harmony, and this is where the battle lies, why each piece of music grapples with its own destructive potential, why beauty is never what it appears to be. — Simon Tedeschi S. Tedeschi, Fugitive, […]
Lord, Heal My Soul – Psalm 40 (41)TITLE: Lord, Heal My Soul TEXT: Psalm 40 (41): 2-5, 13-14. R. v.5 COMPOSER: Greg Smith INSTRUMENTATION: SATB and piano SAMPLE:
