When my students compose, I prefer them to be mistaken if they must make mistakes, but to remain natural and free rather than wishing to appear other than what they are. I remember a day when Stravinsky was dining here. He took his neighbor at the table by the lapels, violently! His neighbor crushed, said to him, “But Monsieur Stravinsky, I don’t know why we’re talking like this, I agree with you.” And Strainvsky exclaimed furiously, “Yes, but not for the right reasons, so you are wrong.”
Mademoiselle: Conversations with Nadia Boulanger, ed. by Bruno Monsaingeon, trans. by Robyn Marsack. Cited in: O. Strunk, Source Readings in Music History: The Twentieth Century, New York, W. W. Norton & Company, 1998, p.218.
You can have good or bad reasons for searching. If you search in order to hide your inadequacy, you’re wrong. If you are looking in order to say what you really want to say, you’re right. And so it’s very important for a teacher first of all to let his pupil play as he wishes, write as he wishes; and then to be ruthless on questions of discipline.
— Nadia Boulanger
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The Anecdote to Distraction is Art
“If you are on a mission to discover what you have to offer, and to bring it out into the world, every moment you spend distracted is a moment you aren’t following your art. It’s a moment you aren’t pursuing your true potential.” — David Kadavy David Kadavy, “The Anecdote to Distraction is Art”, https://steemit.com/productivity/@kadavy/the-antidote-to-distraction-is-art-1515195404-5002096. […]
Rehearsal conditions must be suitableStrengthened by his initial triumph and by daily evidences of the ever-mounting appreciation and support of the Philadelphia’s new claim to artistic fame, Stokowski tried once again to convince the board that first-class musical results were impossible unless the orchestra rehearsed exactly where they performed. The men engrossed in the financial problems of balancing budgets […]
Hough and Schnabel on piano rollsI want to believe in piano rolls. The idea that we can insert an object into a present-day piano and hear long-dead pianists and composers perform again as if they were in the same room is a tantalisingly attractive prospect. It has a magical aura about it. But, I’m afraid, it’s a conjuring trick, or […]
From the heart“What comes from the heart, goes to the heart.” — Samuel Coleridge Taylor, English poet, critic and philosopher. Coleridge, Samuel (1856) Seven Lectures on Shakespeare and Milton. London: Chapman and Hall, page xlv
Merlin the WizardTitle: Merlin the Wizard Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Piano Duet Level: 2 Product medium: PDF score
The Queen Stands at Your Right Hand – Psalm 64 (65)Title: The Queen Stands At Your Right Hand Text: Psalm 44 (45): 10-12. 16 Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano Product medium: PDF score and part Related products: – The Queen Stands At Your Right Hand – Piano solo (mp3 recording) – The Queen Stands At Your Right Hand – Piano (score) Sample:
Form and content“I think that one way toward a more intelligent and involved appraisal is through a connection with the pieces, and that one way to develop that connection is to talk about what the pieces mean to people who have spent a lot of time with them: the content, if you will. This approach can also […]
Where to curse the orchestraThe following is an account of the conductor Hans von Bülow: Bülow’s close relationship with his Berlin audience was not achieved without some stress and strain along the way. At a Philharmonic concert in January 1892, a half-dozen latecomers, who had been held up at the cloakroom during the intermission, made a noisy entrance in […]
Debussy on pedalling in ChopinDespite my respect for Saint-Saëns’ age, what he says about Chopin’s pedalling isn’t entirely true. I have very clear memories of what Mme Mauté de Fleurville told me. He (Chopin) recommended practising without pedal and, in performance, not holding it on except in very rare instances. It was the same way of turning the pedal […]
Transformation of art“Art does not progress – it transforms itself.” – François-Joseph Fétes Siblin, Eric (2009) The Cello Suites. Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin, p. 191.