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, an artist is, by definition, someone used to living among the dreams and phantoms.”

– Claude Debussy

Cited in: Roberts, Paul (2008) Claude Debussy.  New York: Phaidon Press, p.9.

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Tchaikovsky’s compositional process
“You ask if in composing this symphony I had a special programme in view. To such questions regarding my symphonic works I generally answer: nothing of the kind. In reality it is very difficult to answer this question. How interpret those vague feelings which pass through one during the composition of an instrumental work, without […]
Blessed the People the Lord has Chosen (Setting II) – Psalm 32 (33)
Title: Blessed the people the Lord has chosen (setting ii) Text: Psalm 32 (33) Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano Product medium: PDF score and part SAMPLE:
Art cannot change events. But it can change people.
“The point is, art never stopped a war and never got anybody a job. That was never its function. Art cannot change events. But it can change people. It can affect people so that they are changed…because people are changed by art – enriched, ennobled, encouraged – they then act in a way that may […]
Art isn’t your pet
"Art isn't your pet – it's your kid.  It grows up and talks back to you."  Joss Whedon, screenwriter
The English and music
“The English may not like music, but they absolutely love the noise it makes.” – Sir Thomas Beecham Cited in: Jarski, Rosemarie (2005) Great British Wit.  London: Ebury Press, p. 198.
Old into new
An old thing becomes new if you detach it from what usually surrounds it. — Robert Bresson, French filmmaker J. Butler, Star Texts: Image and Performance in Film and Television, Detroit, Wayne State University Press, 1991, p. 170.
Lord, Every Nation on Earth will Adore You (setting ii) – Psalm 71 (72)
TITLE: Lord, every nation on earth will adore you (setting ii) TEXT: Psalm 71 (72): 1-2, 7-8, 10-13. R. cf. v.11 COMPOSER: Greg Smith INSTRUMENTATION: SATB and piano PRODUCT MEDIUM: PDF score and part
Lord, Let Your Mercy Be On Us – Psalm 32 (33)
Title: Lord, let your mercy be on us Text: Psalm 32 (33): 4-5, 18-19, 20-22. R. v.22 Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano Product medium: PDF score and part Sample:
Is it worth writing?
“Never compose anything unless the not composing of it becomes a positive nuisance to you.” Gustav Holst Cited in: Classic FM, May 2011
The musician’s role: maintain our trust in the world
“I feel that tolerance, love and social harmony can and should be the by-products of an artist’s way of life and creation.  I would like to believe that beauty and truth, two great disciplines, when combined as they are in music, where order is based on self-restraint and a better understanding of repose, will lead […]