“You know I’m a useless kind of man apart from my music.” – Tchaikovsky Cited in: Hanson, Lawrence and Elisabeth (1965) Tchaikovsky: A New Study of the Man and His Music.  London: Cassell & Company, p.179.

"Wisdom is perishable. Unlike information or knowledge, it cannot be stored in a computer or recorded in a book. It expires with each passing generation." – Sid Taylor Cited at: Quotations book  

When 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 […]

Title: Merlin the Wizard Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Piano Duet Level: 2 Product medium: PDF score

Abraham Chasin performed the premier of his Second Piano Concerto with the Philharmonic Orchestra in March 1933.  It was conducted by Leopold Stokowski: At the first one [rehearsal], as I walked to the piano I was surprised to see Stokowski’s assistant, Artur Rodzinski, on the podium; Stokowski was sitting in solitary elegance in one of […]

Young musicians will need resourcefulness to make their way in the world. Music “jobs” in the future are likely to be less attached to institutions (many of which are troubled in one way or another), entrepreneurial, and varied beyond a straight performance career to include all manner of teaching, coaching,  and work we could loosely […]

Title: Skye Boat Song Composer: Scottish folk melody (arr. Greg Smith) Instrumentation: Piano Product medium: PDF score

“The passion or affection which should be performed in a courante is sweet hopefullness.” – Johann Mattheson. Siblin, Eric (2009) The Cello Suites. Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin, p. 103.

”There was rivalry among the musicians in Dresden in the 1720s.  Daniel Heartz describes some incidents: Silvius Weiss, the famous lutenist, saw his livelihood threatened when he was attacked by a French violinist named Petit, who attempted to bite off the top joint of his right thumb.  On 13 August 1722 Veracini jumped to the […]

“Every man’s work, whether it be literature or music or pictures or architecture or anything is always a portrait of himself and the more he tries to conceal himself the more clearly will his character appear in spite of him.” Samuel Butler, The Way of the Flesh  (1903). Forgotten books, p. 60. Cited at Google […]