Stravinsky and Charlie ParkerThere is a story that Igor Stravinsky went to the New York jazz club Birdland one evening in 1951. Whispers went round that the great composer was in the house. When Charlie Parker came on with his quintet, he didn’t acknowledge Stravinsky in person, but seamlessly quoted The Firebird in his first number, the furiously […]
You Have Been Our Refuge – Psalm 89 (90)TITLE: You Have Been Our Refuge (In Every Age, O Lord, You Have Been Our Refuge) TEXT: Psalm 89 (90):3-6, 12-14, 17 INSTRUMENTATION: SATB and piano PRODUCT MEDIUM: PDF score and part SAMPLE:
Art constructs, not deconstructs“Art is the symbol of the two noblest human efforts: to construct and to refrain from destruction.” Simone Weil, French philosopher & mystic. Simone Weil, The Pre-War Notebook (1933-1939), published in First and Last Notebooks (1970) edited by Richard Rees.
Fantasia on Ding Dong Merrily on HighComposer: Greg Smith (based on a 16th-century French melody)Title: Fantasia on Ding Dong Merrily on HighInstrumentation: Cello and piano Available from Sheet Music Direct and Sheet Music Plus. SAMPLES:
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)
Practice slowly“One must practice slowly, then more slowly and finally slowly.” – Camille Saint-Saëns Cited in: The Piano Quarterly, 1974, p. 24.
Nick Cave on the creative processWhat makes a great song great is not its close resemblance to a recognizable work. Writing a good song is not mimicry, or replication, or pastiche, it is the opposite. It is an act of self-murder that destroys all one has strived to produce in the past. It is those dangerous, heart-stopping departures that catapult […]
The delicate nature of Chopin’s pianismChopin gave a recital in the Gentlemen”s Concert Hall, Manchester, on 28 August 1848. The audience of 1,200 people was the largest Chopin had ever performed to, but Chopin’s delicate playing was not really suited to such a large venue. Conscious of this fact, Chopin requested that another pianist, George Osborne, who was also performing […]
Music of the people“True music … must repeat the thought and inspirations of the people and the time. My people are Americans and my time is today.” — George Gerswhin Edward Jablonski and Lawrence D. Stewart (1926) The Gershwin Years. Garden City: Double Day.
A new overture – fastBeethoven’s revised version of Fidelio was due to be premiered on the 23rd May 1814. Beethoven had planned to write a new overture for the performance. He was still yet to complete it before the final rehearsal on the 22nd May. The night before, he was dining out with his physician (Dr. Bertolini). After dinner, he took a menu, […]
