Rachmaninoff sent fellow composer/pianist Medtner his Corelli Variations.  He wrote: I played them here about fifteen times, but of these fifteen performances, only one was good.  The others were sloppy.  I can't play my own compositions!  And it's so boring! Not once have I played these all in continuity.  I was guided by the coughing […]

Many studies are now discovering that learning a musical instrument is something positive in itself – a discipline that helps a person to acquire skills of co-ordination. concentration, and perseverance. It shares these with sport, of course, but there is more. What makes playing a musical instrument worthy of special attention is that its physical […]

“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German poet and philosopher Cited at: QuotationsBook

Each art endeavors to isolate itself, to remain independent of all others. But a play without music is like a feast without wine. Music cleanses the soul from the dust and dross of every day life and seems to say to every one: ‘You are no longer in your office, in the barracks, or in […]

In writing, habit seems to be a stronger force than either willpower or inspiration. Consequently there must be some little quality of fierceness until the habit pattern of a certain number of words is established. There is no possibility, in me at least, of saying, “I’ll do it if I feel like it.” One never […]

Composer: Joe HisaishiArranger: Greg SmithTitle: “Sanctuary”, from The Boy and the HeronInstrumentation: Piano Solo Available from Sheet Music Direct and Sheet Music Plus.

“Arensky is a man of remarkable gifts, but morbidly nervous and lacking in firmness—altogether a strange man.” Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, in a letter to N. F. von Meck, Frolovskoe, July 2nd (14th), 1890. Cited in Modest Tchiakovsky, The Life & Letters of Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, np., Outlook Verlag, 2018, p. 477.

Title: Through the Long Night Composer: Greg SmithText: Edward Carpenter Instrumentation: TTBBProduct medium: PDF score

“What is music? How can one define it?  Music is a calm moonlit night, a rustling of summer foliage.  Music is the distant peal of bells at eventide.  Music is born only of the heart and it appeals to the heart.  It is love.  The sister of music is poetry and the mother – sorrow!” […]

“Good music is very close to primitive language.” Denis Diderot (Elements of Physiology, 1875)