Accessibility for kidsBenjamin Britten wrote the score to Instruments of the Orchestra, which would become the concert work, Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra. The theme to the score was based on a hornpipe from Purcell’s Abdelzer. Britten commented to the producer, Basil Wright, that “I was never really worried that it was too sophisticated for kids […]
Chopin and counterpointWith regard to counterpoint in Chopin’s music, you might be interested in the conversation that Chopin had not long before his death with the painter Eugène Delacroix. Delacroix was one of a handful of quite intimate friends of Chopin’s. In his diary, he mentions how he had picked up Chopin in a carriage, and they […]
Beethoven’s shuttersBeethoven moved often, and his landlords were not always keen to have him back. While he was working on the Ninth Symphony in 1923, Beethoven couldn’t stand his present lodgings in Hetzendorf, as the landlord, Baron Pronay, constantly bowed to him when they met.He sought lodgings where he had previously stayed in Baden. The landlord […]
Life experience“Knowledge about life is one thing; effective occupation of a place in life, with its dynamic currents passing through your being, is another.” – William James, American philosopher and psychologist W. James, Essays in Pragmatism, United Kingdom, Free Press, 1970, p. 113.
God Mounts His Throne (setting ii) – Psalm 46 (47)Title: God mounts his throne (Setting II) Text: Psalm 46 (47): 2-3, 6-7, 8-9 Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and organ Related products: – God mounts his throne (Setting II) – SATB, brass, and organ Product medium: PDF score and part SAMPLE:
Bernstein’s response to violenceThis will be our response to violence To make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before. – Leonard Bernstein.
The Lord Has Done Great Things For Us -Psalm 125 (126). SATB, woodwind, brass, and organTitle: The Lord has done great things for us Text: Psalm 125 (Psalm 126). R. v.3 Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB, flute., 2 clarinets, Horn, trumpet, 2 trombones, organ Related products: – SATB and organ Product medium: PDF score and part Sample:
Diderot on good music“Good music is very close to primitive language.” Denis Diderot (Elements of Physiology, 1875)
The purpose of education“The purpose of education is to keep a culture from being drowned in senseless repetitions, each of which claims to offer a new insight.” — Harold Rosenberg, American writer, educator, philosopher and art critic. Harold Rosenberg, “On the New Cultural Conservatism”, Partisan Review, 1972, vol. 39, no. 3, p. 444. Digitally archived at http://archives.bu.edu/collections/partisan-review/search/detail?id=326096, accessed […]
Mattheson on the courante“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.