Technique is not music

“Technique is not music. Music is the thousandth of a millisecond between one note to the other—that’s where the music is.”

 — Isaac Stern, in an interview with Mark Stryker
Cited in: Green, Barry (2003) The Mastery of Music: Ten Pathways to True Artistry. New York: Broadway Books, p. 2.


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Impromptu (Sibelius)
Title: Impromptu (Op. 97, no.5) Composer: Jean Sibelius (arr. Greg Smith) Instrumentation: Trombone and piano Product medium: PDF score and part
Abstraction XVII
Title: Abstraction XVII Composer: Greg Smith Performer: Greg Smith (April 2020) Instrumentation: Piano Product medium: MP3 recording Related products:– Abstraction XVII (PDF score)
Art and the strength of the former times
In 1824, Schubert wrote a letter to his friend Schober concerning a general complacency about the role of art at the time: The idle time, which hinders the fulfillment of all greatness, destroys me too. Even golden verse is foolishly mocked by the people, no longer attentive to its powerful message. Only by the gift […]
Transforming Bach’s Cantatas into an opera
Theatre director Herbert Wernicke has taken six of Bach’s Cantatas dealing with the frailty of the human condition and presented them in a staging of mundane human activities.  Albrecht Puhlmann, the general director of Stuttgart Opera, states that “From the woman with the baby to the coffin being carried out, life and death is being […]
As good as Paderewsky
“At the end of a dinner he was attending by a lady in Liege, Ysaÿe was asked to listen to a young violinist. Although he felt tired and was longing to go back home he could not but accept his hostess’s request. The young man played several pieces from his repertoire. Then, after a long […]
Art is an immense forest
In the world, in life, and in nature, there is nothing but beautiful tales, and when the door opens, enter and accept it with all your soul. Art is an immense, eternal forest, where the trees stand as sparsely or as densely as you wish. The moon, sun and all kinds of glittering stars move […]
The value of preparation
“Be ready when opportunity comes…. Luck is the time when preparation and opportunity meet.” — Roy D. Chapin Jnr., Chariman American motors association J. Roberts, The Big Book of Business Quotations: Over 1,400 of the Smartest Things Ever Said about Making Money, Simon and Schuster, 2016.
Unless the Lord has built the house – Psalm 126 (127)
Title: Unless the Lord has built the house Text: Psalm 126 (127) Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB Product medium: PDF score Sample:
Preparation
“Failure to prepare is preparing to fail.” — John Wooden, American basketball player. Wooden, John (1988) Modern Practical Basketball.  Macmillan, p.234
Bruckner’s dog
Some of Anton Bruckner’s students decided to play a trick on him. While he was out to  lunch, they played music on the piano for Bruckner’s dog. As one of them played a motive from Richard Wagner’s music, the others chased the dog around the room and slapped him. But when they played from Bruckner’s […]