“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 […]

Music can imply the infinite if enough things depart from the norm far enough. Strange “abnormal” events can lead to the feeling that anything can happen, and you have a music with no boundaries. – Morton Feldman, American composer Cited in Tom Johnson, Remembrance, September 1987. Accessed 13 May 2013.

The composer does not sit around wait wait for inspiration to walk up and introduce itself … Making music is actually little else than a matter of invention aided and abetted by emotion. In composing we combine what we know of music with what we feel. — George Gershwin Isaac Goldberg. Tin Pan Alley. New […]

Johann Matthias Gesner was a colleague of Johann Sebastian Bach at St. Thomas’ School, Leipzig. He later worked on a commentary of the Roman author Quintilian (c. 35-100 A. D.). He included a comparison of Bach with the Classical lyre player: All these (outstanding achievements) … you would reckon trivial could you rise from the dead and […]

Daniel Saidenberg ws the first cellist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Leopold Stokowski.  He recalled: Stoki’s ability to exert disciplines was occasionally matched by a sense of humor.  After a concert at which I had played the Saint-Saëns A-minor Concerto, one of my buddies said, “Watch your step, Danny.  All through the second movement, […]

Josef von Spaun recalled the following incident involving Franz Schubert at a concert. Schubert had just accompanied Baron Schönstein, at the house of Karolina Maria Kinsky (Princess, née Baroness Kerpen) when everyone loudly acclaimed Schönstein for his performance while taking no notice of the composer who had accompanied him, the princess sought to make amends […]

“There is no one giant step that does it. It’s a lot of little steps.” — Peter A. Cohen Ford Saeks, Superpower!  How to Think, Act, and Perform with Less Effort and Better Results, New Jersey, John Wiley & Sons, 2012, p. 198

Title: Here I Am, Lord Text: Psalm 39 (40): 2, 4, 7-1.  R. vv.8-9 Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano Product medium: PDF score and part SAMPLE:    

“Put a small piano in a truck and drive out on country roads; take time to discover new scenery; stop in a pretty place where there is a good church; unload the piano and tell the residents; give a concert; offer flowers to the people who have been so kind as to attend; leave again.” […]

Title: Tales from the Carreck of Fergus McGee (I. Lament; II: Gigue) Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Piano Product medium: PDF score