Art and patience“Good art is nothing more than infinite patience.” William Wallace Kimball, founder of Kimball Piano Company Cited in: Cited in: Kimball, K., Petersen, R., Johnson, K. (1990) The Music Lover’s Quotation Book. Toronto: Sound and Vision, p. 85.
Music and identity“The more anonymous music is, the less likely people will be to feel attached it and to feel the need to support it. But when someone knows who you are, when you’re not just some disembodied vibrations in the air, they’re far more likely to stand behind you.” Isaac Schankler. “Beyond Sound and Science: Musicians, […]
The effect of art“There’s a phrase I’ve often heard from audience members at popular musicals (but, oddly, never anywhere else): the show, they’ll say, “really took me out of myself”. They are saying something basic and profound about the ecstasy of art, the act of being taken out of one’s normal state to a different level of being. […]
It is cruel that music should be so beautiful“It is cruel, you know, that music should be so beautiful. It has the beauty of loneliness and of pain: of strength and freedom. The beauty of disappointment and never-satisfied love. The cruel beauty of nature, and everlasting beauty of monotony.” Benjamin Britten
Golliwog’s Cakewalk from Children’s Corner Suite (Debussy)Title: Golliwog’s Cakewalk (from Children’s Corner Suite) Composer: Claude Debussy Arranger: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Cello quartet Product medium: PDF score and parts Sample:
Vaughan Williams’ preparation of Hymns Ancient and ModernVaughan Williams was commissioned to revise the hymn book of the Anglican Church: Hymns Ancient and Modern. This was amounted to a huge task, but beneficial to his compositional outlook. The study of folk music to ensure the “best” versions of tunes was stressed the importance of musical activity in all spheres of music. He […]
Lord, Let Your Mercy Be On Us – Psalm 32 (33)Title: Lord, let your mercy be on us Text: Psalm 32 (33): 4-5, 18-19, 20-22. R. v.22 Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano Product medium: PDF score and part Sample:
Steering the audience’s tasteThe following advice appeared in the British Journal the Musical Times in January 1879: A young student wishes us to tell him what to do under the following circumstances: He has been carefully educated in music, for which he has considerable aptitude and an intense love; he is an efficient pianist, and knows most of […]
Beethoven’s prankBeethoven was a musician for the Electoral court and chapel in Bonn. Franz Wegeler, a friend of of Beethoven’s, recounted an incident where the young Beethoven was to accompany a singer, Ferdinand Heller, in a church service. Heller prided himself on being able to sing in tune, no matter how complicated the accompaniment. Beethoven asked Heller if he […]
Learning“Learning makes a man fit company for himself.” — La Harpe Day, E. P. (1884) Day’s Collacon: An Encylopaedia of Prose Quotations. International Printing and Publishing Office, p. 498. Digitally archived at: https://books.google.com.au/books?id=Qo\_Mhkcu8iAC, accessed 8 September 2021.