Early music discovered on carvingA craftsman replicating large medallions has discovered medieval Scottish notation of instrumental music. The notation is sequences of 0s, Is and IIs. Barnaby Brown, a specialist in early Scottish music, notated that, “This discovery is potentially of great significance to our understanding of medieval and Renaissance instrumental music – the normally ‘unwritten’ practice of the elite court […]
The political function of music“There can be no music without an idealogy. The old composers, whether they knew it or not, were upholding a political theory. Most of them, of course, were bolstering the rule of the upper classes. Only Beethoven was a forerunner of the revolutionary movement.” – Dmitry Shostakovich Cited in: Nettl, Paul (1969) The Book of […]
Performance anxiety“There is no anxiety in the present. Anxiety is either in the past, worrying about what was just played, or in the future, worrying about what you are about to play. Nothing can be done about either! Don’t judge or evaluate while you’re performing.” — Charles Schlueter, principal trumpet with the Boston Symphony. Cited in: […]
Recollections from GallipoliTitle: Recollections from Gallipoli Text: Ellis Salis Music: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Tenor and piano Product medium: PDF score Sample:
Don’t loaf and invite inspirationDon’t dash off a six-thousand-word story before breakfast. Don’t write too much. Concentrate your sweat on one story, rather than dissipate it over a dozen. Don’t loaf and invite inspiration; light out after it with a club, and if you don’t get it you will none the less get something that looks remarkably like it. […]
Julius Asal on the exploring darker emotionsWhen I was younger I read a lot of Kafka and Büchner: I’ve always been drawn to the darker side of things, and I think that part of the beauty of what we do as artists is to dare other people to explore it too. I wish the listener to invest something. Showing up to […]
Abstraction XVIITitle: Abstraction XVIIComposer: Greg SmithInstrumentation: PianoProduct medium: PDF scoreRelated products: – Abstraction XVII (MP3 recording)
Figaro and an egg“I always have a hard-boiled egg. A three-minute egg. Do you know how I time it? I bring it to the boil and then conduct the overture to The Marriage of Figaro. Three minutes exactly.” Sir John Barrirolli Cited in: The Music Lover’s Quotation Book. Ed. Kathleen Kimball, Robin Peterson & Kathleen Johnston. Toronto (Canada): […]
Achieving your aims“Those who have achieved all their aims probably set them too low.” – Herbert von Karajan, conductor Herbert von Karajan – Official Homepage. http://karajan.org/jart/prj3/karajan/main.jart?rel=en. Accessed 20 March 2016.
Mighty Like a MooseTitle: Mighty Like A Moose (silent film soundtrack) Composer Greg Smith Instrumentation: Piano Product medium: PDF score (34 pages) Background: Written by: Charley Chase & H. M. Walker Starring: Charley Chase, Vivien Oakland, Gale Henry, Charles Clary, Ann Howe, Malcolm Denny Directed by: Leo McCarey Film released: 1926 SAMPLE: