‘Real’ instruments in popular music“We’re seeing a big evolution of production, of recording techniques, and of the actual sounds. Everything’s getting sampled and synthesized…. When we do have an acoustic instrument like a saxophone, it tends to get processed to where [it’s] almost unrecognizable.” Jeff Harrington, saxophonist. Cited in, Kelsey McKinney, “Where Did All the Saxophones Go?”, https://getpocket.com/explore/item/where-did-all-the-saxophones-go?utm_source=pocket-app&utm_medium=share, accessed 29 […]
Ask Me Why (Evacuation) (The Boy and the Heron)Composer: Joe HisaishiArranger: Greg SmithTitle: “Ask Me Why (Evacuation)”, from The Boy and the HeronInstrumentation: Piano Solo This item is available from Sheet Music Direct and Sheet Music Plus.
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 […]
Content of artHow can you expect a beholder to experience my picture as I experienced it? A picture comes to me a long time beforehand; who knows how long a time beforehand, I sensed, saw, and painted it and yet the next day even I do not understand what I have done. How can anyone penetrate my […]
The evolution of the jazz traditionAmerican jazz music is, in many ways, rooted in its “traditional” repertoire – the American “Songbook” of “standards”. There are, however musicians who emphasise the importance of a fresh approach: If jazz has a future, musicians like Matt Mayhall could help it get there. A lanky, bespectacled Reno native and graduate of Cal Arts, where […]
Elgar on his Violin Concerto“It’s good! Awfully emotional! Too emotional, but I love it…” Edward Elgar on his own Violin Concerto Jeremy Pound, “First Violin”, BBC Music Magazine, October 2010, p. 36.
CompositionGREG SMITH Composer, arranger, and pianist Greg Smith is an Australian composer and pianist based in New South Wales. Greg majored in piano and composition at The University of Newcastle, completing a Bachelor of Music with first-class honours with a university medal in 2001. He completed a Master of Creative Arts in piano performance, studying […]
The art within“Only art experienced within, in which the personality plays a creative role can be of interest …To achieve this, those of you who are not already in this sense dead, must die an expiatory death of all superficiality, of all that you have already learnt, of all encumbrances and of all that is false. Then, […]
Obedience and liberty in creativityA great work, I believe, is made out of a combination of obedience and liberty. Such a work satisfied the mind, together with that curious thing which is artistic emotion. Stravinsky said, “If I were permitted everything, I would be lost in the abyss of liberty.” On the one hand he knew the limits, on […]
Debussy on impressionismWhat I am trying to do is something ‘different’ – an effect of reality, but what some fools call Impressionism, a term that is utterly misapplied, especially by critics who do not hesitate to apply it to Turner, the greatest creator of mysterious effect in the world of art. — Claude Debussy B. James, Ravel: […]
