If Heaven has bestowed on you a fine imagination, you will often be seated at your piano in solitary hours, as if attached to it; you will desire to express the feelings of your heart in harmony, and the more clouded the sphere of harmony may perhaps be to you, the more mysteriously you will feel as if drawn into magic circles. In youth these may be your happiest hours. Beware, however, of abandoning yourself too often to the influence of a talent that induces you to lavish powers and time, as it were, upon phantoms. Mastery over the forms of composition and a clear expression of your ideas can only be attained by constant writing. Write, therefore, more than you improvise.
Robert Schumann (translated by Henry Hugo Pierson), Advice to Young Musicains [Musikalische Haus- und Lebens-Regeln]. New York: J. Schuberth & Co. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/28219/28219-h/28219-h.htm, accessed 29 August
– Robert Schumann
Write over improvise
by
Tags:
Featured Content
What about me?
Songwriter Johnny Green recalled Gershwin bragging about his achievements after a concert, eventually to stop and say: “That’s enough about me. Now what did you think about how I played?” Cited in: Greenberg, Rodney (2008) George Gershwin. New York: Phaidon Press, p.46.
Abstraction XVIIITitle: Abstraction XVIIComposer: Greg SmithInstrumentation: PianoPerformer: Greg Smith (October 2023)Product medium: MP3 audio Related products: – Abstraction XVIII (score) Sample:
Born for music“I was born with eyes closed listening to my heartbeat from my mother’s womb… There, without knowing it, I discovered that I would be born and would die for music…” – Alicastro Source: Peer Music.‘
Wexford Carol (SATB and piano)Title: Wexford Carol Text: 12th century Irish Composer: 12th century Irish, arr. Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano Related products: – Wexford Carol – SATB and organ (PDF score) Product medium: PDF score and parts Sample:
Sleepy BearTitle: Sleepy BearComposer: Greg SmithInstrumentation: PianoPerformer: Greg Smith (22 March 2009) Your browser does not support the audio element. Sheet music
Transformation of art“Art does not progress – it transforms itself.” – François-Joseph Fétes Siblin, Eric (2009) The Cello Suites. Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin, p. 191.
Growing up in a bell towerCzech composer Bohuslav Martinů was born and spent most of his childhood in a church tower in Polička, on the borders of Bohemia and Moravia. Martinů recalled that the panoramic view encapsulated “the vast and boundless space I am always searching for in my music.” Source: Calum MacDonald, “Bohuslav Martinů”, BBC Music, August 2009, p.44.
Lullaby for BerkeleyTitle: Lullaby for Berkeley Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Piano duet Level: Piano I – Level 1 (5 finger hand position, left and right hands) Product medium: PDF score & MP3 accompaniment track SAMPLES: (Audio sample of accompaniment track only)
Nick Cave on the creative processWorry less about what you make — that will mostly look after itself, and is to some extent beyond your control, and perhaps even none of your business — and devote yourself to nourishing this animating spirit. Bring all your enthusiasm to bear on the development of that good and essential force. This is done […]
Submit file for audio to text transcriptionNotes: If you have multiple files to upload, either compress them to a single .zip file or submit a form for each file). If you get an error message during upload, your file size may be too large. Trying compressing the file as a .zip file. Alternatively, get a free Dropbox account, upload the file, […]