Allen H Simon

Randall Thompson’s The Testament of Freedom, with words by Thomas Jefferson. This performance by the Turtle Creek Chorale and the US Army Chorus, along with the Dallas Wind Symphony.     For the embedded-impaired: http://youtu.be/ruojMCl_DKg  

Education blogger Diana Senechal writes about the difficulties of assessment in music. Musicians in an orchestra, for instance, assess themselves continually as they play but have no need to document such assessment.  One of the biggest challenges is assessing the development of musical judgment, which Diana, quoting NASM’s Samuel Hope, describes as “knowing when to stop”. Knowing […]

The Composers’ Community’s Composer of the month is Iceland’s Hildigunnur Rúnarsdóttir. Blog author Jack Senzig writes: Her music has depth and a wonderful sonority that rings with a Nordic flavor.  This flavor is trademarked by a sense of melancholy, lyrical melodies, modal keys and open 4ths and 5ths.  Hildigunnur’s music has been compared to Jon Nordal, […]

In case anyone tells you that the exclusion of music from the list of “real” academic subjects is a new invention, here’s a quote from Roman philosopher Seneca: And what of those who are engaged in composing, hearing, and learning songs, while they twist the voice, whose best and simplest movement Nature designed to be […]

I mentioned in my last post that we as conductors face away from the audience, but I always feel like I’m aware of them anyway, even if I can’t see them. Somehow I sense whether they’re attentive, and how they’re responding to the music. Part of it is obviously that there’s more ambient noise (rustling, […]

Just finished dress rehearsal with the orchestra last night for Haydn's Mass in Time of War (aside: first time I've ever had to tell a tympanist to play louder, but it is a prominent part).    I always find dress rehearsal to be much more stressful than performances. That's the real deadline for knowing your […]