Others

(An excerpt from the Choral Journal article, “Chaos Theory and the Choral Conductor: Learning to Trust Musical Intuition” by Ray Wheeler)   How can conductors be more intuitive in rehearsals?   1) Be sensitive to intuitive impulses. Being aware of intuition as a valuable tool in conducting is a good beginning.   2) Try to […]

(An excerpt from the Choral Journal article, “Deterministic Techniques in Arvo Pärt’s Magnificat” by Allen H Simon)          Estonian composer Arvo Pärt (b. 1935) has gained notoriety in the 1990s for his minimalist works such as Berliner Messe and Passio. Vestiges of the composer’s early experiments with serialism and deterministic techniques, however, still linger […]

For this blog series I started out with the idea of alternating books on music with books on other subjects. But I've realized that most of the great music books are fairly well known or are are so specific that they might have limited interest (maybe I'll combine some in a post later).   So […]

(An excerpt from the Choral Journal article, “An Examination of Stravinsky’s Fugal Writing in the Second Movement of Symphony of Psalms ” by Robert Taylor)          Concerning the origin of his 1930 Symphony a/Psalms, Igor Stravinsky wrote: “My idea was that my symphony should be of great contrapuntal development.” A setting of verses from […]