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CHORAL ETHICS (Part 11): ROCK STAR by Marie Grass Amenta   “I won’t be a rock star. I will be a legend.”  Freddie Mercury   My youngest brother is a conservatory trained percussionist…..which means he’s played for a LOT of rock bands.  Classically trained, he likes playing for rock bands more than orchestras. Why?  The […]

CHORAL ETHICS (Part 10): AUDITION TIME IS HERE by Marie Grass Amenta   "We don't want nobody that nobody sent." Timothy O'Sullivan, Chicago Ward Committeeman, 1948   It’s that time of year; we are finishing the academic year or our concert cycles and by rights, we should be able to relax.  You and I know […]

More from Daniel Coyle:  Tip #52 – Think like a Gardener, Work like a Carpenter   “. . . the truth is, talent grows slowly. You would not criticize a seedling because it was not yet a tall oak tree; nor should you get upset because your skill circuitry is in the growth stage. Instead, […]

More from Daniel Coyle:  Tip #50 – Cultivate Your Grit   “Grit is that mix of passion, perserverance, and self-discipline that keeps us moving forward in spite of obstacles. It’s not flashy and that’s precisely the point. In a world in which we’re frequentlly distracted by sparkly displays of skill, grit makes the difference in […]

The academic year is – thankfully – drawing to a close; for some fortunate folks 2014-15 is already in the history books.  The next few weeks will provide a welcome change of pace and a respite from the daily grind.   Before you lose yourself to travel, summer employment, or a well-deserved collapse, may we […]

Over the history of computer notation programs, the methods for getting music into the machine have stayed largely the same: use the computer keyboard and mouse, play notes live on a MIDI keyboard, or combine these methods using a program's favorite shortcuts. Anyone who spends enough time in notation software will eventually develop some fluency […]

In this brief interest session excerpt, famed conductor Christopher Hogwood (d. 2014) shares his thoughts about the value of live choral performance by amateur the choristers.      

A WORD FROM YOUR ACCOMPANIST by Benjamin Amenta          As an adolescent in high school who enjoyed playing solo piano, I was somewhat of a star. Pianists sometimes get to be stars too, you know.  In world class solo piano, some of the brightest were Franz Liszt and Clara Wieck Schumann in the nineteenth […]