Latest Blog Posts
The Rest is Applause
Alex Ross, music critic for New Yorker magazine and author of the excellent book The Rest is Noise which I reviewed recently, gave a fascinating lecture to the Royal Philharmonic Society in March on the subject of applause, which can now be read online (PDF). He reminds us that audiences in Mozart's time applauded not […]
The First Thousand Years
Jeffrey Tucker points us to a new book on the history of music in the church in the middle ages: This book is an absolute inspiration. I feel profound gratitude to the author. It is readable and not merely an academic work. The prose is elegant and warm. The "apparatus" in the back is just […]
What we cannot control
Chris Rowbury has been reading Ben Zander’s book (one that I also heartily recommend!). Chris was inspired to blog about one of the lessons from the book – not worrying about what you cannot control. From Chris: This incident reminded me of the many times in rehearsal when people are late or don’t […]
Slatkin Responds
If you follow this blog or pay attention to any of the other classical blogs, then you may remember the controversy surrounding Leonard Slatkin a couple of months ago. I pointed to the controversy in this blog post from April 21. Slatkin has responded to the controversy and points to one of the […]
What so proudly we raised . . .
Happy Independence Day!
Arse! The Joy of Left Hand Love
Yes, we’ve shown it here before, but maybe not on a Monday! A great reminder about diction. Enjoy:
How strange . . . .
. . . to see your former job advertised. Look everyone, a great university position open in Birmingham, Alabama. Choir sang at ACDA in Spring 2010 – wonderful students and incredible performing venue! For more information.
What do you think I fought for on Omaha Beach?
David Griggs Janower pointed me to this work by Melissa Dunphy. Here is the excerpted text as it appears in the new choral work: “Good morning, committee. My name is Phillip Spooner and I live at 5 Graham Street in Biddeford. I am 86 years old and a lifetime Republican and an active VFW […]
Robert Shaw on Music in Worship
It is a pleasure to have an office below the archival collection of the American Choral Directors Association. Our ACDA archives are fertile ground for anyone interested in doing research on the choral profession and choral music education (hint, hint to any doctoral students reading this). In preparation for an address I recently gave to […]