It’s been raining. Those are wonderful words in North Central Texas. The timing of early spring rains makes me hopeful that our “Monet Carpet” will spring up again this year. I won’t let Hank mow our front pasture down the quarter mile to the road … Read more
Bottesini: Concerto for Double Bass No. 2 in B Minor Giovanni Bottesini (1821-1889) may not be on your short list of composers to explore. I confess that I knew little about him. His name didn’t appear on a single music history test throughout my undergraduate … Read more
I wrote a friend this morning about a film I thought her family might like. As one does, I linked to the International Movie Data Base site and a couple of good reviews. Then I went to make cup of tea. In the kitchen, it … Read more
Danny Boy With St. Patrick’s Day right around the corner, what could be more fitting than the famous Irish folk song “Danny Boy”? A couple of weeks ago, we discussed how Bartók collected folk songs from the Hungarian countryside and incorporated them into his compositions. Bartók was … Read more
We’re glad so many of you are enjoying our “7 Days to Beethoven” mini-course. My own journey to Beethoven has been life-long, starting from age seven when I played my first Beethoven Écossaise. There were significant stages along the way, such as learning to rip … Read more
Franz Schubert: Der Erlkönig Schubert’s Der Erlkönig has a prominent place in our general course on “Classical music,” Discovering Music. Many people tend to think that the music we call “classical” is all about big orchestras playing symphonies and concertos. Those things are important, of course, but the … Read more
Something I read recently is pounding in my ears. A study concluded that a substantial percentage of people will wait only two seconds for something to download before clicking it off and moving on. How long is two seconds? Two seconds isn’t long enough to take a … Read more
Bartók: “Fast Dance” from Romanian Folk Dances Folk music exerts a powerful influence on many composers. You can hear that influence in some of the music of Mozart and Schubert for instance. Composers have turned to folk styles at times either to invoke the indigenous … Read more
Ice and snow: that’s what most of us are experiencing lately. Certainly Bowie, Texas is iced in. Everything is closed down that can be, and only a few brave (or foolhardy) souls are sliding down the roads. Yet, as mean as this weather is, I … Read more
Wagner: Siegfried’s Horn Call As a former horn player, I can vouch for the fact that what’s on the video below doesn’t come naturally or easily. French Horn is a treacherous instrument in part because it is pitched high in the overtone series. If that … Read more