Articles

Game On!

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pacman

Phew. I didn’t get vaporized. In fact, my first talk about Video-Game music on March 24 for The Dallas Winds came out pretty well. Look, I’m a child of the pin-ball era who had only a few chances to toss quarters into the Pac-Man machines. … Read more

Friday Performance Pick – 21

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Ravel: Valses Nobles et Sentimentales Waltzes were once scandalous, as Professor Carol likes to point out. The court dances of the 17th and 18th centuries featured intricate footwork; a couple’s fingertips might touch lightly. In the waltz, however, a man would grab a woman by … Read more

Bluebonnets

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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

Screening Films at Home

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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

Friday Performance Pick – 19

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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

Really Learning Beethoven

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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

Friday Performance Pick – 18

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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

The Two-Second Rule

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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

Friday Performance Pick – 17

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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