Thomas Hampson. His name keeps coming up, or, better said, I keep bringing it up. Sometimes it’s at a workshop called “The Roots of American Music” that I like to give at conferences. Or maybe I’m simply talking with students who, finishing Unit 16 of … Read more
A few years ago, buried in term papers in my 2nd-floor office at the Meadows School of the Arts, I couldn’t have imagined spending Spring traveling cross-country for “convention season.” And yet, here I am, doing just that. Without question, the greatest delight is the … Read more
Wednesday, pre-dawn, we’ll be heading out for the Bay Area Homeschooling Conference – CHEA. It starts Friday evening at the Santa Clara Convention Center. We’re in booth 405, so do come by and visit. Also, please join me for two talks on Saturday, May 1st: … Read more
Goodness, it’s been an exciting time. With the end of the concert season and the beginning of the conference season, it’s hard to know which way is up. First, let me greet all of you who are new to the Circle of Scholars, especially the wonderful … Read more
Tomorrow it starts in earnest—the 2010 Conference season! We’re off to St. Louis for SLHC, followed two weeks later by the mammoth Midwest Conference in Cincinnati, and then the Bay Area conference in California. And that’s just March and April. Educational conferences have the greatest … Read more
Even if I wanted to, I can’t pick up the phone and call Brahms. Or Bach, or Palestrina. So imagine how excited I was to grab the phone and call Sammy Nestico! Mr. Nestico, now 86, is one of the music world’s most congenial figures. … Read more
What’s this program about? Sammy Nestico. That name rings in the hearts of bandsmen, swing dancers, fans of movie and TV scores, and generations of music students. Who is this man with his broad smile and open heart, this man who has played with the … Read more
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We’ve been talking lately a lot about stories here in the Professor Carol office. Living in a small Cowboy town provides me a with wealth of stories, the same kind of stories I grew up with in the Virginia mountains. Here, however, the topics involve … Read more
T-M-E-A. The Texas Music Teachers’ Association Annual Convention in San Antonio, Texas (home of the Alamo). That’s where I spent four days last week, and I simply have to tell you about it. My head is still spinning. Thousands of accomplished high-school musicians, their families, … Read more
The best concerts (films, plays, art exhibits) linger in the mind. Even the ones you don’t like have value, as you mull over what displeased you. But when they’re good, they remain in the ear and in the mind. I heard a provocative concert this … Read more