Losing a teacher is like losing a parent. That was Carol’s remark to me on the news of Stan Shumway’s passing. Dr. Stanley N. Shumway, Professor Emeritus at the University of Kansas, shepherded me through my graduate studies there. My long and unorthodox path to … Read more
Welcome to a new series of workshops dedicated to hymns. In each session, Carol will look at a specific body of hymns, offering tools to revitalize and reconnect with this marvelous music. Yet, hymnals have disappeared from the pews in many churches. Yes, some churches … Read more
Bernstein, Theme from The Magnificent Seven No, it’s not Leonard. Nor was Elmer Bernstein (1922-2004) related to Leonard Bernstein. Elmer built his musical career in Hollywood. He and Leonard were sometimes referred to respectively as “Bernstein West” and “Bernstein East.” Elmer Bernstein composed more than … Read more
The Classical Consortium’s Free Online Conference: The Art of Soulcraft August 7, 2020. This 1-day conference will feature 2 panel discussions and 5 breakout seminars on the topic of classical education as soulcraft! Together with my colleagues Martin Cothran, Christopher Perrin, Andrew Kern, and Andrew … Read more
Strauss, Don Juan We have a tendency to divide people’s lives into different periods and assign categories to them. Beethoven has his reasonably well-defined early, middle, and late periods. Bach has his “stations,” which are useful for being objective facts that determined the type of … Read more
Today’s essay is not about politics, although a skein of the “apology” culture is rooted in the same phenomenon. Instead, I want to consider a phrase that drives me batty. For the last ten years or so, an increasing number of my routine business inquiries … Read more
Mozart, Overture to Abduction from the Seraglio One day during my graduate studies, the orchestra conductor, Dr. George Lawner, handed me the task of creating a two-piano arrangement of this overture. He was directing a scaled down version of the opera Abduction from the Seraglio … Read more
While searching for an excerpt on music from Plato’s Republic, I found myself reading these words from the foreword of Oliver Strunk’s Source Readings in Music History, a landmark anthology published in 1950 that, for decades, was de rigueur for music majors to study. [A]t … Read more
Don’t miss these July programs by Professor Carol: A Night at the Opera July 14 at 8:30 p.m. EDT. A Night at the Opera (free and open to everyone) will explore Eugene Onegin, both the opera by Tchaikovsky and the novel in verse by Alexander … Read more
Sousa, The Naval Reserve March We have a tradition here of turning to something specifically American near the Fourth of July, often something of a patriotic nature. This seems like a very good year to uphold that tradition. As a former Army band guy, I … Read more