An editorial from May 14, 2024 in, of all places, Scientific American recently came to my attention. While short, it managed to proclaim many of the worn, incomplete, misleading statements about homeschooling, while reserving most of its real estate for references to isolated, tragic mistreatments … Read more
Pachelbel, Toccata in E Minor Who isn’t familiar with Pachelbel’s Canon in D? After its use in the film score of Ordinary People (1980), it became a mainstay at weddings. And, perhaps unfortunately, whenever an atmosphere of quiet elegance was required, it made the perfect … Read more
Nothing pulls me into time travel like the contents of my filing cabinets. Stemming from an era when teachers devoted significant effort to building files for every potential subject, my filing cabinets have been dragged from the music building of SMU, to our house in … Read more
Crumb, Let It Be Forgotten George Crumb (1929-2022) strikes me as one of the most interesting composers of the late 20th century. Several years ago, we featured his Voice of the Whale (1971) in this series. Crumb was born into a musical family in Charleston, … Read more
He stretched as far as he could, but even with the sleeves of his Oxford shirt rolled up, there was not enough arm to reach the toy. So, Radovan took the plunge, literally pushing his arm shoulder-deep into the water to fish around and snatch … Read more
Corelli, Sonata in G Major We featured Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713) a while back and discussed his importance in the development of the concerto grosso. He also made major contributions to the development of the sonata. His twelve sonatas of Opus 5, published in 1700, were … Read more
MacDowell, To a Wild Rose To A Wild Rose is the first of ten pieces by American composer Edward MacDowell (1860-1908) comprising a set called Woodland Sketches. Each of the pieces has a title and tries to express that title through music: for example, autumn, … Read more
Fillmore, The Klaxon Marches are not uniquely American, but they seem to go hand-in-hand with our expressions of patriotism. If asked to name two composers of marches, I suspect almost everyone would immediately think of John Philip Sousa and then struggle to come up with … Read more
“When you read to us, grandma, it’s better than a movie.” No, I didn’t plant those words in my 10-year-old granddaughter’s mouth! She really said them. And that makes me smile broadly as I sit here in the Newark airport, filling part of a four-hour … Read more
Moszkowski, Étincelles “Étincelles” (French for “Sparks”) is one of the most beloved and frequently performed pieces by the Polish-German composer Moritz Moszkowski (1854-1925). It is the sixth piece in his set of eight piano pieces, Op. 36, published in 1886. Moszkowski was born in Breslau. … Read more