Classroom music from 2014: the new National Curriculum | Classical Music.
It says that “the purpose of studying music is to ‘engage and inspire pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, and so increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement,’ so that pupils eventually develop ‘a critical engagement with music, allowing them to compose, and to listen with discrimination to the best in the musical canon’” Continue reading
When Choirs Sing, Many Hearts Beat As One
“it took almost no time at all for the singers’ heart rates to become synchronized. The readout from the pulse monitors starts as a jumble of jagged lines, but quickly becomes a series of uniform peaks. The heart rates fall into a shared rhythm guided by the song’s tempo“
This has been around a while now, but is still interesting. I wonder if anyone has measured heart rates of supporters at a football or tennis match.
Do guitar ensemble players live longer than soloists? (Only if they follow the conductor!)
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This is a bit late, but Steve Goss, guitar composer hero has a performance of his Triple Concerto for Sax, Cello, Piano and Orchestra tomorrow at the Cadogan Hall, London SW1x 9DQ.
It is written for the Orpheus Sinfonia, of which he has been composer-in-residence and this concert also features Beethoven’s 9th.
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In a moment of weakness I once bought a CD entitled “The Ultimate Classical Album”.As well as the usual classics like Rachmaninoff’s Concerto, a smattering of Satie Gymnopédies and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (well, one season actually), I was surprised to find that 3 out of the 4 CDs contained music by Max Steiner, Thomas Newman, John Barry, James Horner and other names not that familiar to classical listeners – in other words film music. Continue reading
Does anyone remember a song about a man who offered to sell himself into slavery and then founded an order to combat the Albigensian heresy, which stated that Jesus was not the son of God, but an angel in a phantom body that did not suffer the crucifixion?
I was pleased to have met Randall Avers at the recent GFA. He and his duo partner Benoit Albert played a stunning concert – they are known as “Les frères méduses” (the Jellyfish Brothers!).
The following article made me think about a couple of forthcoming concerts that I will be taking part in.
Classical Music magazine – Southbank granted time to rethink controversial Festival Wing plans
When Xufei Yang started the guitar, it was a known as a ‘hooligan instrument’ in China.
I have known David Solomons, self-styled “singer, one-man choir, guitarist and composer” since university days and was always in awe at his ability to play an orchestral score on the piano, or the guitar, or anything that came to hand or voice.
He embodies the idea of a musician who happens to play the guitar, and I am happy to say that he is flourishing as a guitarist and composer.
Many of his pieces have unusual titles, such as “Alcohol“, “Arthropod Duet“, “Hair of the Doggerel” , “Ode to a Nose“etc – Continue reading