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
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
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