Following the post on the Dies Irae Principle earlier, I started thinking about the role of sound in regulating mood. Thirteen years ago, I was sitting in my undergraduate freshman music theory class, having moved thousands of miles away from home to begin university. At the time, I had enrolled in the Bachelor of Music…
I’ve been thinking about how differently people see the world and how that influences their view of events. Something that rolls off one person’s back can cause another to spend a week sobbing in bed, barely able to contain their grief or embarrassment. What is a minor setback to one person can be a career-ending…
Mozart penned one of his greatest symphonies as a result of dire financial need – something he wouldn’t have had to if he would have humbled himself and admitted that someone he considered evil, Voltaire, had something to teach him when it came to wealth management.
Irony is one of those words you see misused all over the place. Most people think they know what it means, but they don’t. It’s irritating to those who care about the spirit of words, and has even prompted New York Times articles discussing the constant abuse the term endures at the hands of society. To spot, and utilize, irony, requires, as the paper puts it, “sophisticated writing” that the author “counts on the reader to recognize”. It takes skill. It is going to go over most people’s head a lot of the time.
There seems to be a misconception that ragtime music died along with the western saloons and brothels in which it reached its fruition. That isn’t true. If you grew up playing Nintendo, you may not even realize that you are a huge ragtime fan. You know dozens of ragtime hits and hearing them will probably…
We visited an upscale piano retailer this morning and a wonderful salesman allowed us into the back room to play the 9’+ Bosendorfer Imperial, Blunther, and Steingraber grand pianos. Out of all of them, both Aaron and my favorite was the Model 225 Bosendorfer, which is around 7.5 feet. I think I’d want it in the…
I’m going to just say it, Diana Damrau, both in terms of voice and acting portrayal, is the single best Queen of the Night in history. I don’t care what anyone else says. Her “Der Hölle Rache” is flawless. I mean, absolutely, cannot-be-improved-upon-in-your-face perfect. It starts at 2:09 into the video if you want to…
Reuters just published an awesome article about songwriter Franke Previte, who lives in New Jersey, and wrote the hit songs “Time of My Life” and “Hungry Eyes” for the movie Dirty Dancing. The copyrights have turned out to be a lottery ticket for the composer, providing him with a substantial stream of profits upon which…
