Bach

Revolver, the Beatles

Classical Beatles

The WQXR* blog post Timeline: The Beatles Meet Classical Music contains a lot of interesting information regarding the evolution of The Beatles’ creative process that ultimately led them to integrate…

Read More

How Can We Understand Classical Music?

Laura Phillips Ward, who maintains The Discovery Orchestra’s twitter account @AhaClassical, recently forwarded me a tweet from Sweden! “How can I understand classical music I guess is the question.” This…

Read More

Why Classical Music Is Still Cool!

Jon Levine, in a March 8, 2015 post on Music.Mic entitled: Why Isn’t Classical Music Cool Anymore? gives us three principal factors – Cost, Time and Alienation. I love those…

Read More

The Opening Chord Revisited

I’ve been blogging now for a little over three years. I sometimes wonder if anyone out there has actually been reading them. To recapitulate, as we’d say in sonata form,…

Read More
New Jersey Youth Symphony String Quartet

Ear Worms

This revolting term actually has a specific musical meaning! Wikipedia states: “An ear worm, sometimes also known as a brain worm, (that sounds even worse to me) is a catchy…

Read More
Image of Danny Ailo, Sandy Aillo, and George Marriner Maull

Emmy Reflections

Yes, it was disappointing not to win the Emmy. At The Discovery Orchestra we at times lulled ourselves into magically thinking that the proverbial ‘third time would be a charm.’…

Read More

I just listened to the first episode of this (Dvorak’s “New World” Symphony) and can’t believe how fortunate I was to run across this on Prime. I have heard Maull lecture many times before performances and now here he is right on my computer screen and with the clearest of visual aids. I promise if you listen to one of these you will understand a piece as never before. And, I have discovered from past experiences with his lectures that I always listen to any given piece with a greater connection. These “home” viewings of Maull’s lectures are such a gift! Highly recommended.

— Carolyn Bross, Amazon Reviewer