Angels Unawares
It gave this nine-year-old choirboy a lot to think about. “Were there really angels showing up disguised as regular folks?” “Could they eat pizza and drink coke like the rest…
Musical Elements
Goosebumps City
Back in July Katherine Ellen Foley, a health and science reporter for Quartz wrote a wonderful article detailing the research and thoughts of Matthew Sachs, a grad student at the…
Moon Tempo
Moon tempo? Allow me to back up a bit, or rather a lot. During the summer of 1969 I performed the role of Henry Kleber, the music teacher of American…
Secrets of Conducting
We know what you’re thinking! Who is “we?” We conductors know what many audience members are thinking when you attend our performances. From your perspective, it looks like a lion…
How Shall We Study Music?
Last week I was given the privilege of speaking at a conference on the campus of Princeton University presented by the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association and the Foundation…
I was delighted to hear George Marriner Maull’s “Inside Music” when he discussed how to listen to and enjoy Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, the 4th movement. To have the words of the choral Ode to Joy translated and explained (word for word) was enlightening and inspiring as well. And to learn all the intricacies of the music itself was fascinating.