music listening education

Vibration

Can You Feel the Vibes?

When I was in high school it was common to hear someone say: “That person has good vibes.” It was a compliment. ‘That person’ was emitting positive energy that could…

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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…

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Open Sesame

Do you remember the first time you encountered that phrase? Perhaps you saw it in an English translation of Antoine Galland’s Les Mille et une nuits (One Thousand and One…

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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…

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Piano Recital

The Annual Recital

A few weeks ago I attended the annual recital of my wife Marcia’s piano students, who range in age from six to eighteen. Annual student piano recitals have been a…

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Broadway

My Fair Lady

“I have often walked down this street before. . .” Are you able to finish this sentence? And more importantly, does the melody that goes with those words sound simultaneously…

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Your “listening guide” amazes me, in that it is a means of illustrating the role of various instrumental sections in communicating and “telling” a story. My background is science and technology so the 1 -1 ½ hours listening to a symphony with your presentation was an exciting learning experience I was not expecting.You are an exceptional talent and personality to be able to introduce someone like myself to the very complicated language of a symphony.

— Outreach Program Attendee