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I’ve been revisiting the Harry Potter films recently, and after a recent read-aloud of all seven books, it takes just a few of films to notice the differences. I don’t mean the differences between the films and the movies: those are quickly obvious and entirely predictable because of the differences […]

200 years ago this evening, Jacob Mohr and Franz Xaver Gruber premiered their brand-new carol, Silent Night. According to the accepted tradition, Gruber had written the tune on short notice to Mohr’s words because Mohr needed a new piece to sing at the Christmas Eve service because the organ had been damaged. […]

Welcome to Week 16 of The Definitive Version, a new weekly feature of my website. You can read more about the project here and read all past entries here. Song: “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” (1945)Composer: Jule StyneLyricist: Sammy CahnForm: AABAStandard Key: There doesn’t seem to be a particularly standard key. […]

When I’m here, I create. It can be a coffee shop, a music studio, or a practice room. It can even be a particular word processor. The specifics don’t matter. What does matter is training yourself to imbue a space with the specific quality of being the place where you […]

No matter how many times I get sick, I can’t shake a deep sense of anger about being sick. I’m angry at letting down my family, students, my clients. I’m angry at being unable to do all the things I do in a day. But I also know that the […]

We brainstormed a list of ways to make a subito piano more striking. At least half of them related to our interpretation of the previous forte section. Dynamics are not absolute: they work in deep relationship to what’s happening around them, in terms of contrast, timbre, tone, placement in the piece, voicing, language, […]

Can we agree that “music theory” can make the subject sound a little…dry? Esoteric? Unnecessary? Here’s a better comparison. Music Theory is the Structural Engineering of music. Architects can dream up beautiful forms and dramatic lines, but without structural engineers, they can’t build them safely and effectively. (It’s been said […]

Two weeks left in 2018 – how will you use them? Traditionally we use it to look backward – a worthwhile reckoning with what we’ve accomplished or attempted. Two weeks from today, we’ll look forward – make resolutions, go on diets. There’s value in both, and there’s something to be […]

I do guided listenings every December in which we listen to multiple performances/arrangements of the same song. It’s a fascinating education in arrangement, interpretation, timbre, and ensemble. (More here, here, here, here.) My takeaway from tonight’s listening is about knowing your line. We listened to eight different choral/vocal arrangements of Silent Night […]

Welcome to Week 15 of The Definitive Version, a new weekly feature of my website. You can read more about the project here and read all past entries here. Song: “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” (1944) Composer: Hugh Martin & Ralph Blane Lyricist: Hugh Martin & Ralph Blane Form: AABA Standard Key: Most […]