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What is Classical Music?
Enjoying live [classical] music concerts could be one of the most exciting relationships you’ll ever develop. But here’s one thing any valuable and interesting article or document shouldn’t start with: a definition. The term “Classical Music” is difficult to embrace for three reasons: – It conjures up images of rich elitism, boringness and dead white men. – It actually refers to a specific period in musical history (1750-1830) – Much of society is prejudiced against anything associated with it. The enigmatic Founder and Artistic Director of The Discovery Orchestra, George Marriner Maull, visited two inner-city schools one week and worked with young children on “listening.” The heart-warming outcome is…
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Back to Choral Roots
A couple of months ago I was appointed Conductor of the 40+ year old Clearwater Chorus. It’s an ensemble of people who like to sing, and encourages adults of varying ages and abilities to make and share music together. At least, that’s what it is now. Although not titled a “Director” that is effectively my role and as a result, I’ve grabbed hold of the reins and am guiding the ensemble through a new perspective: who we have and what we do now is what we are, and as long as we work together to share music, we’ll be doing something of value to the world. [Click here: I’m giving…
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Why the next 20 years of classical music will smash the last 20
OPINION. That’s all this is. Totally unmerited, unfounded, unresearched, unverified 🙂 I’m in the UK right now, where I spent my childhood and early professional career. My teens and current professional career were/are in the USA. My college life was mostly spent up & down the UK, throughout East & West Europe, and later a sojourn in a couple of countries in the Southern parts of Africa. Next stop? Ah well, wouldn’t you like to know! But as I’m sitting here for a few moments, pondering the extraordinary life I’ve lived split primarily between two continents, cultures and languages (yes, I’m bilingual: I speak English and American), I find it remarkable how much…
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Highest Chart Position Yet!
Well, I was going to write another “How I compose” post, but this topic topped the chart – literally. Reverbnation is an online outlet for all unsigned/ independent musicians – any style, any genre, any age, any stage of life. There are currently 2.5m (that’s 2,500,000) performers active on Reverbnation promoting their wares, and guess what… The Charts I’m #1 in the Tampa Bay Classical Music Chart! But, I’m also #3 in the US Classical Music Chart!!! AND I’m #10 in the GLOBAL Classical Music Chart!!!!!!!!!! Yes, that deserves 10 exclamation marks. Because of YOU! This is incredible news, and it’s all down to YOU. Thank you. Thank you for…
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Next Piece #7: Bagatelle for Violin
This was a surprise! In my 7 year composition quest, piece #6 took a little over a month to write. This one took a day. Yes. One day! Solo violin It helped that the piece was being written for just one instrument alone, which is a complete contrast to Warrior Peace. Another contrast is the style: actually, I’m not too sure where this style came from but it is clearly a “contemporary” piece. I followed my usual system for composing music based on the psalms (Steps 1 & 2 I’ve already shared with you, and step 3 is coming soon) and after composing the closing melody, decided the piece was…
