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Reimagining opera during the pandemic
In the current issue of The New Yorker, music critic Alex Ross writes about the multiple ways orchestras have found to reimagine their 2020-2021 seasons (“What Does It Mean to ‘Reimagine’ an Orchestra Season?”; online Nov. 30; print issue Dec 7). Performances have ranged from outdoor chamber concerts, to streamed concerts of live music played…
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At least we still have music
In the midst of the depression and hopelessness that engulf millions of us in America today, I feel compelled to write about something that inspires hope – a program at Walter Reed Army Medical Center called MusiCorps. But allow me a couple of paragraphs to get there. Today the unthinkable has happened and Americans have…
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Compulsion for music – part II
Throughout her career, Scottish percussionist Evelyn Glennie has been an intrepid trailblazer. She is the most well-known percussionist in the world and the first person in musical history to create a career as a full-time percussionist (a field traditionally dominated by men). At recent count, over 170 percussion works have been written for her, she was…
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Compulsion for music – part I
I saw the film Florence Foster Jenkins a few days ago and haven’t been able to get it out of my mind. I’ve known about Florence since I was a student. She was the stuff of legend, known as the world’s worst singer – with no sense of pitch, no vibrato, frequent register breaks, glottal stops,…
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Making music together syncs brains
When musicians play together, we always try to be “in sync,” unless, of course, we are playing Steve Reich’s Piano Phase or Violin Phase. And then we find how difficult it is, when two musicians are playing the same music, to be purposefully “out of sync” or out of phase. So are we hardwired to want to play…
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Four-hand music and peripersonal space
A former student from France recently spent a weekend with us while she was in the States on vacation. We had a lot of years to catch up on, enjoyed good food and wine, and found some time to play four-hand music. Four-hand music is fun to play, but it can be notoriously awkward…