April, 2023 April: Balancing discipline and freedom John Ireland’s “April” captivated me. Composed in 1925, it is unapologetically and exquisitely beautiful. As an extra gift, we can hear the composer performing the work thanks to a 78-rpm record and a YouTube user. In addition, the score is available on IMSLP, and new interpretations have [...]
My sister Karen is going through boxes of our parents’ memorabilia. One of the things she shared is the Dale family’s 1960 Christmas letter, perfectly typed by my mother. The two pages recount the year's events including the birth of my sister Melissa ("very throaty, no head resonance") and my father’s second appearance at [...]
New Year Resolution by Steve Turner It was January the 1st I turned over a new leaf. It was clean on the top side But had bugs underneath.
Song with meter change for children
A Boy's Radio Request It came up on eBay – a piece of yellowed paper with pencilled German words in the careful handwriting of a child. The letter was written to a radio show host who broadcast Dalcroze exercises and games to children in Germany during the late 1920s and early 1930s. [...]
I save music and other materials whenever I come across something I might want to revisit later for teaching, writing, or blogging. In addition to files of works chosen for their music content - such as phrase structure, harmonic pattern, polyrhythms - I also have files for extra-musical themes. This is one example. [...]
If note-naming exercises are a step toward music literacy, do they have a purpose beyond that point?
“Dry January,” the idea of abstaining from alcohol during the first month of the year, isn't new. In fact, it's said to go back to 1942. Whether you’re always dry, dry for January, or “damp” through the year, here’s a song that offers a little perspective. “Whoa January (You’re Going to be Worse than [...]
Good Riddance, But Now What? By Ogden Nash Come, children, gather round my knee; Something is about to be. Tonight’s December thirty-first, Something is about to burst. The clock is crouching, dark and small, Like a time bomb in the hall. Hark! It’s midnight, children dear. Duck! Here comes another year.
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel was born on this day, November 14th, in 1805. (Google honored on this, her 216th birthday, in its daily doodle.) She wrote more than 460 pieces of music, at least some of which were published under her brother Felix's name. The first work published under her own name was her Opus [...]
