Would a university hire Mozart?
I have no idea where the following letter came from. Someone forwarded it to me on email years ago. Now …Read the Rest
The Serpent (and I thought the trombone gets no respect)
The serpent was the bass of the old wooden cornett. As such, it predates the invention of keys and mechanics …Read the Rest
What color is the Blue Danube?
Is the beautiful blue Danube blue? Slonimsky reports that someone in Vienna watched it for an hour every day for …Read the Rest
Creole Band
The first jazz band to tour the vaudeville circuit, and therefore gain recognition outside of New Orleans, was the Creole …Read the Rest
An Earnest Request
Everybody knows not to leave cell phones on at a concert. Or at least everyone has heard reminders before concerts. …Read the Rest
Suite(s) from Swan Lake
The community orchestra I play in just played the suite from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake–at least that’s what I thought it …Read the Rest
How did you come to love music?
My father has always loved his record collection. Some of my earliest memories are the records he played whenever he …Read the Rest
Welcome to Musicology for Everyone
I’m not sure when I first heard the word musicology, but it must have been some time before I had …Read the Rest
When "classical" music was "popular"–Part 2
My first article on this topic explored how Rossini’s music was considered “popular” music in the sense of being somehow …Read the Rest
When “classical”; music was “popular”–Part 1
Everyone knows that Rossini’s operas are part of “classical music,” but it hasn’t always been that way. During Rossini’s lifetime, …Read the Rest
