2 new stories of interest: Bocelli Bows Out and BBC’s Maestro re-rears its ugly head

Anyone interested in the current state of classical music should be following Norman Lebrecht’s blog Slipped Disc.  Full of good stuff for you head. Here’s Norman’s latest takes on Bocelli’s catastrophic Romeo and the BBC’s dreary return of “Maestro.” Bocelli Crashes Out of Romeo, Ordered to Cancel all immediate commitments BBC’s dreary Maestro game show … Read more

Strange noises at night….

Okay, so we were awakened by the dog at 5am and couldn’t get back to sleep because of a strange sound.  At first I thought Carol or Zeke had developed a strange snoring.  But no, I could hear both of them snoring very plainly.  This was a third sound!  I crept downstairs, got my trusty … Read more

A wonderful tenorial obit

I just heard this wonderful snippet on BBC Radio 4 about the death of character tenor Charles Anthony.   He said that “abject terror” kept him focussed, and that “A singer onstage in the moments before he opens his mouth is the loneliest person in the world.  You never know what’s going to come out.” Have … Read more

Oh, no….not more about hemiolas!

Here’s an interesting blog article on hemiolas with explanation and examples.  This is part 2 of his article because I very much liked the example of a line from Rodgers & Hammerstein’s song “My Favorite Things.” Have a listen.  My underlying drum beat starts and stays in 3/4 time.  The only thing I’ve done to … Read more

A few blue Christmas Treats

Hi All, A couple of years ago I arranged and recorded an album of ‘bluesy’ Christmas songs for a production-company-not-to-be-named in America.  The contract stated that they would pay me $100 per song and that they would then ‘own’ the song and sell it at a deep discount in Walmarts and various other monstrosities.  So, … Read more