The following article is the third and last of a three-part series on impressionism around the world; in France, in Europe and in our Modern World. In these articles, I explore the genre of impressionism. Born in France, it is

When I was having piano lessons as a child and teenager from the early 1970s to the mid-1980s I never played any piano music by women composers, except perhaps some very rudimentary pieces by the late Fanny Waterman (though I

Talk about a strange story. Calaf is one of three suitors for the hand of the prickly Princess Turandot. Her suitors must solve three riddles, with any single wrong answer resulting in execution. Calaf manages to solve all three riddles

The following article is the second of a three-part series on impressionism around the world; in France, in Europe and in our Modern World. In these articles, I explore the genre of impressionism. Born in France, it is known to

“I am a beginner. I am always learning”Fou Ts’ong (from an interview with British journalist Jessica Duchen) Frédéric Chopin: Mazurka No. 13 in A Minor, Op. 17, No. 4 (Fou Ts’ong, piano) This wonderfully humble quote from Fou Ts’ong, the

Musicians and music lovers enjoy musical puns. Who doesn’t need a laugh these days? I thought why not expand on some of the puns colleagues have shared with me, of course omitting the ubiquitous viola jokes! (Special thanks to prolific

Latin American music is one of the exciting topics among musicians these days. However, a lot of Latin American composers remain undiscovered. We cannot truly explore such diverse styles of Latin American music without knowing more composers. This article discusses

Composers use a variety of means to create drama in music, from simple devices such as dynamics (level of sound) or tempo (speed) to repetitions, the use of rests and pauses, and changes of harmony or key (modulation). Mozart’s Fantasy