Professional film and visual media composer Benjamin Botkin recently posted an insightful list of 10 Ways to Avoid Plateauing. Even though he writes as a composer to other composers (or aspiring composers), his thoughts are equally relevant for all musicians. I love the way he defines a plateau, “reach[ing] a position in your skill where […]
Inspirational
Who Says Movie Music Can’t Be Virtuosic?!
A friend of mine posted this on Facebook the other day, and it is SO cool! I’ve watched it multiple times already and have had fun exploring Jarrod Radnich’s website. I also found a link to an interview with Jarrod that I’m looking forward to listening to soon! I sent the link to the video […]
So…What’s Your Point?
One of my take-home ideas from the MTNA Conference last week was gleaned from the session on My Students Aren’t Listening! Is it Me or Them? Although it was directed toward young children, I think I’m going to see if I can apply it with all my students. It’s the concept of making one point […]
Zenph – Pioneering the Future of Music Technology
This has got to be one of the most incredible things I’ve read about in a while! Listen to the Before and After recordings of Rachmaninoff’s performance of his arrangement of Kreisler’s Liebesleid on the homepage of the Zenph website and you’ll see what I mean. I couldn’t believe how beautiful the “After” recording was, […]
Tips for Songwriters
Professional songwriter Ben Cooper has posted a brief, but insightful article on Songwriting Tips. Usually, my students’ introduction into songwriting comes in the way of The Psalms Project that we put together each spring. I can definitely see the truth of Ben’s statement that, “When creating, we learn by doing, and we improve by repeating […]
Playing Bach at 106
That’s years, by the way, not a tempo marking! 🙂 Last week, Fiona sent me the link to this short clip of 106-year-old Alice Sommer Herz talking about music and playing a bit of Bach, to boot! After doing a little investigating, I learned that the documentary itself has been pulled from production because of […]
