Category: Music
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Talking
This time of year has traditionally been a time of reflection on the year which had just passed. Sometimes I even look through some old journals just to see what I was on my mind previous years. Recently I had opportunity to participate, prepared and give a TEDx talk. The process of putting it all together…
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Small Neighborhood Music School
The Bloomingdale School Of Music is the place where I took private trumpet lessons, started loving chamber music and starting learning about music composition. It was one of the most important paths set before me. I had my first moments of personal success at this small neighborhood community music school. Perhaps this is the place…
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Safe places for me
My kid has anxiety, and I had anxiety as a kid until I started doing music. 4th and 5th Grade I was in Mr. Osborn’s boys choir. I took a few ass kicking those years. In the 6th grade I did my best (with a great deal of success) to not be seen at all.…
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Composition out of imitation
“What gives the artist real prestige is his imitators.” Igor Stravinsky I deal with insomnia often. When this happens I try to do something productive. I’m a teacher, so I try to use this time to think about teaching or projects for my students. But before I was a music teacher I was a freelance…
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Great Find, Funny Path
It’s funny how one comes into contact with new music. I was recently listening to the New York Times Popcast titled “The Return of New York Rap” , which offered a unique discussion about the lack of rap music coming out of NYC the past decade. As I am a native New Yorker and still feel…
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Safety
I was recently engaged in a conversation about safe places while growing up. For me there were three places, home, the classroom and the band room. Depending on the individual, home and the classroom could be swing towards or away from safety. As for me I considered home and the classroom safe places. However, the band/orchestra rehearsal…
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© Concierto de Aranjuez (1939) – Joaquín Rodrigo – DRSO – Pepe Romero – Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos — I Write The Music
mugge62 via © Concierto de Aranjuez (1939) – Joaquín Rodrigo – DRSO – Pepe Romero – Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos — I Write The Music
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Middle of summer worries for a music teacher
It’s the middle of summer, my kid is watching cartoons while I look at my units of study for the up coming school year. Since I am a middle school band director, I tend to worry about how effectively I am helping students learn specific skills on their instruments and the other parts of music, like music theory and…
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I Tend To Reminisce
Now and again I tend to reminisce about my youth, and luckily what comes up most for me is the music I listened to. Lately I’ve been spending my time totally enamored with two specific groups, The New York Voices and the Pat Metheny Group. I listened to these pieces often and I fell in…
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Bjork + Bigband = Bjorkestra
Lately I’ve been enamored with experimental covers of pop musicians. My latest object of affection is the intersection of modern big-band and Bjork. The result is Travis Sullivan’s Bjorkestra. An incredible collection of jazz interpretations of music written and performed by Bjork. Take a listen, buy their albums…or go see them live.
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