Happy Birthday to You
For those of us asked to play Happy Birthday to You on a regular basis – and vaguely wondering each time about the copyright issues – there’s a comforting lawsuit (that’s a rarity) going through the US courts. See this…
Hymn book heaven
My church had a clearout of cupboards recently, and I volunteered a home for a selection of ancient hymn books. It’s not just the old music typefaces I love (often clearer than in modern hymn books) but the snapshot of…
Copyright made simple
Want to know if music is public domain? Here’s a useful guide from the IMSLP Petrucci Library which defines what exactly qualifies as public domain* music in Canada, the US, the EU, and China, Korea, Japan and South Africa. *…
Archangels from Frederick Stocken
Frederick Stocken’s Archangels has just been published by Banks and I’ve already got my copy. I’ve wanted to play these pieces ever since I found them on YouTube – to be honest the two outer movements are a little beyond…
Something more dramatic for the feet
I’ve been following Michael Johnston of @michaelsmusic on Twitter for a while, and I had to share a recent tweet about his reprint of Dramatic Pedal Studies by Hamilton Crawford Macdougall (1858-1945) in which the parts given to the…
Hummingbird – a fresh take on music notation
It’s hard enough learning a new instrument, but mastering notation at the same time can make music just too much of a struggle for youngsters. Blake West and Mike Sall in Austin Texas have come up with an alternative notation,…
Playing Elgar – with Dr Christopher Kent
Elgar’s image-consciousness could put many modern celebs to shame. As photography got into its stride at the turn of the 19th century, he posed for the camera as the dapper country gent (above) or the distinguished composer about to dash…
Organlive and Positively Baroque
Thank you to Lillian’s students in NJ for a link that led me to US internet radio station Organlive.com, devoted to the classical organ. It’s great for background listening – they’re streaming Bach right now in honour of his birthday. …
Pipedreams with Michael Barone
Pipedreams, website of the US public radio show, is well worth a visit, even if we can only listen to the archives, not the live programmes, outside of the USA. Their archives contain hundreds of hours of online…
Sight-reading resources
Sight-reading practice requires an endless supply of fresh pieces – because of course, it’s no longer sight-reading after the first play-through. The ABRSM books of graded sight-reading tests† are useful (and they also include graded transposition tests) but you work…
Why Prelude+Fugue?
The evolution of a musical form is, like biological evolution, seldom linear. But Philip Norman teased out a straight line of sorts, in his explanation of the development of the prelude/toccata/whatever + fugue format, on Saturday at Bloomsbury Central Baptist…
Useful manuals-only repertoire
I was pitched into the role of church organist with little preparation, and zero repertoire. I was told that it took at least a year, if not eighteen months, to develop a reliable pedal technique – and I am finding…
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