Fickle Ears

I recall that rather amusing moment in the early days of TubeNet when the first person dared to verbalize what we'd all been observing ...

"If it seems too good to be true, it probably is." Slowly but surely, I'm learning not to buy CD's that get reviewed favor...

Reading the comments on this by a certain "Mark" has set me off. Thank you Mark for taking it upon yourself to set the jazz world...

I hate to get involved in these things, but here goes nothin'... A challenge was issued here earlier this week. You can peruse the resp...

Yeah, yeah, yeah, labels/genres are stupid and we all hate them. "...but is it jazz?" and "...but is it music?" are easi...

It seems to me that examining the similarities and differences between classical music concerts and professional sports events could teach u...

In enabling comment moderation, I inadvertently also limited posting privileges to "team members." I think I've got it straigh...

As the subtitle "death by eclectic chair" is meant to imply (thankfully for you it's a pun, not a typo), this blog is showing ...

It was not without trepidation that I recently filled out some parts of my blogger profile that I had previously left blank (specifically, t...

I've entered a few composition contests in my time, but until this spawned this and this , I never stopped to think about entry fee-to...

As I continue to avoid practicing orchestal excerpts, a cursory glance at recent online developments yields a newfound awareness of several ...

Everyone should read this post by Kyle Gann. My jaw was on the floor a couple of times. I want to say I agree with him, but that would not ...

#1- Low humidity coupled with low temperatures is one of mother nature's many ways of saying "I hate you" to brass players. #...

I finally got the bug that is going around, so I've been holed up the last few days trying to recover. Out of sheer frustraton, I actual...

What jumps out at me about much of the discourse on the internet concerning contemporary classical music is that there are an awful lot of f...

Event #1: I had a conversation with another musician several months ago where he said that too many players and teachers use orchestral exce...

In composition, there is a fine line between "finding your voice" and painting by number; between giving each piece a personal tou...

About a month ago now, I mailed entries to two composition contests by way of Priority Mail. As always, I availed myself of the USPS's d...

Allow me to reflect on my most recent yet only marginally successful attempts to hack through a few of the orchestral excerpts I've been...

By popular demand, I've added links to some of my music. Be nice. I regret that I do not currently have a decent recording of an entire ...

Merry Christmakwanzaakah to all you brass types out there: click here

As listeners, we often experience the phenomenon of a piece "growing" on us. It is not an unusual occurrence, but what if the piec...

From Bob Blumenthal's notes to the Rudy Van Gelder edition of "Unity" by Larry Young: "From its first appearance in the...

...who used to play tuba. Be it a parent, sibling, significant other, or themselves, I cannot believe the number of people who come up to me...

Is this progress?

A few months ago, I purchased 10 CDs from CD Baby , all by artists I had never heard of previously. I used only the 2 minute sound samples o...

The phone rang late last night. It was a musician friend of mine. Get this: someone had given him an iTunes gift certificate and he wanted t...

Gunther Schuller caused quite a stir when he published his analysis of Sonny Rollins solo on Blue Seven. His point (ostensibly, that a jazz ...

I really hate the way solo tuba CD's are recorded. It would guess that it is an effort to recreate the sense of space and reverberance f...

To refer to a passage or a piece of music as a gesture is to insult its distinctive characteristics and autonomous nature. As mere gesture, ...

Colin Holter of New Music Box makes an interesting point in a recent post when he writes that, "our 'instincts' may themselve...

Do you nod off at concerts? Do you find the concert hall to be cold and stale? Do you have trouble sitting still for longer than 30 seconds?...

I'm not talking about inspiration or motivation; I'm talking about electricity! A cursory glance around my study reveals that of all...

I was at a rehearsal a few weeks ago and one of the musicians said something really deep: "Harmony is the new avant-garde." I'...

Question of the day: does or does not Minneapolis have a "scene"? The reason I ask is because of the curious things I hear people ...