LIFE UNDER QUARANTINE

Here are Gordon Andrew R's latest musical suggestions :

18 May 2020

• The last day of this series

The art of thinking

 

17 May 2020

• In 1837 the Countess Belgiojoso arranged six of the best pianists in Paris to provide a variation on a theme by Bellini from his opera I Puritani. The six pianists were: Liszt, Chopin, Thalberg, Pixi, Herz and Czerny (who was in Paris at the time). The resultant piece was entitled Hexameron (after a theological tome commenting on the six days of creation).

Perhaps combine with several musicians to create a set of variations on a theme. Baroque performers may take the bass line, turn it into figured bass and improvise upper voices freely. Add a jazz player. It could be done on Zoom in an electronic version of trading fours.

Definition of trading fours: 'A technique in which musicians consistently alternate brief solos of pre-set length. (For trading fours, four bars; musicians may also trade twos, eights, and so forth.) Trading fours usually occurs after each musician has had a chance to play a solo, and often involves alternating four-bar segments with the drummer.' Definition from the University of Virginia.

• DreamWalkers, Idries Shah's 1970 documentary for the BBC, contains a brief scene repeated with different music and totally different effect. (Warning: This is not for the faint of heart!) Start at 6:46 for a one sentence explanation of what is to follow. I find it horrifying to watch one of the versions. But, such is the power of music and our expectations based on consciously ignored stimuli. Can you take a clip from a movie, family film and give it two, three or four different meanings by just changing the background music?
• Who is your favourite film composer? John Williams? Nino Rota? Dimitri Tiomkin? Akira Ifukube (Godzilla)? Hans Zimmer? Hildur Guðnadóttir? (It turns out she's a distant relation of my wife.)

But, if you think film music is something of a creative backwater, then remember that some of these composers wrote for film: Erik Satie, Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, Dmitri Shostakovich, Sofia Gubaidulina and John Corigliano (Altered States). By the way, it is not a creative backwater - just to be clear.

So: Watch a film!

16 May 2020

• In 1975 the composer Allan Rae wrote a book on improvisation. It was based on his many years of work in jazz, as well as experience and study of modern aleatoric scores. Entitled From controlled interpretations to improvisations of abstract ideas in contemporary music the book remains as yet unpublished.

Rae suggests four elements that will undergo change in his approach: Tempo, Meter, Dynamics and Pitch order. Rae then gives a melody:


Example A: 'From controlled interpretations to improvisations of abstract ideas in contemporary music'. © 2020 Allan Rae. Used with permission.

He then proceeds to alter one of these four elements from its performance. It is best just to see his thinking in operation:


Example B: Change specific tempo to ‘rubato'. © 2020 Allan Rae. Used with permission.


Example C: Remove specific meter, replace with time based on second's duration. Freedom in previous parameter. © 2020 Allan Rae. Used with permission.


Example D: De-specify dynamics. Freedom in previous parameters. © 2020 Allan Rae. Used with permission.

Suggestion: Take a melody from your repertoire and subject it to these alterations.


Example E: Reduce pitch order to general sections. Freedom in previous parameters. © 2020 Allan Rae. Used with permission.


Example F: Reduce pitch order to a single pitch collection. Freedom in previous parameters. © 2020 Allan Rae. Used with permission.

Suggestion: Take a melody from your repertoire and subject it to these sorts of alterations. What freedom do you feel?

15 May 2020

• Around Europe in Early Music

The study of Early Music essentially focusses on music from Europe. I believe other terms are used to describe other music traditions and their performance practice. Most often we think of Gregorian Chant, but there are other traditions from that time as well. For example: Byzantine Chant.

The remarkable scholar and indefatigable researcher Henry Farmer was detailed in his analysis of the influence of Arabic Music on Europe in the medieval era. His ideas do not have a great deal of 'street cred' these days, but I suggest it is hard to argue with the library's worth of facts he collected. How's that for stirring a hornet's nest? Just remember the word 'lute' is probably derived from the Arabic word 'al-'ud'.

Where are the oldest surviving pipe organs in Europe? Try hunting them down.

I believe we have wrongfully forgotten the hurdy-gurdy and its music from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance. If you look up 'How to build a hurdy-gurdy' online you will actually find information. Find your hammer, chisel and saw and get going!

14 May 2020

I have not made enough of suggestions for musical activities with children, or the young at heart.

• Sing songs in the style of children's film characters:
  - Imagine Shrek himself singing Somewhere over the Rainbow
  - Or Sid from Ice Age singing My Way
  - Or Mickey Mouse doing rap. Any rap.
• Do a dress up and sing! They call it Cosplay now.
• Have a concert of famous actors or media figures from film singing incongruous songs - maybe not for children:
  - Humphrey Bogart from Casablanca - anyone remember the character's name? - singing As Time Goes By *
  - John Wayne singing I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy
  - Scarlett Johansson or John Cleese singing Someday my prince will come
  - Chris Hemsworth singing anything with The Wiggles
  - William Shatner singing Rocket Man (Oh. He did!)
  - Kirk Douglas singing YMCA
  - David Tennant singing The Dalek Song
  - Judi Dench humming the theme to James Bond 007
  - Milla Jovovich singing/chanting Down in the Valley Where the Green Grass Grows
  - Charlie Chaplin's The Little Tramp singing John Cage's 4'33"
  - Donald Trump singing Woody Guthrie's Tear the Fascists Down or The Clash's Clampdown
  - Boris Johnson reciting Dylan Thomas' Do not go gentle into that good night.

(* The character's name was Rick Blaine, hence the name of the nightclub: Rick's Café Américain.)

• The actor who played Saruman in The Lord of the Rings, the great Christopher Lee (who was the only one in the film project to have met the author, J R R Tolkien), said that he re-read The Lord of the Rings every year. What piece of music do you return to in this dedicated way?

13 May 2020

• I take the term jurassic technology to refer old methods of doing things that have been superseded, or never really worked in the first place, but, were brilliant imaginations. As an example, some of Leonardo da Vinci's inventions. Another developer of such ideas was Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680) who seemed obsessed with arcane knowledge and collected vast treasure troves of information and technologies.

But, we now have devices that we may remember, but can't use, or can't access. For example:

A couple of years back I sent some cassette tapes of the pianist and composer Gunnar Johansen to the pianist Michael Kieran Harvey in Australia. Johansen released his performances and compositions in this format in the 1980s, but so far very little has been transferred to any more modern format. The problem? Dr Harvey did not really have a cassette player anymore. However, his old Diahatsu Handivan did. So, there he sat. In a car. Using a cassette player. Listening to Gunnar Johansen.

Now that is jurassic technology at its best.

There are 78s, cylinders, cassettes, and LPs, VHS, Betamax and DAT tapes that probably store hours of music and performances. Maybe even a Super 8 film camera? Do you have some of these? Do you have a machine to play them? Can you listen to, or watch them?

Sources: Wikipedia article about the Museum of Jurassic Technology and Athanasius Kircher & the Museum of Jurassic Technology

(My use of the term is not quite in accord with these articles, but, I keep to mine for my own uses.)

12 May 2020

• I should probably have suggested this early on. (I had thought of it - just never wrote it down.)

I really believe that playing a musical instrument is akin to a sport. There's an excellent book called The Musician as Athlete by Dorothy Bishop. When I was a teacher I always recommended that my students do something physical. Some kind of training, movement therapy, some kind of activity. What that was depended on the student (and the age and their personality and character). Young children might clearly be excepted - they just need playgrounds.

But, for the rest of us: something.

For example:
- Yoga
- Alexander Technique
- Feldenkrais Method
- Tai chi
- Qigong
- Aikido

Quite a few can be practiced (at least at the start) with online videos. Others require teachers.

I hesitate to suggest some of the martial arts, as there's more hitting than musicians' hands require in something like King Fu or Karate.

There are other methods. Do you know them?

There have been a few body builder pianists. Leon Bates (born 1949) is one. Know any others?

Xaver Scharwenka published exercises for the pianist back at the beginning of the twentieth century. The article I saw had photos of the elderly but spry Polish-German pianist. I seem to remember a large moustache in the best late nineteenth century manner.

11 May 2020

• Humour is absolutely critical to surviving lockdown. According to some reports I've read, the Turkish soldiers captured during the Korean War survived their gruelling incarceration by telling many jokes. I hope you are able to laugh.

There's lots of comedy around, though I find the use of profanity an often lame replacement for a lack of wit.

Need I tell you there are jokes about musicians? Here's one about a conductor I heard thirty years ago.

A very aged conductor had led the orchestra for decades. Before every rehearsal, and before every performance he stood on the podium and while looking down at the score on the music stand before him, removed a small slip of paper from his left hand pocket. He read its contents, put it away, and then began the rehearsal or performance in earnest. He was a fine conductor. No one ever discovered what the little paper said. It was old, frayed and battered from years of use.

But, age and time had its effects and one day, the conductor on arthritic legs slowly mounted the podium before a rehearsal, went through his small routine, and raised his baton to begin work. Suddenly, he collapsed and died there on the spot from a massive heart attack. The musicians rushed to his aid as fast as they could, but the first responders to his stricken form already found him dead. In shock they looked up and around at each other. Then, the assistant concert master nodded in the direction of the conductor's pocket. 'What about that?' she asked. She meant the little slip of paper in his pocket. The musicians huddled around were dismayed. 'We can't bother with that! My God, he's dead!' But, curiosity got the better of their scruples and the first cellist rummaged in the coat pocket to remove the tattered and folded shard of paper. He unwrapped it and read its complete contents aloud to his colleagues:

'Violins on the left. Cellos on the right.'

What about telling jokes to each other? Leave no musician alone.

10 May 2020

• Some composers just pour out torrents of music. Here are some:

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
Johann Christoph Graupner (1683-1760)
J S Bach (1685-1750) - I believe only half of his cantatas have survived.
Carl Czerny (1791-1857) Some 800 or so opus numbers.
Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (1892-1988)
Carson Cooman (born 1982) His webpage lists Op 1352.

On the other hand there are composers who have not written that much music.

Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849). Only to around Op 70. (It depends how you count, I suppose.)
Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813-1888) - I believe he only wrote some one hundred compositions.
Anton von Webern (1883-1945). He spent much time polishing his gems of music, as someone said.
Conlon Nancarrow (1912-1997). I rather think the enormous time involved in hand punching the piano rolls slowed his productivity.

Sadly, some women composers fall into this latter category for various reasons beyond merely creative fire or fastidious production. Many were discouraged, many of their works are lost, many died early (often in childbirth).

There are also many composers these days who have created large numbers of works, but they are sadly not yet widely recognized. Time may tell ...

Can you add any other names? Who wrote too much? Who wrote too little?

9 May 2020

• Ballet

I have completely neglected ballet. Well, the reason is simple: I always feel uncomfortable in a situation where I have to watch people dressed in very tight fitting clothes engaged in varied, sometimes sensuous movements. (This is true of dancing in general for me. The most embarrassing moment I can easily recall was a Greek restaurant enlivened by a dancer. My wife was sitting across the table from me.)

Therefore, I don't actually go to ballet. But, I'm sure others do. I know that the music for it is of the highest quality.

So, put on some ballet music and dance, dance, dance!!!!

For those who took ballet and are a bit rusty, there are many sites with ballet terms and movements described in great detail. Lessons can be found as well. Of course, all the great ballets are online, as are films of the greatest stars of dance.

8 May 2020

• Longest classical compositions

If you need time filled up, then here are suggestions for long songs:

Sleep by Max Richter (about eight hours)

Various works by Kaikhosru Shapurgi Sorabji. Some are eight hours long. Learn more at The Sorabji Archive.

Stimmung (1968) by Karlheinz Stockhausen. Certainly not the longest of his works - as a set 'Klang' might count as one of the longer, but, Stimmung is takes one hour or so to perform.

The Well Tuned Piano by La Monte Young. About six hours.

Try looking up 'long Tibetan chant'. You will find three hour recordings in various places ...

Sources: https://theculturetrip.com/europe/united-kingdom/articles/the-10-longest-pieces-of-classical-music/ and my own experiences.

These long works are not on recordings, but must be experienced in person:

Ra by R Murray Schafer: 'RA is a multi-sensory experience, including an elaborate array of perfumes, incenses, food rituals and other participative ceremonies involving the initiates.' If I'm not mistaken it is a 'dusk to dawn' event.

And Wolf Shall Inherit the Moon, also by R Murray Schafer: 'The work, which takes the form of an elaborate ritual performance in wilderness forest, lasts for eight days. The same participants return each year to camp in eight clans at four campsites.'

Source for Schafer quotes: http://www.patria.org/arcana/arcdrama.html#Music%20dramas

• Shortest classical compositions

I once heard of a composer working on an oboe concerto that was to be seven seconds long. I must have missed the recording or performance. About ten years ago I wrote a '42 second Symphony' (in three movements). It remains unperformed. Do you know of any other mercifully short compositions?

7 May 2020

• Listening with a hammer

In one of Friedrich Nietzsche's books he spoke about how to philosophize with a hammer. According to one commentator, he did not mean smashing things, but something else. He meant to strike an object gently to see how it rings, what sound it makes, and if the sound is true and good. He was thinking of this as a metaphor for considering ideas and what they 'sounded' like, but the method applies in real life, with real objects.

Take a small beater - a soft one so you don't dent anything - and go around the house giving the lightest tap to various objects and see what they sound like. My computer has a solid, but dead sound to it. The desk has an interesting resonance if struck on the edge. The sound lingers just ever so much. I can get a hollow sound out of the cookbook that is on the bed next to the desk. What sounds lurk silently around you waiting a light touch in order to awaken? Make Nietzsche proud.

6 May 2020

• Music Critics of the past and present

One music critic of great fame once tried to play the piano for a famous pianist. It didn't go well. There is the big issue with critics - they can not do what they critique. Perhaps they can write, but perhaps they can't.

There have been many critics. As a musician, ponder the good and bad critics you have encountered. What did they get wrong and why? What did they get right, and how?

Doris Lessing recounts how she was warned about music critics by Philip Glass, her collaborator on an opera. She was amazed at the cruelty, which she felt far exceeded literary critics. I'm not sure that's true, having read some pretty harsh reviews of books.

Here are some famous music critics from the long ago past up to something like the mid-twentieth century.

- Charles Burney (1726-1814) (I include him because of his first-hand descriptions of musicians.)
- Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) (A great composer consigned to writing reviews to pay the bills).
- Robert Schumann (1810-1856) (ditto)
- Eduard Hanslick (1825-1904) (An influential critic who has supporters and detractors even today. I find him mean-spirited.)
- John Sullivan Dwight (1813-1893) (A very influential American critic and publisher.)
- Corno di Basetto (aka George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950) (He took everything that is serious and made a jest or witticism of it. In the vanity-soaked exhibitionism there is a great deal of interest.)
- Harold C Schonberg (New York Times critic and author, 1915-2003) A very influential pundit.
- Colin Wilson (1931-2013) (His music criticism is always from an existential view - how the music makes us better - or worse. Not everyone agrees with this approach.)

5 May 2020

• The Sound of Epic

There was a time when epics were recited, or what we might call sung. Here's The Epic of Gilgamesh from ancient Sumeria.

Take a few lines of Homer, Ariosto, etc, etc, and sing your own epic poem.

Achilles' baneful wrath resound, O Goddess, that impos'd
Infinite sorrows on the Greeks, and many brave souls los'd.
- Iliad by Homer, translated by George Chapman

Ariosto - well, I doubt the poem was sung as by a bard, but, it has made for a few operas ... :

LXV
Her face was such as sometimes in the spring
We see a doubtful sky, when on the plain
A shower descends, and the sun, opening
His cloudy veil, looks out amid the rain.
And as the nightingale then loves to sing
From branch of verdant stem her dulcet strain,
So in her beauteous tears his pinions bright
Love bathes, rejoicing in the chrystal light.
- Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto

Do you know the operas based on this poem?

The Sháhnáma
Speak, sage ! the praise of wisdom and rejoice

The hearts of those that hearken to thy voice,

As God's best gift to thee extol the worth
Of wisdom, which will comfort thee and guide,

And lead thee by the hand in heaven and earth.

Both joy and grief, and gain and loss, betide

Therefrom, and when it is eclipsed the sane

Know not of happiness one moment more.

- The Sháhnáma of Firdausí (translated by Warner and Warner), 'The Prelude'

There are many other epics out there. Wikipedia (bless its heart) has a list. This is many lifetimes of reading ... or singing.

4 May 2020

• Sound Walk
  
  Now, an idea taken up by R Murray Schafer - one of Canada's greatest creators - and if the Nobel Prize can give the prize in literature to Dylan, then it can certainly give it to Schafer - he has written books, articles, poems and the libretti to his vast series of operas, Patria. Well, Schafer is a strong proponent of the sound walk. So, if you are allowed out for walks, go along your walk and listen to the sounds along the way.
  
  Notice what sounds you also filter out - like the hum of traffic. Some sounds stand out like alarms, for they signal danger. Others are occasional and signify the presence of animal or human life. All are sounds, but not all are music.
  
  I do not know if Schafer invented this concept. He might have. But, someone else might claim primacy. I leave that for the chronologically minded scholars to discover.
  
  You can make a map like this:


A Sound Walk Map

3 May 2020

• Post-modern Composers
  
  I had thought of the idea of crazy composers as a suggestion for investigation, where crazy means wild, imaginative, extreme, brilliant and surprising. I looked online at various resources to refresh my memory, and while I am not a Luddite, I was dismayed at much of the music. Some is from decades ago, but it has not worn well. I think many were revolutionaries only in their own minds and strove to destroy the music of their elders in order to make room for their own. But, what they replaced the wreckage with is not all that impressive. I truly regret saying this and hope that it is merely my caged mood that makes me think this.
  
  I suppose there are post-post-modern composers, and I see the young ones giving concerts. But, I notice one thing: their concerts are cable spaghetti events. So many electronic devices all tied together (a form of false unity - connected by cable) and the gadgets are piles high on tables and racks. I find it so hard to grasp this need for technology, unless it is the need to certify the music by the stamp of legitimacy that Science end Technology can give. Surely this is the era of Wi-fi?
  
  Here is my answer to all of the technology: the Arabic, Persian or Turkish ney and its music. All you need is a tube and magic.

2 May 2020

• Soundmarks. R Murray Schafer suggested the term to correspond with the concept landmark. For example, the chimes of Big Ben. It's a sound associated with a certain place and it has information in it about the place and its meaning. What are some others? Can you imagine the soundmarks on your walk this morning? Even around your home? Across the country? Around the world?
• I hope people are playing computer games. It will certainly pass the time. I'm in the process of setting up some legacy computers - I never throw this stuff away: just ask my wife - and playing some of the games that should still be on them. Caesar 3 was my favourite. Do you have any legacy games available?
  
  And now, the musical part: what was the music like and which games had great music? I liked the music for Caesar 3 as well. My children and I played the various Harry Potter games and the music was good. Also, we played - well, I did too - The Riddle of the Sphinx. Excellent soundscapes.

1 May 2020

• Famous and not so famous Hungarian composers. You are in for a surprise:
  Béla Bartók (1881-1945)
  Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
  Ernő Dohnányi (1877-1960)
  Franz Lehár (1970-1948)
  Karl Goldmark (1830-1915)
  Miklós Rózsa (1907-1995)
  Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967)
  Emánuel Moór (1863-1931)
  Mihály Mosonyi (1815-1879)
  György Ligeti (1923-2006)
  Stephen Heller (1815-1888)
  Isidore Phillip (1863-1958)
  (Sources: https://www.ranker.com/list/famous-composers-from-hungary/reference, Wikipedia's List of Hungarian Composers and my own memory ...)

30 April 2020

• Salon Music
  Music for the salon is often considered subpar. But, we should recall that Chopin spent his life in the salons of Paris. There were other salon composers, and others who would have liked to have been invited to some high class salons, but succeeded only in composing music for the place. Henri Herz (1803-1888) is my favourite from the nineteenth century. Here are some other names:
  Anguera (sic)
  Artchibousheff, N
  Bauman, F C
  Beaumont, Paul
  Blumnethal, Jacques
  Bohlman, H
  Bohm, Carl
  Browne, F H
  Dolmetsch, V
  Durand, August
  Farwell, Arthur
  Fielitz, Alexander von
  Gabriel-Marie (sic)
  Gillet, Ernest
  Godard, Benjamin
  Gounod, C F (a waltz from Faust transcribed by Ch Voss)
  Gregh, Louis
  Haberbiere, E
  Hauser, M
  Henselt Adolphe von
  Holländer, V
  Ilynski, Alex
  Kirchner, Theodore
  Kuhe, W
  Lange, Gustav
  Lavallée, Calixa
  Lefébure-Wély, L J A
  Leybach, I
  Lysberg, C B
  MacDowell, E A
  Merkel, Gustav
  Meyer-Helmund, Erik
  Moszkowski, Moritz
  Oesten, Theodor
  Paderewski, I J
  Pauer, E
  Reinecke, K
  Roeckel, Joseph (arranger)
  Scharwenka, Phillipp
  Schulhoff, Julius
  Schulz-Weida, Jos
  Schütt, Ed
  Spohr, L
  Strauss, Johann
  Thalberg, S
  Verdi, G (transcribed by F Spindler)
  Wagner, Richard (transcribed by Liszt)
  Weber, K M von
  
  Source: The World's Best Music: Famous Compositions for Piano, (various editor's names), Volume 3, 1908, from my personal library. In the list above I have removed the names of some famous composers who were added to this collection to improve its moral/musical standing: like Beethoven, Mozart, Grieg, and Liszt. This series was in 10 (?) volumes. The Internet Archive has volumes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 9.

29 April 2020

• In Arthur Loesser's book Men, Women and Pianos: A Social History he mentions that, circa 1800, a piano seller offered a free harpsichord with the purchase of a piano. During the nineteenth century I doubt any harpsichords were built at all. Then came the harpsichord revival. But, these instruments were built with the technical know-how, the technical ideals and the sound conceptions of a hundred years of piano manufacture. Needless to say these instruments are now dreadfully out of fashion. But, I rather think one day HIP players will trundle them out and give them a go in suitable repertoire. Has your musical instrument changed over the centuries? If so, how? Do you have an old style flute? Maybe a saxophone from the 1800s? What are they like?
• The great nineteenth century pianist Anton Rubinstein once vociferously complained that authors never get music right. He was speaking of Tolstoy's novella The Kreutzer Sonata. Because of Rubinstein's complaint - and I think very highly of him, I have never read this work by Tolstoy. So, those who have: did he understand the music correctly?
  
  There are many books about music, or at least with musical themes or titles. I have this on my shelf: The Mechanical Pianos by Henri-François Rey (transcribed by Peter Wiles), original publication 1962. It was 'adapted' into a movie entitled The Uninhibited in 1965. Can you remember, or find other novels with musical subjects? How did the author's do? (I tend to believe authors writing about music is like walkers tripping about ballet. I agree with Rubinstein.)

28 April 2020

• Yesterday I suggested looking at different editions of music to see how they compared. Today, I suggest handwriting. Composer's manuscripts are now easily downloadable from IMSLP and most truly are in the public domain. Try browsing your favourite composers and see what their handwriting was like. Here are a couple of examples:


Beethoven: 9th symphony, Adagio. Holograph manuscript, 1824 Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (D-B): Mus.ms.autogr. Beethoven, L. v. 2, At IMSLP


Robert Schumann: Fantasiestücke, Op 73, from IMSLP

27 April 2020

• Early on in this daily quarantine article series I suggested listening to chants of major religious traditions. Have atheists started composing atheist hymns for anti-religious services? Well, Steve Martin has written one for them.
• According to Egon Petri, the pedagogue Carl Czerny wrote all those etudes because he hated children. Czerny was far from a bad composer - although vastly prolific. His Piano Sonatas are his great contribution to serious composition and deserve to be on concert programmes. Perhaps it is time to rethink your dislike of Czerny if you played his music when young ...
• Not all music engraving is created equal. Once, it took a ten-year apprenticeship to become a music engraver. Today, every composer is expected to do his/her own. Take several editions of the same piece and compare how they look. Are the note-heads the same size and shape? Are the slurs the same? How thick are the bar lines? Staff lines, stems? How much white space is there? How closely squeezed are the notes? Is one publication heavily edited with slurs, fingering and dynamics added by the editor that are not by the composer? It is a fabulous study to investigate editions and engraving, but, I believe the great pianist and teacher Nathan Perelman warned not to grow the soul of a proof-reader. I fear his warning has fallen on many deaf ears.

26 April 2020

• Being a pianist, I tend to think of them when considering 78 recordings and performers 80 to 120 years ago. But, there are countless vocalists (opera and otherwise). Here are some. You might plug their names into your favourite search engine and find recordings online. Some of them had amazing and scandalous lives! Oh, and many were astounding singers and artists.
  - Enrico Caruso (1873-1921) (of course, I start with him).
  - Beniamino Gigli (1890-1957) He would be offended that he came second on the list.
  - Alessandro Moreschi (1858-1922) The only castrato singer to be recorded.
  - Elisabeth Schumann (1888-1952)
  - Ernestine Schumann-Heink (1861-1936)
  - Lauritz Melchior (1890-1973)
  - Aksel Shiøtz (1906-1975)
  - Lily Pons (1898-1976) A supreme coloratura.
  - Feodor Chaliapin (1873-1938) A legendary Russian bass.
  - Haykanoush Danielyan (1893-1958) An Armenian opera singer.
  - Fanny Anitúa Medrano (1887-1968) A Mexican opera star.
  - Fray José de Guadalupe Mojica (1895-1974) A tenor, film star and eventually Franciscan. What a career path! A beautiful voice.

25 April 2020

• The great silent movie comedian Buster Keaton made a film called The Railrodder about a man trapped on a train cart across Canada. The gags are sight gags, quite frequent and of a gentle and family-friendly kind. This is a swan song by one of the greatest stars of the silent movie era. Sound effects were dubbed later, so this might count as a silent film ...
  Here it is at the NFB's YouTube channel.
  Buster Keaton Rides Again is a documentary about the making of the above film, also at YouTube. (The National Film Board of Canada seems to have made a large portion of its archives freely available. It is an astounding collection of films, and I say this not just because I have a Canadian passport. One of our proudest cultural achievements).
• Consider a trip across Canada, or the US, or Russia realized in sound. Perhaps by train, perhaps by car. Several composers have written such works. Do you know any of them?

24 April 2020

• If you have family: sing the James Bond theme music every time you walk in the room. This suggestion will get old very quickly. If you have young children get them to sing a song in honour of you when you walk in the room. See how long it takes your teenage children (if you have them) to agree to that nonsense.
• In ancient times different sound signals were used to tell people some important information. In one town in Europe there was a specific bell that was rung to tell shopkeepers to turn in all false money they had received. (See Bells and Man by Percival Price.) Coaches from other cities and towns had specific horn calls that informed the townsfolk if it was a coach with passengers, from what town, or if it carried mail. (Information from R Murray Schafer: Tuning of the World and other sources).
  Therefore, create musical signals for each member of the family - those that can be sung or easily created. When you want to call them, don't call their name - sing their signal. (Again, I suspect this is an idea from Murray Schafer - anyone know? If it is, I will provide correct credit.) At dinner have a little quodlibet before the meal where you all sing each other's song.

23 April 2020

• Chladni Figures
  Ernst Chladni (1756-1827) was a German scientist and conducted experiments in acoustics. He demonstrated the wave patterns of sound and left methods of seeing sound. These are called Chladni figures. Here's the book (1809 edition). Here are the figures. And on the next few pages. These are the patterns made when specific pitches cause sand to vibrate on a metal plate or drum skin. Here's a video of the figures.
• Cymatics
  The Swiss scientist Hans Jenny (1904-1972) further developed Chladni's examples and named what he discovered cymatics. He examined Chladni's figures in very great detail and found fascinating elements of the power of sound. Some have taken Jenny's ideas further in art, healing and sometimes something further out of mainstream intellection.
  'How to make a Chladni plate'
  The Journal of Cymatics
  Jodina Meehan at YouTube

22 April 2020

• There's a whole acoustic subculture of creating background sounds for special places and times. A dreadful snow storm, an ancient library, a medieval pub etc. I am grateful to Lorraine Rumson for bringing these to my attention.
  Make your own ambient soundscape - you need the recording software Audacity - but you downloaded that weeks ago as i suggested, didn't you? What are the sounds around you? Record them. String them together and listen to your own world.
  Okay, so you've recorded your own world. What about making an ambient recording of your favourite location? Can you get there with a microphone? Or can you concoct a soundscape electronically?
• Bad Music from the Classical Era
  It is a given that classical music is great. But, was it all great? I don't believe it was. There are some pretty bad composers, some pretty bad compositions. Anton Rubinstein was called a fountain of bad music, but I think it undeserved. His Ocean Symphony reportedly made people seasick. Give it a try, but kep scopolamine handy if you must.
  Do you know of any other terrible works - perhaps even a lousy work by a famous composer?
• Battle Music
  Everyone knows the 1812 Overture. Yes, the one with canons. But, the genre of battle music was extremely popular in the late eighteenth and nineteenth century. The most famous of all was the Battle of Prague - one of the greatest female english novelists mentions it: can you find out who? - by a totally obscure composer. It is colossally bad. Well, so was Beethoven's contribution to the genre about a fellow named Wellington. Liszt tried to invigorate the form in his symphonic poem The Battle of the Huns but, Lisztian that I am, I could never go for it.
  Suggestion for a family concert: create battle music for some famous struggle. The War of the Roses, the Fall of Constantinople, the squabble over breakfast.

21 April 2020

• Open your windows. Spring must be here. Can you hear any birds singing? What with the reduction in traffic, maybe they are easier to hear.
• Have you ever tried to transcribe a bird song?
• Johnny Carson, the legendary American late night TV show host, presented a high school that helped students learn to imitate bird calls. Here are a few of the performers from 1986. And of course, there is Olivier Messiaen's enormous Catalogue d'oiseaux from 1958 for piano.


Photo © 2020 Tony LePrieur. Used with permission. For more photos see Tony LePrieur on flickr

20 April 2020

• One thing that has shown up on Youtube is a compilation of performances by different artists of the same piece. Here is one of the Etude Op 10, No 1 by Chopin, played by eight different pianists.
  Now what about three different versions of Shakespeare's Henry V Crispin Day speech? : Kenneth Branagh, Laurence Olivier and Richard Burton. And, for a completely different take on this speech: Mark Rylance. If such different interpretations are possible for a speech, then consider how much is possible for a composition ... Notice the background music/sound effects in some of these! Yikes!!!
• Some musicians and listeners posses the capacity of synaesthesia: the perception of colour when hearing certain sounds. Olivier Messiaen claimed this for his experience of colours and sounds. Do you have this? Are there some sounds that make you think of colours? Can you play a blue sound on your instrument? Purple? Chartreuse?
• The Stradivarius is the quintessential and unique type of violin. (He did make violas and according to the James Bond film The Living Daylights, a cello - how do you like my sources for information?) But, can you hear the difference between different makes of your instrument (ie clarinet, flute, trombone)? Well, of course you can. But, what about other instruments? Perhaps you play the saxophone. What are the makes, what are the differences, and what are the flaws between the different companies? Pianists: Can you tell the difference between a Steinway, a Baldwin, a Young Chang, a Broadwood, a Bechstein and a Blüthner? How many of these have you played?

19 April 2020

• I seem to recall a peculiar CD released a decade or so ago which consisted of only interpretations of Debussy's Reflets dans l'eau played by a dozen or more pianists. I can't find it online. Perhaps someone recalls. Well, there's an idea then: Listen to twenty different performances of a single piece. There's scads of most standard repertoire to choose from. Select everything from students to masters, modern to old timers, and then choose your favourite. Include your own performance if you can, or perhaps even a colleague from university. Whose is best?
• As you practice - remember the first day of these suggestions ... you are still practicing aren't you? - well, as I was saying, when you are practicing, do something that was suggested by Nadia Boulanger - I have this suggestion from two of her students who taught me - play a melody and then devise twenty different, but justified phrasings for that melody.
• From the Canadian (though born in America) composer, educator and activist Richard Johnston (1917-1997) I was told this story of Nadia Boulanger: She was listening to a young organist play one of the large organ Preludes and Fugues of Bach. The young woman played and Boulanger asked 'Do you know this piece?' 'Yes, Mademoiselle.' 'Then, play it again.' After the second rendition, Boulanger asked 'Do you know this piece?' 'Yes, Mademoiselle.' 'Then play it again.' After the third rendition Boulanger asked again, 'Do you know this piece?' In some degree of frustration the young organist replied, 'Yes, Mademoiselle. I have just played it for you three times. I think I know it.' 'Good', replied Boulanger, 'Then play me the alto line in bar 40 of the fugue.'

(This is the story as I tell it, based on Richard Johnston's version which he told me thirty-five years ago. My memory is that of an old man. So was his. He did not witness it, but probably heard the story from one of his fellow students, for Richard Johnston studied with Boulanger - and indeed gave the premiere with her of Stravinsky's Sonata for Two Pianos in Madison, Wisconsin. Take the story with whatever grain of salt you would like.)

18 April 2020

• There are many lost compositions. Works destroyed or missing. I know one composer who just threw them away - decades of work gone forever. The recordings of one pianist are now in a landfill somewhere. Have you heard such stories?
• Ever wonder how rich some famous musicians really were? Is there any way to find out? I fear it will create a foul mood. 'What, that guy???'
• Read books that inspired music. Don Quixote inspired Telemann and Anton Rubinstein to compose pieces. I bet you didn't know that. Any others?

17 April 2020

• 'Recitative has got to be the most boring musical form ever invented and practiced by humans for an extended period of time.' - A P Virag
  I can hardly agree with him on this, though, when one doesn't know the language being 'sung' one is at a disadvantage. But, there are certain conventions, certain mannerisms, certain formulae that make recitative easy to replicate in a pastiche fashion. Therefore, I suggest that people try engaging in a conversation in recitative manner. Chord accompaniments may be supplied by a keyboardist. If you have a gamba, cellist or bassoonist handy you can also then argue about whether the whole notes are held or played short. Imagine these words in recitative:

'I was out today!'
'Did you wear a mask?'
'Yes, I did!'
'Were there many people at the store?'
'Yes, and all had masks, many gloves and all stood back like they were prepared to battle for the toys and games and tissue on the shelves.'
'Oh, woeful times that it has sunk to this.'
'But, nice that as we stand back, we do not smell each other, for many people seem to have forgotten that they need to wash more than just their hands.'

• Read through copies of old music magazines. Here are a few links:
  The Musical Times (various years)
  The Musical Courier (various years)
  The Phonogram
  The Etude - this is from 1911; others can be found.
• Band programs at American high schools and universities are gigantic. The level of organization and commitment to the creativity of ensemble music is amazing. The University of Michigan has a YouTube channel. Then of course, there are marching bands!

16 April 2020

• Do you know any songs that mention a place in the world. Can you find it on a map? Here's one: The Girl from Ipanema. Folksongs often mention places - don't they? Where are they?
• Most countries have musical organizations to promote current composers:
  Canadian Music Cene
  British Music Information Centre, now Sound and Music
  Australian Music Centre
  Know any others?
• The Freemasons have always used music, and Mozart's connection with the Masons is well known. But, what about some of their other music? Often, what seems used are variants on hymns ... I'm sure there's more. Is this a rabbit hole?

15 April 2020

• Women composers are often quite underrepresented in the awareness of the public or of musicians. Wikipedia has a list of them by birth date. The first mentioned is an Egyptian composer in 2300BCE. The great creativity this list represents is beyond belief. I have been playing the harpsichord works of Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre (1665-1729).
• Some Canadian composers with a performance link:
  R Murray Schafer: Epitaph for Moonlight
  Allan Rae: Keltic Song
  Nova Pon: Wrenegade for solo flute
  Calixa Lavallée - no, I don't know how to pronounce his name! - The Butterfly. This was once one of the most popular salon pieces. Here is is given a rousing performance by a very young virtuoso.
  Jacques Hétu: Symphony No. 5
  Jean Coulthard: Three Aegean Sketches. One of the first pieces by a Canadian composer I discovered.
  Ann Southam: Rivers performed by Sarah Cahill. One of a large set.
  Murray Adaskin: Vocalise for solo violin
  Paul Z Fu: Sonata for piano performed by Jeffrey Wagner
  Alexina Louie: Triple Concerto
• What are some of the best concert halls you have ever played at, or been a listener at? What made them special?

14 April 2020

• What is the most beautiful piece of music for your instrument?
  An Alphorn player might suggest a certain Symphony by Brahms.
  I'd vote for the 'Arioso' from Bach's F minor harpsichord concerto as arranged by Alfred Cortot for solo piano.
  Now that you've got your favourite in your mind play it, or listen to it.
• How do you create a piece of aleatoric music? Chance music. John Cage used the I Ching to select elements of the composition. You can listen to his results here. Can you do something like this?
• I've been negligent of opera. Here's an idea:
  Watch a play by Shakespeare and then watch the opera version. That's two evenings used up! Which is better? Here are some versions:
  - Berlioz' Béatrice et Bénédict based on Much Ado about Nothing
  - Hamlet by Amroise Thomas
  - Macbeth by Joe Green (aka Giuseppe Verdi)
  - Antony and Cleopatra by Samuel Barber
  - At the Boar's Head by Gustav Holst. This is based on Henry IV.

13 April 2020

• Try looking up some forgotten or little known composers:
  - Sigismund Neukomm
  - Arthur Fickenscher
  - Gunnar Johansen
  - Amy Beach
  - Anton Reicha (he is best remembered by woodwind ensemble players)
  - Elizabeth Jacquet de la Guerre
  - Joseph Humfrey Anger
  - Leo Sowerby
  - Ann Boleyn (yes, her!)
  There are so many, so many ...
• Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne by Franz Liszt
  Imagine what you might hear on a mountain. Then, listen to Liszt's symphonic poem. How did he do?
• What is the hardest piece in the repertoire for your instrument? Play it. Among pianists it might be Op 106 by Beethoven (from the standard repertoire). For saxophone it might be the Sonata by Edison Denisov.

12 April 2020

• In the nineteenth century it was normal to create a story to go along with a composition - a Classical Music Daily author suggests this was a memory technique to help remember the composition. So, just for fun, make up a story as you listen to some piece from the nineteenth century. Of course, one should never desecrate sixteenth, seventeenth or eighteenth century music - because we know they would never do that. They were such better musicians than those dolts in the 1800s.
• Although this is not really music, the melody of poets might be considered. Then what about listening to poets read their own works?
  Alfred, Lord Tennyson
  William Butler Yeats
  The American Library of Congress has this website: www.loc.gov/collections/archive-of-recorded-poetry-and-literature/about-this-collection
• Musical genealogies. You studied with X, who studied with Y, who studied with famous composer Z. Can you trace yours back to Bach?

11 April 2020

• Find older - early twentieth century - performers/composers from all European countries and listen to their recordings:
  Ireland: John Francis McCormack, Count of the Holy Roman Church
  Scotland: Ronald Stevenson
  England: Myra Hess (1890-1965) and her teacher Tobias Matthay (1858-1945)
  Wales: Maria Novello (1884-1928)
  France: Isidore Phillip (1863-1958 !!!!) Except he was from Hungary! Read the Wikipedia resume of this man - amazing
  Spain: José Iturbi (1895-1980)
  Portugal: José Vianna da Motta - pianist, teacher, composer and student of Liszt
  Italy: you need me to give you a name? Oh, come on! Enrico Caruso
  Greece - well, Cyprus, actually: Solon Michaelides
  Balkans: The changes in nations, borders and resentments, means it is very hard to place a specific person in a specific nation back before WW2. No slight is intended. So, I choose an Albanian composer - Prenkë Jakova wrote the first Albanian language opera
  Germany: Again, I need to name someone? Franz Xaver Scharwenka, a great pianist and interesting composer from the late nineteenth century. Mostly piano rolls are all that are left of his artistry.
  Austria: No, absolutely not. I will not name an Austrian composer from the 1890s.
  Denmark: Gunnar Johansen
  Norway: Edvard Grieg left recordings of his own piano playing.
  Sweden: Wilhelm Stenhammar (1871-1927)
  Finland: Aino Ackté
  Czech Republic: Josef Suk (1874-1935)
  Slovakia: Ján Levoslav Bella
  Hungary: Emánuel Moór
  Poland: Polish pianists are a dime a dozen. Try this one: Ignace Tiegerman

10 April 2020

• Sonic Chess: In this variant - © pending, Gordon Andrew R - a song must be exchanged in order to take a player. If I want to take the black knight, the black player sings me a song. If I can sing it back, I can take the knight. If not, I lose my turn.
• Here's a ranking game: what are the five best films of all time based only on their music?
• Another film game: One person sings or plays a theme from a movie. The other players have to guess the movie.

9 April 2020

• Take your instrument apart and put it back together blindfolded. Some obvious instruments may be excused.
• A mental sound walk: Imagine walking along your favourite street. What are the sounds you would hear? If you need a visual, go to Google maps. Here's a favourite street of mine: Google maps: Ann Arbor, the corner of S State St and E Liberty.
• Take a Google maps walk through your home town. What sounds do you remember along the way?

8 April 2020

• Okay, I've been promoting serious music. What about something lighter and sort of from the 1930s? Here are some names from the past. How many do you know? Someone to look up perhaps?
  - Rudi Schuricke (1913-1973) was a German singer and film star in the 1930s and later. He had a smooth delivery and a very fine, clear voice.
  - Jane Froman (1907-1980) was an American singer and actress. Wikipedia gives this total explanation of this marvellous performer: 'The famous composer and producer Billy Rose, when asked to name the top ten female singers, is reported to have replied, "Jane Froman and nine others".'
  - Bing Crosby (1903-1977) was one of the greatest entertainers of the twentieth century with every award you can imagine - including for acting. And then he was rich. I mean rich. In his day, his delivery was as smooth as oil on a doorknob, as we say out West.
  - Fred Astaire (1899-1987) is better known as a dancer (and a great one). But, he sang, and sang, and sang.
  - Peruz (1866-1920) was an Ottoman era Armenian singer. She was considered very risqué. I have not been able to discover the existence of any recordings.
  - Rudy Vallée (1901-1986) was a teen idol in the 1920s.

7 April 2020

• Consider some painting or engraving from the medieval era. This woodcut is from the biographical novel of the life of Maximilian I, the Holy Roman Emperor (born 1459-1519). Can you notice what sounds go with the visual image?


Der Weisskunig (The White King): The Siege of Padua by German painter and woodcut printmaker Hans Burgkmair (1473-1531). Creative Commons licence CC0 1.0 Universal

Can you imagine the sound of the drunkard in the bottom left guzzling wine? What other sound sources are there in the engraving?

6 April 2020

• Make a list of all the countries of the EU. Now, name a famous musician from each. Andorra is not a member.
• Read a poem out loud, and have another musician improvise music to go with it. Have your children read a story out loud and you play music to go with it. Now reverse the process: Play some music and have the children make up a story to go with it.
• Composer: Write a short composition for a musician of your acquaintance. Send the score to them with a dedication.
  Musicians who receive these compositions: learn them, make a video recording of it and post it to YouTube, or some such.

5 April 2020

• As you microwave food listen to the hum of the machine. Sing a Gregorian style chant to match that pitch.
• Musicians are for the most part auditory learners. Painters obviously would be visual. According to the media analyst Marshall McLuhan, Each type of learner (or perceiver) will have different personality characteristics. How do you interact with the world? Do you see the world or hear it?
• Do a bit of psychic self analysis.

4 April 2020

• You thought space was silent? Well, even the sun is not - in itself: Helioseismology is the study of the interior of the Sun from observations of the vibrations of its surface. And if you doubt, then here's NASA's own recording. And now: Jupiter sings! Interestingly, I'm reminded of Stanley Kubrik's 2001 movie ... Jupiter sounds (so strange!) NASA-Voyager recording. And here: The sounds of Galaxies. And this does remind me of the electronic music for the sci-fi movie Forbidden Planet (1956). The music there was called 'electronic tonalities' and was created by Bebe and Louis Barron.
• Musician's playing cards. I wonder if anyone could design a Tarot deck with a classical musician's theme. What would The Fool look like? What instrument would he play? What would love be? Please not a pop music theme. If you have children, you can begin drawing a set right away. Crayons needed and somewhat stiff paper.
• Choose a musical pitch at the beginning of the day. Play it on your instrument, or a piano, For the morning, whenever you go to another room, sing that pitch as you remember it. At the end of the morning compare your pitch with the starting pitch. (Based on a barely remembered exercise of R Murray Schafer. I have not located his description. Anyone know?)

3 April 2020

• Make a list of musician's websites or YouTube channels to visit. Here's mine:
  Katherine Hughes
  George Flynn
  Allan Rae
  Alex Shapiro
  Carlo Grante
  Alistair Hinton
  Ronald Stevenson
  Fazil Say
  Idel Biret
  Larry Sitsky
  Micheal Kieran Harvey
  Arabella Teniswood-Harvey
  Jeffrey Wagner
• What can you say about this book:
  Sex Lives of the Great Composers by Nigel Cawthorne
• Can you bring to mind your earliest musical memory? What was it? Were you playing? Was someone else?
  (I don't think this was my earliest memory of music, but it is a vivid one from very early on: I recall sneaking to the stereo turntable when my parents were out and putting an LP of Liszt's Mazeppa on. I remember the record cover, the sound of the orchestra - it was the orchestral version - and how carefully I placed the LP. It wouldn't do to scratch it. My parents discarded the LP at some point, and I retrieved it from the garbage. I still have it. It's also odd that I later went on the perform the piano version numerous times.)

2 April 2020

• Tell your family a great story about one of your most successful performances in music. Make it dramatic, funny, grand and elevating.
• Contact your music teacher and thank them.
• Melodies have undergone many treatments. So, take a favourite melody and:
  - turn it upside down.
  - then play it backwards.
  - then play it upside down and backwards.
  You have now done everything Arnold Schoenberg did.
• Read a book of Music History: I'm re-reading Soundings (1988 and later reprints) by Glenn Watkins. I had the good fortune to take his course in twentieth century music history and was there as the book was in development. By the time you are done his book, all those weird sounds that you didn't like will make sense as music, social event and historical process. You will even like some of the strangest. I still have a soft spot for Schoenberg's Herzgewächse, Op 20.

1 April 2020

• If you are a pianist: Watch Youtube videos of pianists and give them a lesson! Same for other instruments of course.
• Listen to Powell's recording of Sorabji. There - eight hours done. Evidently Sorabji's music was designed for quarantine.
• Make a list of the ten loneliest compositions you know. Don't listen to them right now. Instead, make a list of the ten most joyous compositions you know and listen to those!

Gordon Andrew R: Most of the ideas I have so far suggested are for musicians, using some aspect of music to keep them going. But, some musicians might say 'Enough! I want something that isn't my daily job.' Okay. Here are some non musical suggestions that focus on visual mental efforts.

1 April 2020

• The Art of memory is an ancient method of retaining in mind large amounts of information. Ancient Roman lawyers, who sometimes presented four-hour-long speeches, used it. Mark Twain used it too when he gave recitations of his own books. The idea is to create a room (or physical space) that you can imagine in your mind. As you walk around the room noticing the things in it, you can 'attach' things you want to remember to that item. Later, when you need to recall the information, you enter into the room, walk around, find the item, and there you are. Many people who pause before answering a question are doing some version of this in their minds. Some people use elaborate methods. Some just simple ones. Mark Twain merely used the layout of his desk. There are many online websites with information on the Art of Memory. Now, you can use it to remember the names of all the Kings and Queens of England or all the Popes. Just like you always wanted to do. I'm working on the Byzantine Patriarchs.
• There is a copyright game called I-Spy. I'm sure you know it. Is it infringement on the rights to suggest taking a famous painting and with several people (at correct social distancing) to try out the seeing what they see? I see a red plaid jacket. I see a yellow triangular wall. Oh. I'm looking at the background for this article!
• Suppose everyone is reclining on the couches of your living room. Close your eyes. Imagine what your house, apartment looks like from twenty feet higher. Imagine what it looks like from five hundred feet. Can you see the river down the way? What about a thousand feet? Can you see the city, the woods, the ocean? Now, what does the earth look like from a thousand miles above. What do you see of the earth while standing on the Moon? Keep going. Can you see the Earth receding as you race out beyond the edge of our Solar System? What sun comes next? (Proxima Centauri.) What does it look like? Is the sun yellow? Are there planets? Can you race now to Sirius? What is that sun like? (Oh, is there more than one?) Can you fly to the planets that might circle them? Can you swoop down upon their homes, their cities? What do you see? Go forth. The whole Universe awaits.
• Pulp fiction magazines often had the most remarkable and sometimes lurid covers. Type in 'pulp fiction magazine' covers and see what Google gives you.

Earlier suggestions from Gordon Andrew R :

31 March 2020

• Read a biography of a great composer. Try Alan Walker's recent biography of Chopin.
• Find a silent movie, turn off whatever sound it has at YouTube and improvise your own film score. If you can do Nosferatu, that is great. Try Fritz Lang's Die Nibelungen: Siegfried and Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge (1924) and see if you can remember and use the themes of Wagner.
• Download all the scores you can - legally for your nation, of course - from IMSLP.

30 March 2020

• Put on a suite of Baroque dances and get up and dance!!!! There are specific steps to the Courante, Allemande, Sarabande etc.
• Do you have children around? Put on a concert using the ideas of John Cage. Turn your kitchen into a concert hall!
  John Cage 'Water walk'
• Watch movies about classical musicians. Most are ghastly. But, watching a D grade movie can be a blast. Laugh freely. Here are some (in no particular order - just for fun):
  - Amadeus (1984)
  - Rhapsody (1954, starring Elizabeth Taylor and the perennial battle to decide which is the better musical instrument: the piano or the violin. Also contains the true response of all family members to the pianist practicing).
  - The Competition (1980). I saw this after I had got back from a piano competition on the Continent. I wondered if the screenwriter had been there. Starring Richard Dreyfuss.
  - Phantom of the Opera (1943) Includes Franz Liszt playing a piano concerto!
  - The Mephisto Waltz (1971) starring Alan Alda.
  - Lisztomania (well, I suppose, since I keep mentioning Liszt!)
  You get the point. Wikipedia has a list

29 March 2020

• Ask an older relative to teach you a song from their youth.
• I once saw an interview with the bassist from a very famous heavy metal rock band. (Sorry, I can't recall his name.) He said his favoured activity was playing along with Bach, because 'Bach wrote the greatest bass lines'. What wisdom! Try it. He's right.
• Visit the webpages of the great concert halls. They are probably now streaming concerts from their venues.

28 March 2020

• Teach a song to a child over the phone.
• Give a music lesson by FaceTime.
• Many folk songs are stories. learn a folksong and re-tell the story over dinner. Remember, singing at the table is rude.

27 March 2020

• Trade web-located performances/composers with your other housebound friends.
• Place a sheet of paper in each room of your home with the title of a song on it. Sing that song whenever you go into that room. Change the papers every couple of days. Sing loudly!
• Turn on radios and computers in different rooms each playing a different composition. Walk slowly from room to room. Now what do you hear?

26 March 2020

• Western Classical musicians tend to know European and American composers. Check out a country you want to visit and learn about its music. I want to go to Georgia - not the American one.
• The Internet Archive has many recordings (which should be legal in all jurisdictions (though don't trust me on this - check yourself and don't listen or download if you are in doubt). Just type in 'Historical Recordings' at archive.org
• Beautiful performers are a dime a dozen. Make a list of your favourites, bookmark their webpages and YouTube videos, and enjoy the view. Make sure this okay with your significant other. Please keep it clean!

25 March 2020

• Connect with a junior colleague and mentor them.
• Listen to all of the works by your favourite composer in chronological order - or by opus number. This could take a while.
• Remember when you just loved music and didn't do everything just for love of or need of money? Try doing music just for the love of it now.

24 March 2020

• Look up a composer you never heard of and listen to his/her music.
• Learn about a woman composer.
• Listen to one work for each century starting in 1000 AD.

23 March 2020

• Tell yourself (and anyone one who will listen) your own personal life in music.
• Write or record your telling of a favourite performance you once gave. Make the telling magical, because the performance was.
• Listen to a work by a composer you hate and ask yourself why? Then listen to another piece by that same composer. Still hate them?

22 March 2020

• Listen to the Song My Way - Frank Sinatra's signature tune - sung in Russian, for example here or here.
• If you've never heard Turkish rap ... well, you have not lived. Or died. Look it up.
• Take pictures of your musical instrument and write up its personal biography.

21 March 2020

• Download Audacity and record yourself playing the oboe (for example). Then use the change pitch function and turn yourself into a bassoonist.
• Record a pitch on Audacity and then alter it one cent at a time until you notice the difference. Now that is ear training.
• Listen to a melody once and then try to play it back. Great test of aural skills. Good party game. Most of us are bad at it - and then one bastard will be able to do it like he/she/s been playing the piece all their lives.

20 March 2020

• Listen to five 78rpm recordings. In a row. Dance it off, if you have to. Try it again another day. You will get used to the background noise. The brain eventually filters it out. Then you get to hear some astounding performances from another era. Here are some names to look up:
  Ignace Jan Paderewski
  Vladimir de Pachmann
  Josef Hofmann
  Nellie Melba
  John McCormack
  Efrem Zimbalist
• Record yourself playing a duet, by playing both parts. Record one, the play it back while you play the other part.
• Music Minus One. Karaoke for your living room.

19 March 2020

• Listen to chants of world traditions:
  Vedic Chant
  Tibetan Chant
  Qur'an reading
  Ambrosian Chant
  Gregorian Chant
  Byzantine Chant
  Anglican Chant
  Jewish Cantillation
  African Chant
  First Nations Chant
• Make a transcription of some piece from the repertoire that does not exist for your instrument. Hipsters, don't worry: J S Bach did it all the time. How about Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B for three recorders and basso continuo? Or Saint-Saëns' Organ Symphony for solo piano? I will be arranging vocal music by Palestrina for clavichord.
• Download a map of the world and mark the places where your favourite composers were born. Notice anything? Think there might be some composers from elsewhere?

The editor does like this idea, and has some additional suggestions of his own:

18 March 2020

• Read classicalmusicdaily.com every day - we will be trying very hard to keep you entertained. If you need a reminder, ask to be put on our mailing list to receive a link to our daily feature, every day.


Classical Music Daily on the move

• Think and plan ahead ... have ideas for commissions, concerts and other events in the future. Discuss with your colleagues.
• Look critically at your professional life immediately before the Corona virus outbreak. Try to find something, even if small, that you can do to improve it.
• Use some of your free time to explore your own and other art forms. There's no knowing what forms of inspiration this might lead to! The internet is full of culture. Many of the world's great orchestras are webcasting their concerts currently, for example - The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra's Digital Concert Hall is available free of charge during the SARS-COV-2 pandemic, and Ivan Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra are presenting Quarantine Soirees - nightly chamber concerts online at www.bfz.hu/en

Extra suggestions from the author and from anyone else who has any, will be added in the boxes above, so please feel free to get in touch with your ideas, and come back to this page to read others' suggestions.

The background image on this page is derived from At the Close of a Winter's Day (circa 1930) by Canadian painter, draftsman and illustrator Frank Hennessey (1894-1941).