February 2012
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOHN WILLIAMS.
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I made a Twitter?
@ebmajorblog
It could be more exciting/active than this blog at times. Running a blog takes a lot of effort sometimes. :/
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Going to PA on Saturday to watch the Philadelphia Orchestra play Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with James Ehnes. Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra, and Martin’s Concerto for Seven Winds. :)
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leadingtone:
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893), nominated by gigglebug, g-flat-lydian, and teafully, is the leading tone’s featured composer for February.
Born at Votkinsk, Udmurtia to a well-to-do engineer and his wife, Pyotr Ilyich showed extraordinary musical gifts from an early age. His family was supportive, but later demanded that he pursue a career in the civil service—to this...
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“The point is not to take the world’s opinion as a guiding star, but to go one’s...”
– Gustav Mahler
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I really hate it when someone’s practicing and then another violinist comes over and says, “Haha, I played that years ago and it was so easy. Why are you practicing so slowly?” And then they judge by how they sound in the practice room. First of all, no piece is easy. There will always be room for improvement and making it sound better. Also, how can you ever say someone is good...
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January 2012
50 posts
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“The role of the musician is to go from concept to full execution. Put another...”
– Yo-Yo Ma
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Yesterday, while I was talking to our conductor, I mentioned this quartet piece and played it on YouTube for him. It’s short, playful, and intense at the same time and I thought it’d be really interesting for our quartet to play. He thought so too and immediately ordered it. He just told me today that he got it already and I really can’t wait to play it! :D
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I honestly feel pretty mad at myself because I still have an unbelievable amount of stage fright during performances, no matter where or what it’s for or whether I’m performing with a group or not, and it really affects my playing negatively. I still can’t handle it. My palms sweat, my heart rate goes up, I feel the pulse all over my body but especially at the center of my chest,...
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Cell phone interrupts Mahler’s 9th Symphony, Conductor FLIPS OUT.
Since I know classical music is boring, let me sum up.
Asshole’s phone rings during the dénouement of a very dramatic symphony.
Conductor Alan Gilbert notices.
Cell phone does not stop.
Alan Gilbert stops the music (which almost never happens. I have seen people carried out of operas on stretchers while the show was still...
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“Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.”
– Erich Fromm
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Conductors, if you're going to wear a tux with...
- The 13th Chair
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“If you are afraid to play a wrong note, the other notes sound less right.”
– Clifford Curzon
madamescherzo asked: I went to a marching band competition in British Columbia in 1978, and on the day of our performance, I realized I'd left my flute at home, so quickly thinking, the band director swipes a butter knife from the restaurant we were at and shines it up, hands it to me and says, here's your 'piccolo'. And so I played a butter knife at the competition. I'd like to think I played...
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In the middle of September I was listening to the third movement of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, played my Vladimir Horowitz, on my iPod while doing math homework. It was pretty late at night and everyone’s lights were off so it was very quiet around me. I swear I heard voices in the audience in the middle of the recording saying things like, “Stop. Stop. Hey....
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