Jun 30, 2014
In this special 4th of July edition of Classical Classroom Research Presentations, Dacia ponders why Americans listen to Russian music on their Independence Day. She uncovers the [not really that] secret history of how one man and his love of pyrotechnics made Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture the theme music for...
Jun 23, 2014
Ravel’s Boléro. Next to most of the soundtrack to Koyaanisqatsi, it’s possibly the most repetitive piece of music ever written, amiright (respect, Philip Glass)? As it turns out, I am wrong, so wrong. In fact, Boléro is a piece built entirely around change. Howard Pollack, professor at Moores School of Music,...
Jun 16, 2014
Franz Schubert was a man on a mission, distracted from composing music by neither the praise of Beethoven, nor the prospect of his own death. But the dude still had to pay the rent. Internationally acclaimed classical pianist, music teacher, and performer Clive Swansbourne explains what “impromptus” were, and how...
Jun 9, 2014
How did classical guitar – and therefore, all guitar as we know it – almost become extinct? Who was the hero who saved it from the brink of doom? Why aren’t guitars an orchestral instrument? And why are guitarists nails so shiny? Classical guitarist Valerie Hartzell – member of the Presti Trio and director of...
Jun 2, 2014
How are the Black Keys and Beethoven alike? They both had the low-down dirty blues. JK! They both compose(d) music for two instruments! You’ve heard his symphonies. Now hear cellist Norman Fischer – of the Fischer Duo, the Concord String Quartet, and Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music – talk about...