Concert Pitch Through the Ages

At the beginning of an orchestral concert the oboist usually plays a "Concert A". In North America this note is standardized (440 Hz, or cycles per second), the result of a nation-wide agreement in 1939. But we should not take this pitch for granted! It has not always been so.

David Gordon has created a chart that gives an overview of the variations in frequency of "Concert A" over the centuries.

Click here to download the pdf chart. (Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader, of course.)

(From David Gordon's website)

The Mystery of Music: What about it has such power over human beings?

The ever-fascinating writer Terry Teachout discusses a new study on the power of music.

A paper published by two researchers at the University of London claims to prove that music affects our responses to visual images. People who look at a picture of a human face can be influenced in how they evaluate the emotion shown by that face if they listen to a 15-second snippet of music before viewing it. If the music is "happy," then the subject is more likely to judge the facial expression shown in the picture as happy—even if the expression is neutral—and vice versa.

Music - What's It All Mean? - The Wall Street Journal 10/17/09

El Sistema USA Launches At New England Conservatory

This is the famed Venezuelan music education program championed by Gustavo Dudamel, the new conductor of the LA Phil.

The plan is for the conservatory to train at least 50 people, starting with the first class of 10, over five years to open music educational centers  in parts of the United States where children couldn't normally afford instruments.


Read more, from the Boston Globe 10/23/09

Attention, Auditioners: Go First Or Last

"For actors at auditions, musicians at competitions or anyone else whose work is sequentially judged against that of others, a nagging question often arises: Would I rather be the first person to be evaluated, or the last? New research suggests both have their advantages, and either is far preferable than being stuck in the middle."  Read more....

Miller-McCune 10/20/09

Silence Is Golden

How a pause can be the most devastating effect in music.

by Jan Swafford

A fascinating discussion of the importance of silence in music, with recorded examples.

Read more.......

(posted on Slate online, Monday Aug 31)

Musicophilia: Six Questions for Oliver Sacks

Columbia University Professor Oliver Sacks is probably the country’s best known neurologist. But his greatest talent may be his ability to make the complexities of neurological disorders understandable to laymen while portraying the afflictions of his patients in a compelling and compassionate way.Harper's Magazine put six questions to Dr. Sacks about his remarkable study of music and the human brain.

Read more...

Classical Music: Transformative, Not Tranquilizing

Henry Fogel on why classical music is meant to be listened to.

"Those of us in the business of presenting and promoting music need to do a better job of explaining and clarifying the transformational qualities, the deeply moving potential, of our music."

Read more....

Is classical music trying to be fashionable?

Andrew Clark in the Financial Times writes:

"There is a lot of noise in classical music today. It’s not the noise we associate with the louder forms of pop and rock. Nor is it the noise of percussive or electronic effects that have become a significant part of the classical composer’s armoury over the past 50 years.

"It’s a different kind of noise – call it “noises off” – that, in the eyes and ears of hard-core classical aficionados, is threatening to drown the music. It’s the sound of classical music trying to be fashionable..."

Read more...

Alt-Classical Music Is Reshaping The Classical Landscape

"Once upon a time, young conservatory musicians wanted to grow up to play as soloists with major orchestras. Today, many of them are forming bands instead. The ensembles of the new alt-classical world are poised somewhere within the Venn-diagram intersection of traditional classical music and contemporary culture."

Washington Post 10/14/09             Read more...

Program Notes - the funny version

From the New Yorker Magazine

A hilarious sendup of symphony program notes. Subtle and funny.

Read it here...