Author Archives: Scott Foglesong

People who wear as many hats as I cannot allow themselves to turn into all-work-no-play types. Free time, even if carefully scheduled, is an absolute must. Years ago I learned the consequences of trying to stay on the productive treadmill … Continue reading →

Most musicians are held accountable for their work. Audiences have a way of rewarding the players they like with repeat ticket and record purchases, and an equal way of ignoring those who bore them or offend their sensibilities. Critics lurk … Continue reading →

Yesterday morning I put the finishing touches on the eighth and last lecture for a forthcoming class on choral music at the Fromm Institute. My Fromm classes are particularly special to me, being as they are broad overviews of music … Continue reading →

I finally got around to watching Steven Spieberg’s Lincoln, with Daniel Day-Lewis. As is my usual practice, I waited until it was available on home video. What with the advent of big, hi-res flat-screen televisions and Blu-Ray, I’m less inclined … Continue reading →

Listen and look, I said. Listen, look, and absorb. There are no wrong answers. Everybody plays. My students were encountering Haydn’s Symphony No. 43 in E-flat Major ‘Mercury’ for the first time. This being a relatively advanced class, I had … Continue reading →

It’s re-emergence into the sunlight after the gloom of a failed marriage or sustained illness. It’s a freshly-made butterfly gently fluttering its moistly glittering wings in the morning glow. It’s the heaven-sent moment when the car alarm down the street … Continue reading →

One needn’t be Sherlock Holmes to observe that musical cultures move around. Yesterday’s hot-tamale locale is today’s cold potato, as the creative energy leaps about, like lightning, from place to place over time. No Mozarts or Beethovens walk the streets … Continue reading →

I can’t recall the number of times I have been gobsmacked by some commentator’s authoritative statement that turns out, upon further consideration, to be poppycock. Music critics are particularly prone to conjuring up such moonshine. Consider the doleful practice of … Continue reading →

Each generation has to learn anew, as we long-term teachers know only too well. Thus we answer the same basic questions over and over again as one generation gives way to the next. It’s a music theory class! So why … Continue reading →

For those of us who store our recorded music collections on a computer, Apple’s Swiss-army-knife iTunes application has been a constant companion for a good long time now. However, iTunes has been slowly but surely transmogrifying itself from faithful tool … Continue reading →