Author Archives: Scott Foglesong

Stand facing the Panthéon, across from the imposing buildings of the Sorbonne as the traffic whizzes along behind you. Now turn to your left, walk to the corner, and let your eye follow along the Place du Panthéon as it … Continue reading →

Recently at a meeting an administrator posited the hope that perhaps someday soon a neurologist would study people’s brains while they were practicing, and be able to come up with enhanced technique for using one’s practice time more efficiently. It … Continue reading →

My professional teaching career stretches back to 1977, when I served as a graduate teaching assistant for the SF Conservatory’s keyboard skills classes. Actually I had begun teaching well before then, having been a French tutor in the ninth grade. … Continue reading →

When I heard the news that Eugene Fodor had died at the quite tender age of 60, I flashed on the full-color cover for an album of violin trivialities played by a fetchingly attractive young man who wore a pair … Continue reading →

It looms in our sky, fascinating us for the whole of our recorded history. Reddish, bright, and moving weirdly retrograde to other points of light in the heavens, Mars beckons, inspires, and intrigues. Mars turns out to be a place … Continue reading →

My audiophilia embraces fabulous room-dominating speakers (Fasolt & Fafner, the mighty B&W 803D towers in my living room), but also extends inwards to the relatively private and rarefied world of headphones. I’m really quite the little headphone whore when you … Continue reading →

The news that Borders filed for bankruptcy has elicited no flood of crocodile tears from these middle-aged eyes. To be sure, Borders isn’t actually disappearing from the landscape; just some Borders stores are closing. And here in San Francisco, the … Continue reading →

On occasion I propose a mind-experiment to my music appreciation students: what if Beethoven had been born, not in Bonn in 1770, but in Philadelphia in 1830? What would he have done? Would he even have gone into music at … Continue reading →

“But won’t the music just speak for itself?” asked my student, as we discussed his current progress and the pressing need for him to plunge deeper into the emotional world of the pieces he is studying. Behind his question lay … Continue reading →

Musicians of all stripes often lack ethical boundaries. Software publishers know all about that, so music-related software is typically locked down with anti-piracy protections so stringent that should they be applied to standard productivity software you would hear the howling … Continue reading →