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Plus Ça Change: Florence B. Price in the #BlackLivesMatter Era

Is the sudden widespread interest in Florence B.Price’s music a convenient fad or does it signal the potential for deeper structural changes over the long term?

Ellen Reid: More Than Sound

Ellen Reid’s instinctive team spirit, as well as her awareness that sound always exists alongside other sensory stimuli, informs all the music she creates, whether it’s the score for the...

“Hearing” the Hammond Organ

The Hammond Organ became an immediate success when it hit the market in April 1935 and had a major impact on the soundscape of both popular and religious musical life...

THE LATEST FROM NEWMUSICBOX AND AROUND THE WEB

On Networking: A National Conference Preview

For five days, choral leaders will meet in one place and be inspired by performances, attend interest sessions presented by teachers they admire, and forge new connections that—for the composers...

“Splendid Sonority and Vivid Expressiveness”: The Theremin before Sci-Fi

Years before Hollywood cemented the theremin’s association with the alien or otherworldly, critics heard different qualities in its sonority: emotional expressiveness and excessive sentimentality.

Boulez, Twyla Tharp and the Creed of Curiosity

In addition to the acquisition of skills, there lies something more at hand—something in addition to the technical dexterities we need to practice and hone in order to produce our...

The Grammys You Care About Will Not All Be Televised

The Recording Academy handed out many other awards yesterday aside from the ones featured in the televised presentations during last night’s 61st Annual Grammy Awards ceremony. Here are some of...

Writing for “The Chorus”: Text, Dynamics, and Other Occupational Hazards

In order to guide us all toward a more perfect harmony in writing for the chorus, and because writing for the chorus is often neglected in the training of composers...

“Underground” Electronic Music

This week, Kelly Hiser begins a tour of encounters between audiences and new electronic sounds with a look back at the Telharmonium, installed in New York City from 1906 to...

From Avid Fan to Media Fellow

In the music world, being a fan isn’t a bad gig. Unlike musicians, you can book yourself, so to speak, at any venue you want. You don’t have to go...

Ungendered Voice Types for a New Century

I realize that numbers are a bit sterile, especially for something as artistic as opera and as unique as voice, but they could be replaced with words. The challenge is...

“Singers and Musicians” and Why Our Language Matters

When we use the phrase “singers and musicians” in one breath, we communicate—even if inadvertently—that they are mutually exclusive categories. In other words, singers are not musicians. That’s a problem.

Beyond the 88: Playing Around Inside the Toy Piano

The toy piano is a different beast from a modern grand—and in a way that’s what makes it a great instrument for exploring piano preparations. Toy pianos are a lot...

Political Music, Musical Politics: A Discussion Panel with Samuel Adler, Maria Grenfell, Aaron Jay Kernis, and...

The intersection of music and politics is a perennially fascinating topic, though ideas and philosophies often rub uncomfortably against actual musical practice. How is it, for example, that Beethoven’s music...

TODAY'S COMPOSER BIRTHDAY

Claude Williams

Born: Saturday, February 22, 1908 Muskogee, Oklahoma

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