Classic FM has a nice story on Ward Swingle which you can read here.
Ward Swingle, founder of the Swingle Singers, has passed away. Swingle was a native of Mobile, Alabama who graduated from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, and later studied piano in France with Walter Gieseking. Always a fan of jazz as well as classical music, while in Europe he founded his Swingle Singers, who combined scat singing with the music of Bach. The Swingle Singers were a big hit, and (while with different members) still record and perform today, though the group's repertoire has expanded considerably beyond arrangements of Bach.
Classic FM has a nice story on Ward Swingle which you can read here.
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Writing a symphony is a breeze, didn't you know? Check out this plan at WikiHow.
I especially like point 9--I know publishers are just waiting for all those new symphonies. Holly Mulcahy is a violinist and blogger who recently posted a few general guidelines for folks who've never been to a symphony concert before, and who are asking what to wear.
Certainly we never turn away people from concerts over their wardrobe choices, but as Holly points out, people often ask "what are other people wearing?", and so she offers this group of suggestions, which you can read here. I had a conversation a while back with a piano tuner--a lot of his work has historically come from tuning pianos for churches. He related to me that piano tuning was declining and would continue to do so as churches turn from pianos to electronic instruments. Larger churches with grand pianos would continue to need his services, but smaller and mid-sized churches are turning more and more to electronic instruments. So when I saw this article regarding the closure of piano stores, I wasn't entirely surprised.
The deeper story, unfortunately, is not only that churches are turning to electronic "pianos", but that fewer people are buying pianos generally. Fewer children are taking piano lessons, and that has traditionally been a major driver of piano sales. As a former piano teacher, I find the trend disturbing, though not completely unexpected. You can read the afore mentioned article here. Sir Neville Marriner--who, by the way is 90--was set to conduct the San Diego Symphony January 9-11. He has cancelled, due to acute bronchitis.
Edo de Waart will fill in. The whole story is here. |
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