Music in “Where Snowflakes Dance and Swear” by Stephen Manes
I bought Where Snowflakes Dance and Swear when it first came out in 2011: I didn’t particularly want to read it (because I spend enough time in this world at…
Ivor Guest Trainee Pianist at The Royal Ballet (paid 9 month contract)
Delighted to see that the Royal Ballet have launched a 9-month paid position for a trainee pianist at the Royal Opera House, named in memory of Ivor Guest. Please pass…
Judith Espinosa, the fishermen’s wives and the waltz
As allegro was about to begin during a ballet class yesterday, I started to smirk thinking about something I’d read in Derek Parker’s fascinating book, The First 75 Years of…
“Lyrical”—an update on the term “lyrical dance” from Dance Chronicle
Those who remember my post about the “lyrical waltz” and the fuzzy meaning of the term “lyrical” as applied to dance generally, will be delighted to know that there is…
The attentional commons and Leicester Square tube station
Nothing to do with music, except that I have to go to Leicester Square several times a week on my way to piano playing jobs, so when something changes about…
Tchaikovsky’s hairpins
The secret life of hairpins In The Secret Life of Musical Notation, Roberto Poli examines a number of notational conventions—hairpins, sforzandi, rinforzandi, pedals, stretti and rhythmic values—that have perplexed him…