Tonality is a musicological debate about style disguised as a theoretical debate about pitch organization. Whether it’s Schenker’s arrogant, narrow nationalism or Tymoczko’s generous, imaginative catholicism, the debate around what defines “tonality” is, at its core, a question of repertoire. No one would argue that the music of Bach, Beethoven, or Brahms is not tonal. […]
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Speak Your Musical Truth
A musical idea is not just something you visualize in your brain or even something you hear in your mind’s ear. It is both those things and more. It is most of all something you feel in your GUT. It is as instinctive and as personal and as urgent as the words you speak. Sometimes […]
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James Horner on Film Music
I was sad to hear that James Horner died this week in an aviation accident. His music has been an inspiration to me. I was browsing YouTube listening to his old scores when I found this interview he gave a few years back. Several parts of it stood out to me.
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