What's wrong with a sad song?
I remember as a kid being intrigued by the song "Oh, my darlin' Clementine." Sure sounds like a sad story. Can't be! But it is fun to...
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A blog honoring vocal coach Barbara Maier Gustern, beloved vocal coach to so many singers of so many genres: brutally attacked on the street, died of injuries on March 15, 2022. Reflections on music, singing, teaching, listening….
Nancy Garniez
Sep 14, 20221 min
Hearing is Believing
Every time I cross 109th St. on my way up or downtown I cast a glance at the apartment building on the corner of 109 and Riverside Drive,...
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Nancy Garniez
Sep 13, 20221 min
Anybody home?
Funny, how we take for granted that someone is listening when we talk to them. Do you recall ever talking to someone who wasn't paying...
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Nancy Garniez
Sep 12, 20221 min
Tones do Talk
No matter how hard instrumentalists try to buy into the notion that tones without words are superior to those with text attached, I say:...
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Nancy Garniez
Sep 10, 20221 min
All Together !! or All by Yourself
There is a vast difference between a song that you sing, or that I sing, and one that WE sing together. The difference is breathing. A...
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Nancy Garniez
Aug 17, 20221 min
My voice
Why would humans have voices if not to use them: Is your voice recognizable? Probably, as it is now used for identification purposes. ...
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Nancy Garniez
Aug 12, 20221 min
Spirited?
Words used to indicate tempo on a piece of music must be taken with a grain of something, if not salt. Take “Spiritoso,” for example. I...
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Nancy Garniez
Aug 10, 20221 min
Do you have a favorite note?
Since my last post I enjoyed an impromptu video chat with a highly sensitive woman, just newly acquainted with my musical self. I was...
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Nancy Garniez
Aug 3, 20221 min
New Sound
If you want your performances to sound new every time try including at least one segment of sound unlike any you have ever made before,...
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Nancy Garniez
Jul 27, 20221 min
Person-al listeners
When a musician is hired for an ongoing gig it is important, you would think, to respect the fragile nature of this kind of work: at its...
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Nancy Garniez
Jul 25, 20221 min
To be moved or to judge?
The question comes up: how to judge a performance. Apparently there is some need to engage in this woefully irrelevant (!) activity. ...
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Nancy Garniez
Jul 22, 20221 min
The whole sum
The cliche is still among us: music is made up of melody, harmony, and rhythm. That, alas, (or not!) is not at all how the ear works. ...
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Nancy Garniez
Jul 16, 20221 min
Blink, but you've already heard it
The issue arises, thanks to the last post, about the connection between body and the not-explicitly physical, call it what you will. ...
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Nancy Garniez
Jul 12, 20221 min
Rubinstein meant it
The only difference between music with and without text is that the meaning conveyed by text is explicit on a literal level. In either...
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Nancy Garniez
Jul 11, 20221 min
Groupmuse and the close-up
Yesterday a very special event took place at my place: A close-up of how much the piano was loved by Bartok, Mozart, and Gershwin; and...
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Nancy Garniez
Jul 6, 20221 min
Music is alive
What if it would turn out that all hearing is physical participation in vibration? What if listening were really just another form of...
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Nancy Garniez
Jul 5, 20221 min
Count! Or not.
What gives us permission to hear as we do? A great composer conceals the key in any number of ways: most annoying is, perhaps, an...
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Nancy Garniez
Jul 2, 20221 min
No rehearsing!
The moment is precious: After decades of experimentation in teaching and in performing, I am now capable of matching in physical speed...
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Nancy Garniez
Jun 29, 20221 min
Out of tune
Talk about hearing! Yesterday I took two hours out of a busy day to listen to a hearing of the Congressional Jan. 6 committee: It was...
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Nancy Garniez
Jun 27, 20221 min
To be heard
To whom does hearing matter? We should not hesitate to reply: To everyone! But these days we have to be cautious: there is far too...
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