top of page
TONAL REFRACTION
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….
Sun-lit mist
Every tone radiates, as does sun-lit mist in a Turner painting. First of all, from the instrument producing it, then within the...
artie73
May 171 min read
2 views
0 comments
Radiant Apples
First notation drew lines around each of Cezanne's radiant apples (i.e., tones), then increasingly "refined" recording technology made...
artie73
May 161 min read
3 views
0 comments
The Instrument I Play
My piano is the instrument I play: I know its every quirk and noise, and it knows me. We literally talk to one another, viscerally. I...
Nancy Garniez
May 141 min read
1 view
0 comments
Ear vs. eye
Ear vs. eye should be the real subject of all education. Hannah Arendt's Reflections on the subject in The New Yorker back in the 70's...
Nancy Garniez
May 131 min read
0 views
0 comments
All that Jazz
An eminent jazz musician whose work I greatly admire reacted to yesterday's story with 5 hearts. (In case you missed it, you can read...
artie73
May 121 min read
1 view
0 comments
In Praise of Amateurs
Listening to amateurs play chamber music taught me a lot about the dynamics of tone: acoustics come to life in the innocent ears of...
Nancy Garniez
May 111 min read
0 views
0 comments
I know you from somewhere!
Last night at dinner I met someone who looked familiar. He must be in the music world or we would not have been guests at that table. ...
artie73
May 101 min read
1 view
0 comments
What is This?
The day begins as each of my programs begins, now that I do not inform the listeners in advance of what they are going to hear:...
Nancy Garniez
May 91 min read
0 views
0 comments
Who is the most difficult composer of all?
A new listener posed the question at my last house-concert. Without hesitation I answered: Mozart. Because you are never sure whether...
artie73
May 71 min read
0 views
0 comments
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...
Nancy Garniez
Sep 20, 20221 min read
11 views
0 comments
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,...
Nancy Garniez
Sep 14, 20221 min read
22 views
0 comments
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...
Nancy Garniez
Sep 13, 20221 min read
5 views
0 comments
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:...
Nancy Garniez
Sep 12, 20221 min read
15 views
0 comments
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...
Nancy Garniez
Sep 10, 20221 min read
5 views
0 comments
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. ...
Nancy Garniez
Aug 17, 20221 min read
5 views
0 comments
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...
Nancy Garniez
Aug 12, 20221 min read
3 views
0 comments
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...
Nancy Garniez
Aug 10, 20221 min read
3 views
0 comments
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,...
Nancy Garniez
Aug 3, 20221 min read
3 views
0 comments
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...
Nancy Garniez
Jul 27, 20221 min read
4 views
0 comments
bottom of page