Posts by gmcgath
Obviously you don't need it. You don't need to have an instrument. Technically, you don't need to do anything. The point of "performing" 4'33" is to create an atmosphere. To do this, performers gen...
I think I can now answer this, based on research I've done since posting the question. The underlying issue is that it's mathematically impossible to make all keys exactly right with any one tunin...
Composers of the classical era, especially Mozart and Beethoven, considered certain keys appropriate for certain moods. What reasons did they have for this? There are practical reasons for choosin...
Instruments with parallel strings, a resonating body, and a neck over which the strings are stretched appear in many cultures. The oud is an Arabic instrument, from which the European lute develope...
Joseph Haydn is frequently called "the father of the symphony." He made important advances in symphonic composition, but he wasn't the first to write symphonies in the classical form. The title ar...
I don't hear much of a resemblance. If nothing else, the W. F. Bach is in quadruple time, while the J. S. Bach is in triple time. But to answer your broader question: Copying motifs and tunes from...
MuseScore allows moving a line of lyrics up or down. Start by selecting a word in the last line of lyrics. Right-click on it and chose "Select > More..." This will bring up a dialog like the fo...
There's no standard color scheme for guitar tab notation. The publisher is somehow trying to differentiate what's marked in red, but it could be anything. The part in your illustration is puzzling...
The tarantella and saltarello are traditional Italian dances, both usually notated in a fast compound duple time such as 6/8. The steps are different, but the musical difference isn't so clear. The...
Schoenberg's "emancipation of the dissonance" referred to escaping the idea that dissonances are acceptable only if they're resolved. I don't see any political dimension in it. Democracy is even fu...
What are the best techniques for singing while masked? Completely or partially uncovering while singing defeats the purpose, since projecting our voices increases the chance of spewing pathogens in...
There are a number of pieces in classical music called "perpetuum mobile" or "moto perpetuo." Their characteristic is an even, rapid stream of notes up to the end. Probably the best known example i...
I've just come across the following in Ernest Hutcheson's The Literature of the Piano, and it's the closest thing to an answer I've found. In truth he [Haydn] was a greater originator than eithe...
If I want to insert a verse in the lyrics of a MuseScore document, e.g., adding a verse that goes above all the others, how do I move the existing verses to make room for it? Obviously it can be do...
There is a piece by the Bohemian Baroque composer, Jan Dismas Zelenka, called "Hipocondrie à 7 Concertanti in A major," ZWV 187. Attempts to find out what "Hipocondrie" means have run into nothing ...
From all I've been able to tell since I posted the question, the title has no meaning at all beyond indicating a mood (which at the time meant something more like melancholy rather than imagined il...
