Best letter to the editor ever...

from the son of a favorite violist of mine, Mischa Amory,

in response to Mr. Tomasinni's project to rank composers in the venerable NY Times.

February 15, 2011, 8:00 AM
Top 10 Composers: A Young Reader Responds

By ANTHONY TOMMASINI

"My two-week project to select the 10 greatest composers, which involved a series of articles, blog posts and videos, concluded with an article in the Arts & Leisure section on Jan. 23. But I continue to receive lively, interesting reactions from readers. My favorite was a hand-written letter from Lucas Amory, who is 8 years old and lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Lucas is a serious piano student and the son of two noted violists, Misha Amory of the Brentano String Quartet and Hsin-Yun Huang.

Lucas attends the Special Music School at the Kaufmann Center (in his letter he says that he goes to the Lucy Moses School, which occupies the same building). He writes that he adores music and offers two lists: “THE TEN GREATEST COMPOSERS AND: THE ONES I LIKE BEST.” He clearly understands the difference between all-time greats and personal favorites — quite impressive for an 8-year-old.

To remind you, my list of greats, in order, was: Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Debussy, Stravinsky, Brahms, Verdi, Wagner and Bartok. Lucas has a passion for the Romantics so Tchaikovsky, Chopin and Schumann appear on both his lists. On his favorites list there is a photo-finish contest for the top spot between Schumann and Tchaikovsky, which Lucas illustrates with a drawing.

Here is Lucas’s wonderful, strong and articulate letter."

via {ny times}

talent

Malcolm Gladwell finishes this interview that talent is using one's imagination to see opportunity in situations that would be torture to 99 out of 100 people, such as the Beatles' 8hr rehearsal days 7 days/week in a Hamburg strip club.


{CNN}

hit and run

15 ISO musicians made an impromptu appearance at the Keystone Fashion Mall in Indianapolis on Jan. 29, 2011 and surprised (and delighted) shoppers with a little Tchaikovsky and Vivaldi.

cello quartet

What a great group! Fearlessly innovative, yet incredibly skilled.
Too bad all these guys were at my school before my time...
(Dave, you would have loved this!)

voices of the violin

On this special day, I loved listening to this interview about a collection of violins from the Holocaust concentration camps.

"We are trying to show people the story of the Holocaust from an easy point of view. Because music is making everything a little bit softer, it is easier for us to understand."
I think that is true of most things that are difficult to understand...

"Those people who had the violin in their hand could dream for 5 minutes they are playing in a concert hall. And to have these 5 minutes of dream in a most horrible world, that is the most valuable thing you could have in your lifetime. We cannot understand."
What would you or I do if perchance to dream in that world? Would you be open to what was in your hands? Reminds me of one of my favorite movie scenes ever, where Roberto Benini in Life is Beautiful turns on the opera aria over the loudspeaker as an unspoken love letter to his wife.

"In the minute that you hear the sound of the violin, you hear everything around it. It is horrible in one case, and wonderful in another case."
Listening to music makes us aware of the world around us, giving us a sense of wonder, empathy and sorrow... how is it that we do not always take advantage of that?


{CNN}

Patience

Dear Students, Irritating Directors, Drama Queens, and 7 Recitals in the next 8 days,

I regret to inform you of the following budget cuts: 

the patience I've budgeted for the semester was exhausted sometime mid-November. 

Please be sure to practice. 

A lot. 

And seriously, don't get on my nerves.

listening

Today, I heard in an interview about jazz
that music was color for the heart. 

I would like to think of it as sunshine.