Despite the best efforts of his wife to change his mind, Karl was determined. His patience was ended. He had tried everything. He had explained to his sopranos why their wobbly pitches were musically inappropriate. He had given them breath control exercises during warm-ups and pleaded for blend. He even […] Read more »

    Every time little Marvin took a solo the other members of the group stopped playing and just listened. His F above high C was solid and well controlled, but considering his size the high notes were no great surprise. Everyone enjoyed his rollicking rendition of the Queen of […] Read more »

It may be a surprise to some to learn that archival records depicting primitive praise bands date back to antiquity, and that our modern manifestations are in many ways not all that different. Though some aspects of praise music remain largely unchanged, it’s interesting to note the ways in which […] Read more »

At first, Lucy’s new iPhone 19x seemed quite a marvel. It had six cameras, Retina screens on both front and back, could identify her as its owner through an instant DNA analysis the moment she picked it up, and responded to her voice commands flawlessly. It was especially useful during […] Read more »

When the ominous figure interrupted Charlene’s organ practice she was initially frightened. It turned out, however, that he only wanted her to play the Phantom of the Opera theme once more—it was his favorite. To be notified of news and recent publications, join my email list! Read more »

When the angel sat down on the rock before beginning to deliver his message, Chuck figured he was in for an extended chastisement. It turned out that many members of his church choir had been praying fervently for relief from his style of conducting rehearsals, what with the extended warmups, […] Read more »

Most days, Megan’s music would mend a mournful mood but today’s monstrous mid-morning melancholy made mincemeat of her motivation. In the mail was a missive from the misbegotten minions of money management mentioning that her means were minuscule and the mortgage massive. Their murky murmurings were majorly maddening and made […] Read more »

When word got out that famous conductor Zoltan Zingwell was working on an autobiography, everyone expected a scandalous tell-all, a book that would set the music world on its ear. His name had been connected with all the great sopranos of his era, from Joan Neverland and Victoria de los […] Read more »

  When the scores from District Contest were posted, the girls in the Treble Ensemble were not amused. They had been marked down in both Intonation and Rhythmic Accuracy. Known for their decisive action, they quickly acquired the URLs of the judges’ websites and contacted a Russian guy they knew… […] Read more »

The rarely heard opera Prunehilde in Pittsburgh by composer Giuseppe diPalomino features a famously difficult duet for soprano and horse. Many opera companies won’t even consider the piece and neigh-sayers abound. Casting is a particular challenge because, while plenty of sopranos over the years have been happy to accept the […] Read more »