Benjamin’s Britten’s Nocturnal Op. 70.An Analytical Study By Paul Svoboda Introduction   Completed in 1963, Benjamin Britten’s Nocturnal, Op. 70 for solo guitar, is essentially a set of variations on a song of John Dowland, Come, Heavy Sleep (No. 20 in Dowland’s “First Book of Songs or Ayres of Four Parts,” published in 1597.) In...

Improvisation and Style By George Golla "To improvise: To make up (something, such as music or poetry) on the spur of the moment; sing, recite or speak without preparation.” (The World Book Dictionary)   Share this: [feather_share] Were this true in regard to music, our troubles as players of instruments would be over; our problems...

How To Remember 10,000 Tunes By Bruce Clarke Most music has form, and most conventional classical or popular music that uses the diatonic scale or its related modes as its binding agent can be broken down into a small number of acceptable forms. In turn, these forms themselves can be broken down into musical modules...

A Connective Philosophy of Education What is There to Teaching in Teaching? By Dr. Peter Calvo I would like to sketch the broad outline of the question, "What can a philosophy of education do to further our understanding of methods and contents of teaching in any field of human enquiry in general, and in music...

Mudarra's Harp Fantasia: History and Analysis By John Griffiths It is the Fantasia que contrahaze la harpa en la man era de Ludovico [Fantasia that imitates the harp in the style of Ludovico] that has secured the vihuelist Alonso Mudarra a place among those renaissance musicians whose music is frequently performed today.   Share this:...

Turnarounds By Bruce Clarke In a conventional jazz performance the following general format prevails:   Chorus 1. Statement of melody or harmonic chart. Chorus 2 etc. Unspecified number of improvised choruses or solo sections. Final Chorus. Restatement of melody plus coda or tag.   Share this: [feather_share] Obviously these repeated choruses must be joined by...