Your go-to resource for all things band and orchestra
October 16, 2024
Classic keyboard parts and solos from the golden age of progressive rock, featuring Rush, Pink Floyd, Yes and more. Robert Moog introduced his signature Moog synthesizer in 1964, five or so years before the Big Bang of progressive rock. But that instrument and that genre were destined to find each other. Both pointed toward a […]
October 14, 2024
Veteran educators share important and practical considerations for music selection. No two band programs are alike, and there’s no one-size-fits-all formula for choosing music. Yet there are certain overarching topics and themes that steer those decisions and build a foundation for brilliant student performances. In this primer, experienced band directors from across the country, spanning […]
October 11, 2024
Credit: Willa Rohrer. The director of the groundbreaking saxophone ensemble reflects on the teachers who changed his life, his own career as an educator, his Selmer horns and more. Matthew Levy didn’t pick up the saxophone with the intention of pursuing a career in classical music. Growing up in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, Levy […]
Credit: Willa Rohrer. The director of the groundbreaking saxophone ensemble reflects on the teachers who changed his life, his own career as an educator, his Selmer horns and more. Matthew Levy didn’t pick up the saxophone with the intention of pursuing a career in classical music. Growing up in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, Levy […]
October 10, 2024
One of Latin jazz’s greatest bandleaders offers tips for unlocking the foundation of Afro-Caribbean music. Many musicians who play “Latin jazz” or other styles born out of the Afro-Caribbean/Latin American experience grew up with those styles and internalized their rhythms—particularly the core five-stroke pattern known as the clave. They didn’t just learn the music, they […]
October 1, 2024
The acclaimed composer talks about his new Project Imagine commission, available for free as an online download now through November 15. For many composers, the title of a work is often an afterthought. But in the case of Tyler S. Grant’s In Your Wildest Dreams, those four words led the way. “I knew I had […]
September 26, 2024
The Nashville-based Music & Arts instructor, who performs with her sister in the acclaimed classical-country duo Twin Kennedy, reveals her tricks of the songwriting trade. Carli Kennedy started crafting songs before many children have picked out an instrument. “I wrote my first song at 7,” she recalls, “and I’m sure it rhymed, but I’m also […]
One of contemporary blues’ premier horn players on transcribing guitarists, controlling his sound with effects pedals, and using open space like B.B. King. The first time that trumpeter Doug Woolverton played with guitarist Warren Haynes, at a gig by Haynes’ Southern jam band Gov’t Mule, he participated in a kind of trial by fire. Haynes, […]
