Your go-to resource for all things band and orchestra
October 25, 2024
Terence Blanchard. Credit: Cedric Angeles. Terence Blanchard, Ethan Iverson, Aaron Diehl, Helen Sung, Natalie Tenenbaum and other luminaries talk about the issues surrounding the jazz/classical divide—from technique and theory to conservatory culture and diversity. “I didn’t know you were allowed to play the piano like that.” So recalls the acclaimed jazz pianist and composer […]
The bond between musician and musical instrument is special. Most seasoned players will even describe their instrument as an extension of themselves. However, as you progress, you may find yourself at a crossroads: Do you stick with your trusty companion, or is it time to upgrade to something new? Let’s dive into the importance of […]
October 22, 2024
Explore nylon-string technique with these tips from a veteran Nashville-based guitarist and Music & Arts instructor. The Nashville-based guitarist and educator William “Tiger” Fitzhugh, who teaches at the Music & Arts in Hendersonville, Tenn., is a fount of guitar knowledge spanning styles, techniques and eras. He’s also a delightfully funny, self-deprecating storyteller. To wit: Decades […]
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 […]
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, […]
