by Kenneth Woods | Jan 17, 2011 | Nuts and bolts
Usually, studying the score of a great work is like a revelation, even when you know the piece well as a player or listener. However cool you thought the piece was before you opened the score, you can’t help but be amazed and astounded by what you discover when...
by Kenneth Woods | Oct 6, 2010 | Nuts and bolts, Performing Life
“Playing Beethoven only gets more challenging” That statement and its many variants is one of those musical truisms one hears so often, one almost ceases to be aware of what it means. It’s not a statement I would make about every composer- demanding as it is, Richard...
by Kenneth Woods | Sep 20, 2010 | Nuts and bolts
In my last post on Beethoven 3, I talked just a little bit about my experience of studying the work with my teacher, Gerhard Samuel (more on him here and here). It remains a particularly memorable experience since it was the first score we went through together, so I...
by Kenneth Woods | Sep 14, 2010 | Nuts and bolts
As part of an ongoing effort to make this blog less boring, I’ve decided to try a few posts on major pieces that are more anecdotal than analytical. (Yes, it’s the old master plan of using stories about your own life to avoid boring other people. Guess how well...
by Kenneth Woods | Sep 14, 2010 | Nuts and bolts
Actually, the title should read: “I am my back.” If it’s the knees that limit the careers of most football players, the chops that give out on many brass players and the wrists that often become a problem for pianists, it is the back that remains the most likely...
by Kenneth Woods | Aug 26, 2010 | Nuts and bolts
A while back, I started a little series here called Urtext Myths (part I here, part II here). While preparing for my recent performance of Mahler’s 5th Symphony at the Harlech Orchestral Summer School, I came across something in the Preface that got me thinking about...
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