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Sidney Prim

How to Play Musical Notes on the Guitar Using the Keyboard

Categories Piano

Before you start playing any instrument, a little bit of music theory is helpful and necessary. This article will give you a basic understanding of musical notes. To explain musical notes, we’ll take a look at notes on a keyboard because it nicely lays out the notes in two categories—white keys (natural notes) and black keys (sharps and flats)—and, as you move from the left side of the keyboard towards the right side, presents keys from low to high. White Keys vs. Black Keys (Natural Notes vs. Sharp and Flat Notes) As you can see, there are white keys and … Read more

Guitar Posture – Right Way To Hold The Guitar & Pick

Categories Guitar

As you start to practice the guitar, it is important to have a good posture, which can prevent you from injuries and allow you to practice longer. In this article, we’ll talk about how to hold a guitar and a pick. How to Hold a Guitar When you play a guitar sitting down, the waist of the guitar (where you would see a curve) should rest on your thigh—the right thigh if you are right-handed and the left thigh if you are left-handed. Next, the guitar is held by the right arm, with the left hand only for fretting. Of … Read more

Setting Up Your Guitar The Right Way

Categories Guitar

Before attempting any new tasks, it is important to make sure your tools are working properly. For auto mechanics, car tools in good working order are essential for a successful repair job. For guitarists, a good setup makes the guitar—brand-new or used—easier to play and sound better. For brand-new guitars, many manufacturers ship the guitars with the nut and saddle higher than necessary, allowing later adjustments for different climates. If you are unfamiliar with the names of different parts of the guitar, take a look at this article and video about the anatomy of guitar. For used guitars, it is … Read more

Romeo and Juliet in Classical Music: Prokofiev’s Ballet in Four Acts (1936)

Categories Arts and Entertainment Classical Music

Sergei Prokofiev’s rendition of the love story is a ballet, performed by an orchestra and dancers. The history and first performances of the work connect music to its context, in this case the ideology and state control. Born in 1891, Sergei Prokofiev moved to the United States in 1918 and then Germany and France. He started visiting the Soviet Union in 1927, 1929, and 1932. In 1932 he rented a flat in Moscow but still main resided in Paris. In the summer of 1936 he moved back to the Soviet Union with his wife and two sons. Romeo and Juliet … Read more

Romeo and Juliet in Classical Music: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Categories Arts and Entertainment Classical Music

Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet was a fantasy-overture, as the composer himself called it. It was first completed and premiered in 1870. The lukewarm reception made Tchaikovsky take up the suggestions of Balakirev, who suggested the composition and revise the work. The second version was premiered in 1872 and published in Germany. Balakirev, however, was not satisfied with the version, and Tchaikovsky continued to revise it. In 1880, the version that became what we know today was finished, but it was not until 1886 when this final version was premiered. Similar to Berlioz’s use of motives, Tchaikovsky used themes to symbolize … Read more

Romeo and Juliet in Classical Music: Hector Berlioz’s Roméo et Juliette

Categories Arts and Entertainment Classical Music

Valentine’s Day is coming. What is your favorite love story? While not necessarily the most memorable one, Romeo and Juliet is definitely one of the most well-known love stories. The story itself originated from an Italian tale, and many literary versions appeared in the sixteenth century, among which was Shakespeare’s tragedy. The story has been adapted by novels, movies, and musical works. In this article, we’ll take a look at three musical works based on Romeo and Juliet by Hector Berlioz, Sergei Prokofiev, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, as listed in the table below. Table 1: Dates, Genres, Instrumentations, Movements, and … Read more

Book Review: Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks

Categories Arts and Entertainment Music in General Piano

“It really is a very odd business that all of us, to varying degrees, have music in our heads.” ― Oliver Sacks, Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain   How much do you like music? How much of a role does music play in your life? Do you wish to be more musical? What if music is part of your being as the form of brain disease? What if music becomes part of you that cannot be turned off? Physician and professor of neurology Oliver Sacks wrote about fascinating stories about human brain; his The Man Who Mistook His … Read more

The Talented Mr Ripley: Musical Representation of Personality

Categories Arts and Entertainment Music in General

The Talented Mr. Ripley came out in 1999; it has a rating of 7.3/10 in IMDb and 83% in Rotten Tomatoes. I finally got to watch it recently in Netflix. I was pleasantly surprised by the music in the movie, so let’s talk about this movie! In this mentally-disturbing thriller, three men—Tom Ripley, Dickie Greenleaf, and Peter Smith-Kingsley—are caught in intense, complicated relationships. Of course, we are not trying to talk about the movie here, as this blog focuses on music and music only. The movie offers a great opportunity to talk about how the audience’s perception of music can … Read more

Mahler’s Piano Quartet in A Minor (c. 1876)

Categories Classical Music Piano

Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) was known as a conductor when he was alive, and his music slowly became popular since his death. His ten symphonies and some songs are probably his most well-known output, but today we want to talk about the earliest authenticated work that had survived. The authorship of the work is, however, not without debate. Mahler’s Piano Quartet was possibly composed in 1876, when he was 16 and a student at the Vienna Conservatory. The first movement (Nicht zu schnell, not too fast) in A Minor and 24 measures of Scherzo in G minor survived. This is also … Read more

Bach’s Coffee Cantata

Categories Classical Music Music in General

Do you love coffee? Have you had your coffee this morning? Do you know, in 1734, Johann Sebastian Bach wrote a cantata about the temptation and power of coffee? You might know that Bach wrote a lot of sacred cantatas to be used in church services; his Leipzig years (1723-1750) were especially a prolific time for sacred cantatas. In Leipzig Bach was responsible for the musical training of the boys choir at Thomasschule and oversaw music at four main churches of Leipzig–the Thomaskirche, the Nikolaikirche, the Matthäeikirche (or Neukirche) and the Petrikirche. There he wrote five cycles of cantatas for … Read more