Announcing: Keyboards of the World!

Today I’m introducing a new feature here at Miss Music Nerd: Keyboards of the World!
When I travel, I tend to take pictures of pianos and organs wherever I find them. So I figure, why not post them here? Some of them will be the ones I’ve been lucky enough to play myself. Others might be [...]

The Fascinating Life of a Music Copyist, Part 4

Thus far we’ve concerned ourselves with the preparation of a pretty score, a thing of beauty that will be a joy forever, suitable for publication as a coffee-table book, not to mention indispensable to the conductor. Now, what about the people who really matter, the lifeblood, heart and soul, and worker bees of the orchestra [...]

Your Questions Answered, vol. 1

Alto2 asks:
Um, Lucy, can you please ’splain what is a THEREMIN??? Why is it being featured on this program?
How remiss of me not to explain that important detail! I’m gonna answer these questions in reverse order, though, because the answer to #2 is short and sweet:
Why Theremin? Why not?
More seriously, though [...]

The Fascinating Life of a Music Copyist, Part 2

In case you missed it, here’s Part 1!
I was actually pretty far ahead of the game when it came time to prepare my score, because I had been composing more or less straight into Finale all along. I used to compose on paper 100% and enter the music into the computer when I was [...]

The Fascinating Life of a Music Copyist, Part 1

I’m back! I’ve sent off my score to the San Diego Chamber Orchestra! And in a few weeks I fly out to California to attend the rehearsals and première. Onward and upward, woo hoo!
By popular request (the populace consisting of McDoc), I’m going to write about how a piece goes from being finished, composing-wise, to [...]

Music Vocab: Catching Some Bass

Students who are new to music appreciation have a number of vocabulary challenges to deal with. Music terminology, like language in general, has developed over hundreds of years with input from vast numbers of temperamental artsy types speaking several different languages. Terms have been created ad hoc, and often remain in use for the sake [...]