Teaching composition: narrative analysis

I first learned the term “narrative analysis” from Mike Siciliano. The style of analysis made so much sense to me. It was one of those things that you learn, and after you learn it, you say, “Hey, someone made a name for the thing that I’ve...

Teaching composition with the Bach Chorales.

In the old way, you never showed your personal compositions to your composition teacher. So, when Alban and Anton showed up to Prof. Schoenberg’s class, they did exercises. They did a lot of model writing, harmony exercises, counterpoint, etc. One of the good...

2014 Christmas Carol Mashups #11

I had a free hour yesterday and was able to get to five more requests. Actually, I got to six because I combined two in this first bit. Josh Norris had asked for the Widor Toccata in the style of John Rutter. I had initially refused on the basis that I was only doing...

2014 Christmas Carol Mashups #10

I only had time for two yesterday, but they are pretty fun.The first is “You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch” in the style of a Handel aria. This clever suggestion came from Grant Anderson.A very challenging suggestion from Brittany Downey was to play...