Several popular playlists have a piano solo which, if I had written it, I would have dismissed as too easy. It uses simple chord progressions and could probably be played with one hand. 

“But it’s good,” my husband said. He…

“Gus never talked about art and hated art theory.” 

Gus himself, however, was an artist. He was Augustus Saint-Gaudens, one of the best sculptors of the nineteenth century per historian David McCullough. Apparently, Gus didn’t need to talk about art…

Poor authors. Together with their publisher they hone their book, fuss over every detail, and broadcast, broadcast, broadcast its existence and purpose and still — people in its intended audience don’t get the point. 

I heard more buzz about Adorning…

Put the big rocks in the jar first, goes the illustration, and you’ll have room to pour in the little rocks afterward. Put the little rocks in first, however, and you won’t fit the big rocks. It’s a metaphor for…

I blogged a couple weeks ago about the Trapp Family Singers. We have their story and The Sound of Music for one simple reason. Captain von Trapp’s bank failed. They went public with their singing for the money. 

They…

John Philip Sousa was enormously successful, and it’s not just because of the quality of his music. He understood how to deliver music to people where they already were. 

1. He wrote and conducted for a medium that reached a…

“Giving a speech isn’t like performing a musical instrument; it doesn’t have to be perfect.” 

I heard this in my college speech class, and it didn’t sit right. I had been to musical performances that hadn’t been perfect, but they…

The Spirit of Jefferson and Farmer's Advocate published a story this week about the Battlescapes project. Reading it was like opening a time capsule; I had been interviewed for it four months ago. Already since then, I’ve mentally moved on…

A couple moments from Pixar’s Ratatouille are unforgettable. The first is when Remy, the foodie rat, emerges from the sewer system and beholds the city lights of Paris. 

“Paris?” he says. “All this time, I’ve been underneath Paris?” 

The other…