It's Spring - the season of music competitions. I've already judged three within the last month (one piano-only, and two concerto competitions for all instruments) and they've been excellent reminders as to what the judges are looking for in the performances .

In each c...

Published in the Burlington Free Press on April 11, 2015

Written by April Burbank, Free Press Staff Writer

MONTPELIER – Activists are urging Vermonters to give up the option of selling anything that contains ivory.

A law banning ivory and rhinoceros horn sales would be wo...

Sylvia Parker's article entitled Béla Bartók's Other Microcosmos is found in the September 2014 issue of MTNA e-Journal. It is about Bartók's Petite Suite and includes sound clips of his field recordings of peasants singing and playing, the Violin Duos from which the S...

Many years ago, I grew weary of theory books. Theory books can be great...they teach important things...but so many of my students would "forget" to do the lesson assigned. I tried multiple motivational techniques including assigning an extra page in hopes that this "p...

Introduction

The year 1889 marked the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution and the nation celebrated with the Paris Exposition Universelle, an extraordinary World’s Fair. The importance of the event was emphasized by the construction of the Eiffel Tower, built for...