The Playground
The Simply Music blog
Sharing Your Music and Connecting with Networks
New Ways of Sharing Music A couple of blog entries ago, I talked about how sharing music has changed in the digital age, in some ways for the worse, but in many ways for the better. I’d like to highlight some of those ‘betters’ and give…
Story of a Song – Summertime
A lot of music unites people. Occasionally it divides people. With its contentious depiction of racial stereotypes, the opera Porgy and Bess seems to have experienced the ebb and flow of acceptance over the years, but even its cultural detractors will recognise it as one…
Sharing Music, the Digital Revolution & the Future of Community
Music has always been a social phenomenon. Whenever people have gathered together, music has usually been involved. In some cultures, the distinctions between music, dance and spoken language are blurred and music is part of almost every communication. In others, music might be shared more…
Mondegreens – it’s a cognitive thing
Misheard lyrics; it’s been a problem since we were chocolate monkeys. The songwriter tries to share his insights and the singer, perhaps in his earnestness to deliver the message with maximum feeling, mangles the words into something that we, with our gift for filling in…
Simply Music Student – Phil Garment
Ontario student Phil Garment seems to have rewritten the retirement rule book, having thrown himself into a career on both sides of the theatrical stage, and in the process discovering a passion for piano via Simply Music. In this interview, he talks with his teacher Kelly Natale about…
Music Editor Larry Dunlap Interview with Dane Andrus
Larry Dunlap was exposed to music while growing up in Oregon. His mother was a piano teacher and his parents owned a music store. He was exposed to musical offerings as cultured and diverse as its clientele from nearby Pacific University. Larry became proficient in…
Award Winning Composer Iain Grandage Interview with Gordon Harvey
It’s having some relationship between the outside world – the real world – and the inner world which is so beautifully described by music. Not many people have the privilege of writing music for full-scale orchestras, and multi-award-winning composer Iain Grandage does so with…
Great Courses: How To Listen To and Understand Great Music – Review
Presented by Professor Robert Greenberg The Great Courses DVD,CD, video or audio download $349.95-$699.95 USA $399.95-$809.95 Australia For other countries, visit thegreatcourses.com/greatcourses I began my interest in music as a listener, and I still spend a good deal more time listening to music than playing or writing…
Musician and Author Gerald Elias Interview with Teri Davis
Gerald Elias has drawn from his career as an internationally famed violinist to forge a parallel career as an internationally famed writer of music-themed mystery novels. In this extended interview, he speaks with Simply Music Teacher, Teri Davis, about how music inspires him and fuels his story-telling…
Simply Music Teacher – Unmani, Australia
The far-flung farming community of Wal Wal, in western Victoria, Australia, may seem an unlikely place for an artistic and community leader, but Unmani breaks the mould in many ways, from pioneering belly dancing classes at her farmhouse to roping rock climbers into rock and…
