I was pleased to be a guest on the David Madiera Radio Show, discussing the Kickstarter Campaign raising funds for a fully-staged production of the Boston Tea Party Opera . Here's the podcast of the show. I was also honored to be featured in a print interview in the Objectiv Motifs newsletter about this new "operatic musical." Below is a short excerpt, and here is the complete issue (which I share with the permission of the publisher). Objective Motifs : What is an operatic musical (as opposed …

I had a message from a very active-minded young student of mine in the MusicAtOurHouse program, who wrote: "Dear Mr. Johnson, "The reason I’m sending this is because I would like to know your opinions on modern pop music/rock ’n’ roll music. I’d also like to know what you like and dislike about classic Indian, Arabian and [Western] classical music. Then, I’d like to compare the results so that I can see what style of music you like better and what you favor in that …

Many people implicitly hold the notion that music doesn't matter, that it has no real consequences and therefore is not one of the important things to judge seriously. I once heard someone say on the radio, making an analogy about some political subject he thought was unimportant, "It matters about as much as whether you listen to rap or opera." Music he took to be the model and primary example of something that is purely a matter of subjective taste, with no universal values cutting across …

I've created a page with the recordings of Serenade #2 for Solo Alto Saxophone; they await your comments!

Listen here.

To understand a wide variety of styles of music, one needs a basic distinction between musical elements which are part of a system of note relationships and connections, versus those aspects which are merely stylistic or qualitative sensory attributes. These contrasting concepts--"note-system" versus "sound-flavor"--are very necessary for analyzing music and "getting into" the message and meaning of a style that is foreign to you. Note-system elements include such things as …

Have you ever noticed that during occasions that have a special spiritual significance, people's taste in music improves? The longest, most striking example of this is Christmas time, when people who are otherwise content with whatever DJs put on the radio turn to music that is more refined, more beautiful, more tenderly expressive, and more emotionally deep. A similar sort of thing happens on Independence Day. And a similar thing happens at the Olympics. Much of the music played at the Olympics …

Hello Everyone, Here's a further sample of the "characterological approach to music"--this one dealing with Mozart's more exotic side. And a reminder about our upcoming free online lecture! RSVP below if you'd like to attend. Mozart's Turkish Bombast Mozart is known for charming, elegant music--music exhibiting the clarity, inventive intelligence, and tasteful refinement of the Age of Enlightenment. Yet Mozart was not all "classical restraint;" he had a flair for the bold, the …

Hello Everyone, I'd like to invite you to a free online lecture, the History of Western Music in One Hour . It's a fast-forward sample of the kind of content we cover in MusicAtOurHouse courses. The lecture will cover in ultra-brief encapsulation the Greek, Roman, Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical and Romantic Periods--and will emphasize the character of the people and culture that gave rise to the music, and illustrate with a couple of examples from each period. The goal will be to help …

As a follow-up on the online competition to record my new Serenade #2 , here are the "program notes" about the piece. The Second Serenade for Solo Alto Saxophone , like the first, uses a single melodic line to cast a spell over the listener, to lead you through an arch of motion with increasing tension and power, which then settles back to repose. It uses the poetry of a solitary line to conjure a mood and carry you through its emotional plot. Saxophone Journal eloquently characterized the …

I'm pleased to announce my Second Serenade for Solo Alto Saxophone.   As many of you already know, my solo piano piece Solitude has been the most popular of my compositions with general listeners. With instrumentalists, though, that title goes to my Serenade for Solo Alto Saxophone ; it gets the most reviews, sheet music requests, recording sales on iTunes, etc. And it is performed routinely on college saxophone recitals. This got me to thinking about the piece--and inspired to write another one! I …