Tag: baroque music
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My Goals for 2022
It has shocked me that two months have gone by since the beginning of this new year. I’m sure most of us have resolutions or goals, and while some may be easier to achieve than others, I find it may help to keep a constant list for reference. ‘Once written, twice remembered’ is perhaps a […]
mitchbouchercomposer
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Practice makes Perfect
“Again.” You look at the keyboard, a small sigh escaping your mouth. This will be the third time that you have played your scales this lesson. And more importantly, it is not a private lesson, but one with other pupils present. Is the purpose of honing musical skills meant to be practice, or humiliation? you […]
mitchbouchercomposer
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The Long-Awaited Judge
“He is coming?” “Soon.” “He is coming–soon, you say?” The eyes of the organ builder grow wide in fright. The other man nods. His air is one of importance and pomposity. “If I seem impatient, Hildebrandt,” he intones with warning in his voice, “then my father is infinitely less patient,” he says, folding the parchment […]
mitchbouchercomposer
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Thoughts on my *Three Keyboard Suites
*three? keyboard suites…three mature and decent-quality keyboard suites… In this post, I discuss three of my suites for keyboard, which were written between the years of 2014 – 2018. Currently a new suite was recently composed but I don’t think I’ll be talking about it here. If you like, in a later post I can […]
mitchbouchercomposer
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Thoughts on Programmatic and Absolute Music
A PICTURE MAY BE WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS; PERHAPS MUSIC IS WORTH A THOUSAND PICTURES In this post, I will be presenting my thoughts on programmatic and absolute music. What are these terms, and what do they mean? Do they apply to all music? Is the ‘meaning’ of music truly set in stone, or is […]
mitchbouchercomposer
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Historical Fiction: The Bothersome Critic
The cello vibrates between your knees as you run the bow across its strings. It would resonate forever if you weren’t cramped between two other bass players as well as the harpsichord. Three violins commence their own tuning while the trumpeter loudly blasts three notes. The singers gather about, talking among themselves. The sun barely […]
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Historical Fiction: Bach at Work
Your footsteps are loud and hurried as you make your way to the bottom floor of the church. It is just past nine o’clock in the morning but you are still half-asleep; regardless, you force your feet forward, step by step. Why the preacher cannot speak with the composer in person you have no clue—but […]
mitchbouchercomposer
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Ten Favorites pieces by J.S. Bach
He wrote thousands of pieces, lived for almost seventy years, presumably began writing around the age of fourteen, and was endlessly pursuing perfection within his craft. An organist, keyboardist, violinist, cellist, cantankerous cantor, improviser, coffee-drinker, and authority-hater, he would be a revolutionary figure in musical history. Others overshadowed him in his life, but after his […]
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My Performances of Organ Music
While I’m a fanatic about Baroque music, I’ll be the first to admit that I am not, and have never really been, an excellent performer. ‘Amateur’ is the word which properly fits the description of my passion and talents, although some would say I’m growing in terms of performance skills. My great love for the […]
mitchbouchercomposer
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Favorite Baroque Composers
I’d sound like a chicken if I were to ramble on about my number-one favorite composer. Truth be told and without exaggeration, I spent close to a decade enveloped in the works of the bewigged cantor. I heard it all (or as much that has been discovered and recorded), from cantatas to organ works to […]
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Baroque but Needs Fixing 