December 27, 2021
The end of a year is usually the best time to evaluate results of the previous twelve months in many fields and areas. Here are twelve books that, for me, represent the best and/or the most interesting, what has been published on topics related to music. […]
November 30, 2021
New album from the legendary Canadian brass quintet, playing their own renditions of famous Canadian authors. This is their 108th album on the 51st anniversary of the group. Here is a collection of songs from famous Canadian authors like Joni Mitchell, Rush, k.d. lang, Bruce Cockburn, […]
October 31, 2021
Recently, at the ‘Neighbourhood Chilli Cooking Competition’ our kids had a chance to present their musical achievements. They showed how accomplished both of them are. Victoria, who just turned 13, played a violin concertino, while Martin (8) played an ‘ad-lib’ improvisation based on his previous practicing. […]
July 30, 2021
It was in 1972, in the country that doesn’t exist anymore, called Czechoslovakia. In the town where I was living, the communist regime allowed to build and open a new department store, as a part of a larger chain called ‘PRIOR ’. As was common in […]
June 30, 2021
It was year 1983 and after a lot of deliberations and persuasion, my parents relented and agreed to speak with the uncle living in the West Germany, about a possibility to purchase and send me a new keyboard synthesizer. This was not an easy task. Especially […]
April 30, 2021
Sa-che-ti-za-tion. Have you heard this term before? Because for me it is completely new. Not that I don’t know what ‘a sachet’ means. But how does it relate to music? My Google search for the word ‘sachetization’ returned only 2,100 results. So it is quite new, […]
February 25, 2021
Why are some music teachers and musicians ‘killing’ music for others? Their students? This question popped in my mind recently, when we were trying to find a new music teacher for our children. I have decided to describe this experience, because I am sure this happens […]
February 23, 2021
The year was 1976 and my cousin, by some ubelievable stroke of good luck, managed to get from abroad a bunch of new vinyl LPs. It was a true miracle for us! We were growing up in the former Czechoslovakia, where the access to the western […]
December 29, 2020
This era of the global pandemics is not easy for anyone. Still, if there is one common pleasure, or an activity, that can make it more bearable without any ‘side-effects’, it is music. For my family, music plays a very important role. I dare to say, […]