Search results for

Until two thousand and two the United States government had a quota system on how many acres could be planted in peanuts. Since that program ended, South…

A sharp-eared listener wrote me a nice note saying he thought I’d made in mistake in talking about health benefits of peanut oil. I checked and sure…

My oldest daughter had asthma when she was young, and we had to be careful when getting a Christmas tree that it wasn’t fragrant. And now days I know…

Prima donna, Italian for “first lady,” refers to the leading lady in an opera, the singer of the principal female role. The term has been in use since the…

It was a fad that brought the BASS DRUM, CYMBALS, and TRIANGLE to Europe. The fad was for a kind of Turkish military music known as Janissary music. The…

It’s one of the hallmarks of great composers that they’re not limited by the practices of their times. Their imaginations are enriched, but not hemmed in,…

Yesterday I listed several pieces of music that would definitely not be the pieces I’d want to be limited to if I were stranded on a desert island. And…

Today we celebrate the birthday of Pablo Casals. Casals, called Pau Casals in his native Catalan language, was born on December 29, 1876, and he lived for…

When discussing acoustics it’s important to remember that there’s no absolute standard, and that different kinds of music may be better served by…

Yesterday I talked about vibrato, the technique that string players use—rocking the fingers of their left hands back and forth to create small…