The Well-Tempered Ear
Making music saves senior brains, studies find
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By Jacob Stockinger
If you are a senior and think that making music— even as a beginner — is for younger people, you couldn’t be more wrong.
A newly released British study offers convincing evidence that singing in a choir (below top, the now-defunct UW-Madison Choral Union) and playing an instrument (below bottom) helps to boost memory, and save the brains of older people, possibly averting or postponing cognitive decline, dementia and possibly Alzheimer’s disease.
Here are links, on Classic FM radio station’s website, to the stories about the two studies:
https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/piano-choir-keeps-brain-memory-active/
https://www.classicfm.com/music-news/piano-lessons-older-age-delay-dementia/
How does your own experience measure up to findings in the studies?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Apple Music Classical is now available in Asia
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By Jacob Stockinger
As of this past Tuesday, Apple Music Classical is finally available in Asia.
At least in China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Macao.
Apple has not yet said whether it is available there on Android phones, which in the West came later than the inaugural availability only on iPhones.
But so far The Ear doesn’t see any mention of other East Asians countries such Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Mongolia, Indonesia, Laos or Cambodia. And there is also no mention whatsoever of South Asian countries such as India, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Turkey, Iran and others.
Maybe Apple is still working on the native languages of those markets.
In any case, it seems a natural fit for Apple Music Classical and its enhanced streaming service in terms of artists, repertoire and organizations.
To The Ear, it certainly seems that in many ways Asia seems to be current hotspot for Western classical music, judging by concert attendance as well as the numbers of students and the winners of international competitions.
Here is the announcement that the prestigious Gramophone magazine in the UK posted:
And here is the announcement from Music Business Worldwide. It has more background, including some specifics about classical music performaers in Asia that will now be available on the Apple Music apps. But you have to click on the orange button that reads “Continue to article”:
Plus as of today, Apple has named two prominent and young Asian pianists (named below) as official Artist Ambassadors to Apple Music Classical. Here is the announcement made on Instagram:
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How does a blind great pianist learn music?
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By Jacob Stockinger
How does he do it?
It is amazing that Nobuyuki Tsujii (below), a 35-year-old Japanese man who has been blind since birth, learned to play the piano.
It is even more amazing that he learned to play classical music well enough to perform in public at the age of 12.
And it seems to The Ear that it is still more amazing that he plays and performs well enough to win the Gold Medal at the international and highly esteemed Van Cliburn Piano Competition in 2009 and go on to establish a global career.
You might have heard of him or even heard his playing before.
Here is a link to his biography on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobuyuki_Tsujii
But The Ear can’t recall hearing him discuss is such specific detail how he goes about learning a piece of music despite his blindness, his vision impairment and severe disability.
And we are not talking about easy music.
He plays and performs both books of Chopin etudes; played Beethoven’s mammoth, knuckle-busting “Hammerklavier” Sonata, Op. 106, during the Cliburn competition; tosses off Liszt’s fiendishly virtuosic “La Campanella” (in the YouTube video at the bottom he plays it live as an encore to a rapturous reception at a BBC Proms concert); and the Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1.
This past Sunday, Tsjuii played the Chopin concerto with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in a free concert at Clemson University,
Here is the revealing Q&A interview he gave to the Greenville Journal for that occasion.
The Ear finds his career an inspiring story.
What do you think?
Would you like to see and hear him play locally?
If you have attended a live concert of his, what did you think?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Brrr! It’s time to hear the ‘Polar Vortex’ aria
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By Jacob Stockinger
We in the Upper Midwest — like much of the rest of the United States down to the Gulf of Mexico — have been treated to an Arctic gift from Canada for the next week or so.
It is called the Polar Vortex (below).
As you can see if you look closely or enlarge the diagram, the vortex has dropped way south from the North Pole, bringing with it way-below average temperatures, many of them going into the double digits below zero. And that doesn’t even include wind chill. (China has also been experiencing recording-breaking extreme cold.)
So it seemed only reasonable to see how a composer has expressed such extreme cold in a piece of vocal music — especially as the cold weather might seriously affect the Republican presidential caucuses that get started tomorrow in Iowa.
So here — complete with lyrics by the famous English writer John Dryden — is “The Cold Song” from 1691 opera “King Arthur” by the British baroque composer Henry Purcell (below), who did a terrific job of word painting and sound painting.
The Ear calls it the “Polar Vortex” aria. Officially its title is “What Power Art Thou Who From Below” and is sung by a character called The Cold Genius.
In the YouTube video below it is interpreted by the world-renowned countertenor Andreas Scholl (below) who is accompanied by the highly praised period-instrument early musical ensemble Accademia Byzantina under director Stefan Montenari.
The quivering repetitive rhythm you see in the notes duplicates shivering as a kind of extreme vibrato.
It is a literally chilling performance.
If you follow the words, the lyrics add to the sense of being stuck in a deep freeze.
How well do you think the imaginative song captures the extreme cold of The Polar Vortex?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Classical music predictions for 2024
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By Jacob Stockinger
The classical music blogger LudwigVan has made some interesting predictions about where classical music will go in the coming year.
Not all of the subjects might come to pass in classical music.
But many do seem possible or even plausible.
Like ticket prices dropping because of rising post-pandemic demand and tight family and personal budgets.
Or rising wages for musicians because of inflation.
Or the growing use of VR or virtual reality.
Or hearing more local music and musicians that appeal to younger audiences.
See for yourself. Here is a link:
The Ear will venture his own predictions:
First is that more and more audiences — especially the oldest baby boomers — will increasingly watch and listen to concerts via live streaming and recorded streaming.
It certainly is not as exciting as attending in person. But it is convenient. And it is way cheaper. For example, one good ticket to the Madison Symphony Orchestra or the Madison Opera will buy you a one-year unlimited subscription to the Paris-based arts streaming site medici.tv, which features live and recorded performances of all kinds, plus interviews, competitions and master classes, from around the world and especially Europe.
Then there are other factors to consider such as the artists and the programs you want to see and hear, or the inconvenience, expense and dangers of finding parking or navigating icy walking and driving at night and in bad weather.
And The Ear’s second prediction is that Asian musicians, especially Chinese and Korean, will continue to dominate international competitions.
See: https://welltempered.wordpress.com/?s=asian+musicians
Which predictions by Ludwig-Van do you think apply to classical music and are correct?
Do you have your own thoughts or predictions about trends in the classical world?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Here are winners of major international music competitions in 2023. What’s next?
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By Jacob Stockinger
Which young, up-and-coming classical musicians should you keep an eye on during the coming year?
Which ones, if any, will be booked in coming years to performance locally, say, at the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and the Wisconsin Union Theater; or at the Salon Piano Series; or as a University of Wisconsin Mead Witter School of Music guest artist?
One guide to 2024 and beyond might be to review the winners of the international music competitions held in 2023.
Thanks to The Violin Channel, here is a list of many such winners who may go on to establish more prominent careers. If you click on the names of the competitions, posted in red, you will be linked to fuller stories about the competitions, many of which you have probably never heard of. The Ear follows many contests but had never heard of many of these.
Here is a link:
You can find out about histories of the competitions, other prize winners, places they are held and how often, jury members and contest rules and formats, and more. And you can hear excerpts from some prestigious competitions including the Bischoff Chamber Music competition and a competition for young child prodigy violinists in Italy.
At the bottom of the story, you can hear a YouTube video with the 19-year-old, Asian-American pianist Magdelena Ho in her contest-winning performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 at the Clara Haskil Competition in Switzerland. She looks to have a promising future.
The winners came all continents — Asian, Africa, North America, South America and Europe.
And the competitions were held in many different places and focused on many different kinds or genres of classical music: violin, viola, cello, double bass and guitar; piano; saxophone;mharp; percussion and drums; chamber music and symphonic music; conducting; singing; and early music.
At the bottom is a vibrant performance of a familiar Bach suite by Canadian cellist Luka Coetzee who won Finland’s Paulo Competition and also took first prize at the Pablo Casals Competition on 2022.
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