The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: Got questions? Got answers? Try using Quora – especially if you are a piano fan
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By Jacob Stockinger
A close friend recently recommended a chatroom called Quora, which has a regular website and also a mobile app, which The Ear downloaded from iTunes and uses every day.
You have to sign up for it, but membership is free. And I don’t recall seeing any ads.
Once you belong to Quora, you can check what topics interest you and then you get constant updates and entries. And you can choose from a lot of topics in all kinds of fields and disciplines from art and music to politics, economics and international relations.
One possible choice is, simply, Classical Music, and it is a good choice.
But The Ear has found the site a particularly good and helpful resource for questions about the piano.
Here are some of the topics that have been featured recently:
Why do mathematicians appreciate Bach more than Beethoven?
What should I do if I need to perform with a bad quality piano? (Answered by some who LOVES bad pianos)
I am 14 years old. Can I start playing the piano or is it too late?
Can you provide any recommendations of electronic pianos?
How does the new Kawai grand piano GL series compare to other inexpensive baby grands like Yahama G series or the Baldwin BP series?
What should I keep in mind while learning the piano?
What are the features of good piano texture?
Who are some good contemporary classical piano composers?
What are the pros and cons of an electric piano to a classical piano? (None other than the legendary virtuoso Martha Argerich practices on a digital piano.)
What are some study strategies to memorize big piano pieces?
What qualities make for good Chopin play?
What would be a good piano practice routine?
Well, you get the idea.
The questions run the gamut as do the answers.
But The Ear has learned that just because a question sounds obvious and simple, even amateurish, doesn’t mean that the answers aren’t valuable and informative.
As an avid amateur pianist, The Ear has learned many things.
And he may soon even start answering some of the questions.
Here is a link:
Try it and let The Ear know what you think.
Good reading!
Good writing!
Good playing the piano!
Tags: acoustic piano, Apple Inc., Arts, baby grand, Bach, Baroque, Beethoven, Chamber music, Chopin, choral music, Classical music, Compact Disc, concerto, digital piano, Early music, Google Play, iTunes, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Kawai, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Martha Argerich, Mobile app, Mozart, Music, opera, Piano, practice, Sonata, symphony, technique, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Yamaha
Classical music: What can you do if your subscription to The Well-Tempered Ear has been dropped – and not by you?
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear is looking for readers to help him with a problem that some readers of The Well-Tempered Ear have encountered.
It seems some readers have had their subscription ended — WITHOUT them ending it.
That is discouraging for the readers and The Ear, who broke the 1,000 subscriber mark not too long ago and who would love to break 1,100.
Some readers ask The Ear (below) to put them back on the active list. But unfortunately, The Ear has nothing to do with that part of the operation.
And he too doesn’t know why it happens.
But he has his suspicions.
It could be that there is a new software update on the part of either the reader or the part of the blog host, WordPress.
It could be a newer version of an operating system for readers’ computers, such as OS for Apple Macs or Microsoft Windows for Dell and other PCs.
How can you solve it?
How can you renew your subscription?
So far the best suggestion seems to be this: Unsubscribe and then re-subscribe.
But maybe there are better ways that some readers have discovered.
And maybe WordPress, who is responsible for subscription services, will read this and have explanations and suggestions or outright solutions.
In the meantime, The Ear wants to hear how often the problem has happened and how it was solved.
Please leave word about both frequency and solutions to this problem of cancelled subscriptions in the COMMENTS section.
Thank you for this, and for supporting this blog with your subscriptions as well your reading and replying. They all encourage The Ear to carry on.
Tags: Apple, Apple Inc., Arts, Chamber music, choral music, Classical music, computers, Dell, Early music, Jacob Stockinger, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Microsoft, Microsoft Windows, operating system, PC, Personal computer, Subscription business model, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vocal music, Windows, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, wisconsin public radio, Wisconsin Union Theater
Classical music: Streaming gains even more momentum. Korean carmaker Hyundai will abandon in-dash CD players and titan CD seller Naxos will launch a high-definition streaming service.
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No doubt about it.
Streaming seems the sound wave of the future.
That’s what the news about sales and trends points to, anyway.
Streaming through such services at Spotify or various app stores and retailers like Amazon.com looks to be the inevitable next step from CDs, just as CDs followed tapes and tapes followed LPs and vinyl (78, 45 and 33-1/3 RPM)-– even though vinyl is making something of a comeback among audiophiles because of its superior, less harsh sound quality.
But consider some new developments coming out of Asia, which seems to be setting the trend for the dissemination of Western classical music more than Western culture or Western industry is doing in Europe and the United States.
Korean carmaker Hyundai will get rid of CD payers in its next year’s models. Instead the music connections will run through Bluetooth electronics that link up solely to MP3 players and iPods. (Below is a photo of the new dashboard taken at a recent industry show.)
Here is a link to a story that has more technical details plus a defense of KEEPING in-dash CD players – below is Japanese carmaker Honda’s more traditional in-dash CD player and changer — and the virtue of listening to one entire CD:
Then consider the fact that Naxos – the Hong Kong-based budget CD label that now dominates the CD industry – is about to launch a high-definition streaming service.
http://www.classicalmusicmagazine.org/2015/01/naxos-launches-hd-streaming-service/
Here is some background about the company, based in Singapore, that will service Naxos’ streaming site:
http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/2422084
The Ear has very mixed feelings about this news. He listens to all sorts of formats in the car — radio, CDs and iPods.
What about you?
Would you buy a new car without an in-dash CD player, a car that relies only on wireless and streaming technology?
And how dissatisfied are you with the sound quality of CDs versus streaming or other formats?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: AM, amazon.com, Android (operating system), Apple Inc., Apple Lossless, Arts, Asia, Audiophile, AV receiver, Bluetooth, CD player, CDs, Chamber music, Classical music, Compact Disc, Compact Disc player, Computer speaker, culture, digital, FM, Honda, Hong Kong, Hyundai, indsutry, industry, IPad, IPod, Jacob Stockinger, Japan, Korea, MP3, Music, Naxos, opera, Orchestra, Piano, Portable media player, Radio, Retail, retailers, Sngapore, Spotify, stores, streaming, tape, technology, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vinyl, Western culture, Western industry
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