
Barbara Kavanaugh
Who Matters?
Who Matters? How should one perform? How should one live? The words I share with you are from one of my absolute favorite novels. It would not be classified as “Christian literature”, little plot, little action, few characters. "The Fish Can Sing" by Haldòr Laxness (1908-1998) was first published in Iceland, 1957. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1955. The language is beautiful, the humor wry. The few sentences below reveal our purpose as performers; there is

Christine P. Melamed
Thoughts from a Musician's Heart
"Accelerando, God?" As a child, I loved playing the piano fast. My teacher would always tell me to slow down, to not rush. I told her I didn’t like playing the slow movements. She told me that when I grew older I would enjoy the slower movements more. But as a teenager I had a performance reviewed in the local newspaper in which I was described as “fleet-fingered.” And then in college I had fun playing the keyboard part of John Adams’ Short Ride in a Fast Machine ! So much fo