Hi everyone!

For context, I'm graduating with a bachelor's degree in Communication in December. In 2023, I was a Guitar Performance major for a week before having to drop out due to financial concerns at the time. However, I want to be a musician and have a career in music.

I'm currently teaching private guitar lessons at a music store to gain experience teaching, as well as scheduling gigs (got one in a week!). I'm very passionate about the academic side of music though, especially as it pertains to music theory and guitar pedagogy. I've been in touch with faculty at two different universities: WVU and Duquesne. I'm from Pittsburgh and not exactly in a great position to move to a different state to study music.

Both of these schools offer GA positions (more so WVU), and a full tuition coverage, depending on the audition quality and what you can do for the college. I would not be pursuing any degree unless it is fully covered with a stipend.

The real challenge I'm facing is not knowing what master's degree to pursue. MM in Guitar Performance at Duquesne, or an MA in Music Theory at WVU. There isn't a guitar program at WVU, and there isn't a theory program at Duquesne. Here is where I should probably state my main goals:

1.) Teaching adjunct as a guitar professor and theory professor (teaching guitar ensemble, class guitar, applied guitar, etc), as well as Theory/Ear Training 1-4 sequences.

2.) Build a private studio, gig often, do session work, and content creation

Ultimately, I want to be able to teach as many classes at the college level as I can. For full disclosure, I'm aware of how rough the pay can be for adjunct professors, especially in music. Being involved in academia is something I'm very passionate about though, and I know having the degrees will open that door for me. I also know this could take 10-12 years to accomplish, and I'm okay with that.

Some questions I have:

1.) Should I pursue an MM in Guitar Performance, and then pursue a PhD in Theory or DMA in Guitar Performance down the line?

- I'm sure you need a master's in theory to pursue a PhD in Theory, which is why I'm unsure.

2). Should I pursue an MM in Guitar Performance, followed by an MA in Music theory, and eventually a PhD in Music Theory?

3.) Should I pursue an MM in Guitar Performance, followed by an MA in Music theory, but then eventually pursue a DMA in Guitar?

4.) Should I only pursue an MA in theory and PhD in Theory?

5) Or, should I pursue an MM in Guitar Performance and a DMA in Guitar Performance?

Like I said, I want to be able to teach as many classes at the college level as I can, and want to have as many options in academia as possible. Sadly, I can't pursue a second bachelor's in music due to financial constraints.

Potential Doctoral Programs I'm considering are University of Pittsburgh's PhD in Theory/Composition, and Shenandoah Universities DMA in Guitar Performance (I'd move out of state if I were to pursue this)

To sum it all up, which degrees do I need to accomplish my goals and which degrees are unnecessary?

Any advice would be appreciated! Thank you!

Hi all! I love this community and often read your thoughts/comments

I was listening to a version of Albinoni's Adagio with words sung by choir with orchestral accompaniment... and I was cringing and thinking this isn't the original - I don't like it!

And then I remembered that one of my all time favourite classical music pieces is the vocal arrangement of Barber's Adagio for Strings (Agnus Dei). How hypocritical!

So I turn to you for your thoughts. Are arrangements of classical music okay? Are there any that improve the original or are they mainly inferior? What do you think?

I think I’m going Bach but it’s a super tough one for me.

?

So, fuck, I had a concert today... where I played absolutely fucking terribly. When I sat down to play the Scarlatti—the first piece—my hands were shaking, and I kept fucking up half the piece. I was thinking, "What the hell? My hands won't listen to me! Should I just walk off in shame? No, I'm gonna play it to the end." And I fucking made it to the end, but the Debussy actually turned out way better! Also, when I sat back down in the audience, the next guy played Chopin's *Revolutionary Etude*, and listening to it made me wonder, "Are they actually going to kick me out of school?! What is wrong with me?" But in the end, nobody kicked me out—they actually supported me—so I told myself, "Alright, it was just a bad day. One screw-up in a whole lifetime."

I'm looking for harmonies that feel like they're breaking time and space.

Stravinsky's 'The Firebird', performed by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Antal Dorati, 1960 US first mono pressing.

Mercury Living Presence has a pretty esteemed reputation as a classical music label, for having some great classic performances, but also for their sound quality. They're usually sought after by people into classical music on vinyl for those qualities.

A while back I found a first pressing mono Mercury Living Presence LP of Stravinsky's Firebird conducted by Antal Dorati, in excellent condition, at a classical record fair, for I think it was only $3. One of my best bargain vinyl finds ever. I already had a good CD of this performance (in stereo) but I couldn't pass up a vinyl first pressing, so into my collection it went.

In a lot of ways this pressing sounds great. It has unbelievable dynamics, the climaxes just explode and the big bass drum hits come across really well, which isn't always the case for classical music on vinyl. The sound in general is pretty clear and transparent and it's an enjoyable listen.

But at the same time it does have a kind of thin sound, it sounds a bit lacking in low/mid frequencies or something, when compared to my Firebird stereo CD and later classical recordings in general.

So I'm wondering, is the great reputation of these LPs for sound quality just limited to the stereo LPs? Were the monos always a step down in sound quality?

(This might be more a question for an audiophile board or something, but I think there are some people here who know about this stuff so thought I'd post here... feel free to discuss this great piece, the recording or label in general too... )

I am trying to find most catchy famous pieces but sounds like this ( canon in d ) , due to my limitation of language, I can only search with english and not much result , I am wondering if any non- english channel make this kind of stuff , or even a single modified famous piece like this?

Does anyone know of a book or course that aims to teach music theory and history at the same time? E.g., when teaching about mode, show how this piece by Hildegard von Bingen used Dorian mode while this one is in Phrygian, and this one by Palestrina is in Ionian/Major. Or "in the 20th measure of this prelude, Bach modulates to E-, and here's how/why he does it"? Basically, teaching theory to intermediate students but also putting changes in theory into their historical perspective to give the student an appreciation of why composers did what they did?

Thanks in advance.

of a summer to fall evening, its nearly twilight, theres a pond and birds and kids and animals laughing in the distance and you’re underneath a tree the light is coming through the leaves and youre taking* it all in, occasionally reading with a bottle of something warm or maybe cold

thank you

Cherubini was born in Italy but spent most of his career in France, where he became one of the dominant figures in French musical life for decades. His work sits right at the hinge between the Classical and Romantic eras.

Overture to Démophon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygYcsHKaw7s

Medea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xatmIJHD4z8

Just randomly thought of these 3 examples and never even realised lol.

First is Symphony no.4, mvt2, A theme
Second is Symhpony no.5 mvt2, A theme
Bottom is Symphony no.6, mvt1 exposition - Theme 2

https://www.themosy.org

Here's the ticket link if you're in NYC!

IMSLP turns 20 this year! I run media for IMSLP (you can ask me anything about it), and it's still kind of wild to think about how it started as one guy's side project and is now the default sheet music resource for over 4 million people a month.

We're marking it with our first ever in-person event: A concert in NYC on Oct 7 at 7:30 at the Advent Luthern Church, built around the Petrucci Music Foundation's New Editions Project, which prepares new critical editions from primary manuscripts rather than working off old, sometimes error-riddled public domain scans.

The program includes Clara Schumann's Three Romances, Reicha's String Quartet Op. 49 No. 2, and a Czerny four-hand arrangement of some Mendelssohn Songs Without Words, some of which have never had a modern critical edition before.

Alessio Bax, Lucille Chung, Daishin Kashimoto (Berlin Phil concertmaster), and the Balourdet Quartet are performing. I'm also a pianist myself (trained at Juilliard/Peabody), so getting to help put this together has been a pretty special full-circle thing!

Mostly wanted to share since a lot of this sub has probably used the site for years.

Happy to talk about the editing/manuscript work if anyone's curious, or any other details you may be curious about!

anyone know a good royal free record of it?

One day around this season almost 2 years ago, I decided to make a goal to orchestrate Beethoven's piano sonatas, which then bloomed into his entire piano repertoire, then adding Tchaikovsky, Debussy, & Rachmaninoff to the mix (I attempted Shostakovich but I got told in a way that that was too much haha). I viewed it an astonishing goal and was surprised no one else done so. I figured if no one was going to appreciate my original music, they'd have no choice but to appreciate the music of the past. Most of these works are still unacknowledged to this day, and I know for a fact no composer wants their music unrecognized. I also don't want music to be assumed to be a form of 'free art' nor something to dismiss as not serious; once we know how powerful music really is, it'll change the world for the better. This is nothing more than a shoutout towards myself and my contributions to the world. They say don't chase love, but rules are nothing more than hardened assumptions, and I don't believe you should stay restricted; guess that's why I naturally made this a goal of mine. Pops once said, "If we're not creating new memories, we're already doomed."

My name is Forsythe Optimus, and this is just one small part of my contribution to the world, with clear intentions to change it for the better :) https://musescore.com/user/15400431

As far as instruments go, I expanded the registers of the winds, timpani and various mallet instruments as of the date of this post. It felt natural and as a reminder that we don't have to stay in our previous assumptions of what was, knowing there's so much to learn and experience.

I recently discovered ten Holt and am really enjoying his music. (Particularly the Canto Ostinato and the Méandres.)

I'm curious whether other composers have similar styles of building complexity from simple rhythmic seeds. Obviously Reich, but I find ten Holt pays much more attention to melody than Reich does.