Stephen Sondheim (born this day in 1930) was the kind of guy who would answer his fan mail.

When I was a smart-ass college student in the 1980s, I subscribed to Newsweek or something under the name Paul Hindemith. That resulted in all sorts of interesting junk mail.

The rug really ties the room together.

Is this Phoenix’s answer to the Information Superhighway?

It’s a music dance experience.

It has been a busy week, and next week is even more so! Just kicking the tires on my new banner rig for the Swirly Music booth at the Texas Music Educators Association convention in San Antonio. Any Texan choral directors out there? Stop by Booth 111!

Serving the self-publishing composer as a platform to handle sales, printing, and fulfillment, 10-year-old Swirly Music was recently redesigned, and I'm just now starting to crow about it! Here's a little demo/intro I made for a brand new Instagram account.

www.swirlymusic.org • #classicalmusic

It's the beginning of the bottom voice here. I had pointedly asked the students, "When does the bottom voice begin?" And (as expected) they said it begins on beat 2. So I want them to think of the rest – rests in general – as part of the performance.

Best. Tempo marking. Ever. Translated from the Hungarian "Mérsékelten".