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In 2020, during the fiery days of Black Lives Matter protests all over the country, I devoted a lot of time to listening to music by Black composers, under the expectation that I’d find a lot of fantastic music that nobody much knew anything about. This expectation was more than met, and I find myself needing to get back to those composers and more. One composer I “discovered” was Florence Price, whose music has enjoyed something of a Renaissance over the last few years, which much study, preservation of scores, and ultimately performance and recording of her works. She was aDown the rabbit hole….

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In: On Movies, On Music
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This post is a straight-up copy-and-paste repost from last year, because I’m already seeing the “DIE HARD Christmas movie” debate firing up on social media. It’s that time of year again: the annual debate over whether or not Die Hard is a Christmas movie! My personal opinion is that this one’s easy: yes, Die Hard is a Christmas movie. But a friend on Facebook made an interesting argument against Die Hard‘s Christmas status the other day, and I want to tease it out a little more. Basically his view is that there is nothing intrinsically Christmas to Die Hard, at least not in the sameDown the rabbit hole….

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“What? The Nutcracker already? You usually don’t share The Nutcracker until much later in the month!” Well, yes. But there’s a difference this time, and I can’t believe I never knew about this until just this year. Apparently Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn took Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite and re-arranged it for jazz band. So that’s what we’re hearing today. And don’t fear, we’ll get back to The Nutcracker proper later on in the month. But this is fantastic! (By the way: You’ll notice that this is a “score” video, so you can track the music along as you go. Music for jazz band isDown the rabbit hole….

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Longtime readers will know that I fill this blog with music each December, starting on the 1st and going all the way to Christmas Day. This year will be no different. In dark times I tend to find myself leaning in music harder and harder. Music can be the candle lighting the way, a flame that reminds us what humans can do when we’re not being awful by choice. So, as the kids say, “Let’s f***ing go!” Share This PostDown the rabbit hole….

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I used to write and post a long list of things I was thankful for each year, but I haven’t done that for a few years as it got to be an exercise in copying-and-pasting. I’m still thankful for an awful lot, but this holiday hits different anyway. Last year, Thanksgiving came less than two weeks after Mom died, and since then Dad has gone to an assisted living facility, so this is the first Thanksgiving that truly feels like it’s being spent without my parents in the world. Worse than that is the state of my country; it’s hardDown the rabbit hole….

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This building, once the United Office Building and now the Giacomo Hotel, was for many years the tallest building in Niagara Falls, NY, until the construction of the big Seneca casino there. The American city has to this day not managed to seize on its status as being located literally by the side of one of the world’s great tourist attractions, while the Canadian counterpart city of the same name is constantly booming. But there are many reasons I prefer the American side, and this building is one of them. I also like the way this photograph turned out. ShareDown the rabbit hole….

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I featured this piece years ago, reflecting on the fact that I performed it in the concert band at a music camp that I attended as a teenager. But in that post I didn’t write much about the piece itself. It’s called Chorale and Shaker Dance, and it was written by John Zdechlik. Zdechlik was a composer and bandmaster who wrote prolifically, and this particular piece has become a staple work in the literature for concert band and wind ensemble. It blends two main ideas–an original Chorale theme by Zdechlik himself, and the familiar tune “Simple Gifts”, comprising the “Shaker Dance”.Down the rabbit hole….

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So, public opinion seems to be coalescing to a degree around the idea that the best Super Bowl matchup to conclude the season that is currently winding its way toward a conclusion would pit the Buffalo Bills against the Detroit Lions. That would be the Bills’ fifth Super Bowl appearance, versus the first for the Lions. The Bills, notably, lost all four of their previous Super Bowl tilts, so a Bills-Lions Super Bowl would produce the first ever Super Bowl victory for one of those two teams. I get the appeal. I really do. The Bills are not only reallyDown the rabbit hole….