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Notation Must Die: The Battle For How We Read Music

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Many people feel that western notation makes it unnecessarily hard to read music. If we want to sight read, learn music theory or just practice an instrument, surely there's a better way? Right? This has been a hot topic for almost 1000 years... AND I PUT IT TO BED RIGHT HERE!

Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Tantacrul
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Come visit our Discord: https://discord.gg/ttc-chat

Subtitles by Pentameron

---------- CHAPTERS ----------

00:00 - Setting the stage
09:26 - Notation must die INTRO!
15:12 - Ancient Greek notation
19:40 - The history of western notation
31:57 - Chromatic staves
36:15 - The piano roll
42:54 - Clefs (and resistance to change)
44:42 - Muto method
46:45 - Notation & the aristocracy
48:25 - Tablature
51:40 - Guitar Hero
52:51 - Klavarskribo
54:08 - Other types of keyboard notation
55:47 - Musitude!
1:01:18 - Dodeca
1:03:01 - Accessibility
1:04:31 - Farbige Noten
1:06:49 - Jullian Carrillo's system
1:08:26 - The best of the rest
1:11:52 - Where can we go from here?


---------- BIBLIOGRAPHY ----------

BOOKS

Julian Carrillo: Sistema General de Escritura Musical (Mexico City: Ediciones Sonidos 13, 1895)

Charles Francis Abdy Williams: The Story of Notation (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1903)
https://archive.org/details/storynotation00willgoog/page/n28/mode/2up

Willi Apel: The Notation of Polyphonic Music, 900-1600 (The Mediaeval Academy of America, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1953)
https://archive.org/details/notationofpolyph1953apel/page/32/mode/2up

Gardner Read: Source Book of Proposed Music Notation Reforms (Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 1987)


ARTICLES AND BLOGS

A timeline of music notation - Jon Silpayamanant (this is a wonderful resource with circa 900 notation systems covered)
https://silpayamanant.wordpress.com/timeline-of-music-notation/

Adémar de Chabannes, Carolingian Musical Practices, and Nota Romana - James Grier - Journal of the American Musicological Society, Vol. 56, No. 1, pp. 43-98. - University of California Press

Musical Clefs and their Abolition, T. L. Southgate - The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular, Vol. 30, No. 559 (Sep. 1, 1889)
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3360190?typeAccessWorkflow=login

Cross eyed pianist on the topic of notation being ‘elitist’. https://crosseyedpianist.com/tag/elitism-in-music-education/

The Muto Method
https://muto-method.com/en/score.html

Proposed redesign of piano sheet music
https://medium.com/alex-couch-s-portfolio/how-i-d-redesign-piano-sheet-music-355c4f9012f1

Musitude
https://musitude.com/

The Modes of Ancient Greek Music
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/40288/40288-h/40288-h.htm


VIDEOS

Reconstruction of Greek music, led by Professor Armand D'Angour https://youtu.be/4hOK7bU0S1Y

Offertorium: Jubilate Deo universa terra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tw0Ny4Z4wD4&ab_channel=GradualeProject

An introduction to mensural notation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1F2FSLakVA&ab_channel=EarlyMusicSources


OTHER LINKS

Daseian notation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daseian_notation

Style similar to Nonantolian notation
https://unipub.uni-graz.at/obvugrscript/content/pageview/5564611

Mensural notation wikipedia page (which is very good)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mensural_notation

Database of high-res scans of early Christian music
https://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/list/subproject/stgall_music

Mensural notation scan: Missae partes decantari solitae: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus et Agnus Dei cum notis musicalibus
https://search.onb.ac.at/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=ONB_alma21295855650003338&context=L&vid=ONB&lang=de_DE

Mouth pictogram imagery by pch.vector https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/mouth-animation-set_9176068.htm#query=mouth%20speaking&position=0&from_view=keyword&track=ais

Encouraging the Young to Die - The Most Toxic Site I've Ever Seen

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I recently watched one of my followers being encouraged and coached to die on a toxic site that seeks to maximising the likelihood that its members end their own lives. In this video, I detail why this site is so destructive, why people should not give it life by participating on it and why I believe it should ultimately be made illegal.

Apologies to my followers who most likely will be surprised by this content. This is a one-off video I felt I had to make.

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Resources for those who need someone to talk to:
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For the two most affected counties:

US:
https://988lifeline.org/
https://www.crisistextline.org/

For those in the trans community in the US
https://translifeline.medium.com/trans-lifeline-faq-54351b09b576

UK:
https://www.samaritans.org/
https://www.thecalmzone.net/
https://seed.charity/

Everywhere else in the world:

Find a helpline can quickly link you to hotlines in your own country. These are anonymous lines, where you can get advice or simply just be heard.
https://findahelpline.com/

Wikipedia also has a excellent resource of hotlines for those in crisis.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_suicide_crisis_lines

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Other Links
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Literature & Research

International Association for (S) Prevention
https://www.iasp.info/our_team/rory-oconnor/

When it’s Darkest, Rory O’ Conner (2021)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/When-Darkest-People-Suicide-What/dp/1785043439

The Definition of (S) - Edwin Shneidman (1985) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Definition-Suicide-Edwin-Shneidman-ebook/dp/B00HBUIOVO

IMV model
https://suicideresearch.info/the-imv/

Rates in the UK and US
https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/news/2022/october/suicide-rates-record-high-amongst-15-19-year-olds

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsrr/vsrr024.pdf

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Articles on Section 230
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https://www.theverge.com/2022/12/1/23487958/supreme-court-gonzalez-google-twitter-taamneh-section-230

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/section-230-should-not-be-big-techs-get-out-of-court-free-card

https://harvardlawreview.org/2018/05/section-230-as-first-amendment-rule/

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Step Closer video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndjcJAaOVdg&ab_channel=IASP

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Subtitles by Pentameron

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00:00 Introduction
06:24 How does the site work?
08:17 The philosophy of the site
10:48 "Don't seek help"
13:12 Assisting those below 18
16:22 A note about cults
17:45 Malicious actors
20:13 Protecting the vulnerable
26:28 The instruction threads
28:18 The marketplace
29:54 Who is responsible for setting up this site?
32:22 How is this site still up?
33:39 Taking action
43:06 Please seek help. You are not alone.

How We Made MuseScore 4 - Music App Design is Challenging!

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MuseScore 4 is a complex music composition app for Mac, PC and Linux. Its predecessor (V3) was enormous and incredibly hard to overhaul. In this video, I take you through that process: how we built the team; how we made design decisions and how we improved its playback & engraving quality. Come experience the pain with me!

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Please consider supporting me on Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/Tantacrul

Twitter
https://twitter.com/tantacrul

Discord
https://t.co/a3oYi1Rbnc?amp=1
---

Download MuseScore 4 here
https://musescore.org

Detailed post about our engraving improvements
https://musescore.org/en/node/330793

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Subtitles by Pentameron

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00:00 Introduction
02:56 Background behind MuseScore & our challenges
07:54 Technical & design challenges
12:31 The re-design process
21:21 Overhauling playback
33:22 Overhauling engraving
42:42 The final mad dash...
45:17 Why open source matters

Musical Elitism is Everywhere

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Musical elitism is a vast topic that touches on aspiration, historical legacy, class, gatekeeping, education, snobbery, wealth, privilege, classical music and popular culture. In this video I take a broad look at all of these.
---
Please consider supporting me on Patreon
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Twitter
https://twitter.com/tantacrul

Discord
https://t.co/a3oYi1Rbnc?amp=1
---

Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
05:22 - Ancient China & Confucius
09:21 - The Secret Power of Music
11:51 - The Sex Pistols
15:46 - Mozart
21:11 - Mainstream Elitism
26:47 - The Classical Image
40:58 - The Curious Case of Milton Babbitt
46:00 - The Imposter Phenomenon
52:38 - The Cultural Revolution
59:55 - Final Thoughts

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Subtitles by Pentameron

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So many links!

Papers

“The Music and Musical Instruments of Ancient China” by Robert W. Marks
Source: The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 18, No. 4 (Oct., 1932), pp. 593-607
https://www.jstor.org/stable/738941

“The musicality of Plato” by Leon Crickmore
Source: Hermathena, No. 180 (Summer 2006), pp. 19-43
https://www.jstor.org/stable/23041660

“Musical Art in Early Confucian Philosophy” by Siu-Chi Huang
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1396785?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

“Moral Psychology and Degenerate Regimes in Plato’s Republic” by Peiying (Peggy) Zhu (thesis)
https://repository.wellesley.edu/object/ir783

“Why Chinese people play Western classical music” by Hao Huang
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0255761411420955

“Music under Mao, Its Background and Aftermath” by Mao Yu Run
Source: Asian Music , Spring - Summer, 1991, Vol. 22, No. 2
https://www.jstor.org/stable/834309

‘Milton Babbitt Encounters Academia (And Vice Versa)’ by Brian Harker
Souce: American Music Vol. 26, No. 3 (Fall, 2008)
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40071711?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

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Articles

“After the Cultural Revolution: what western classical music means in China” - The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jul/08/after-the-cultural-revolution-what-western-classical-music-means-in-china

Confucianism Revival in China - The Economist (June 23rd 2021)
https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2021/06/23/how-did-confucianism-win-back-the-chinese-communist-party

New York Times article on Classical music in China (1974)
https://www.nytimes.com/1974/01/15/archives/china-assails-beethoven-and-schubert.html

New Statesman article on elitism in classical music (July, 2012)
https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2012/07/classical-music-should-be-about-more-elite-parties-and-private-s

BPI research on inequality in access to music in state schools
https://www.bpi.co.uk/news-analysis/bpi-calls-on-government-to-tackle-growing-inequality-in-access-to-music-in-state-schools/

Relevant articles in the New Statesman by Andrew Mellor
https://www.newstatesman.com/author/andrew-mellor

Interview with John Lydon, The Times, UK, (March 1999)
http://www.johnlydon.com/TIMES_UK99.HTM

Grundy Banned, The Guardian, (December 03, 1976)
https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/1976/dec/03/greatinterviews
Obscene Child, Sheila Fitzpatrick
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v29/n13/sheila-fitzpatrick/obscene-child

Einaudi & Elitism in Classical Music, The Cross-Eyed Pianist (2020)
https://crosseyedpianist.com/tag/elitism-in-classical-music/

“Who cares if you listen?” Milton Babbitt, High Fidelity, vol. 8, no. 2 (1958)
https://wps.prenhall.com/hss_mymusiclibrary_1/167/42754/10945080.cw/index.html

A perfect Roger Ebert summary of ‘Masked and Anonymous’
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/masked-and-anonymous-2003

Pat Metheny on Kenny G
http://www.jazzoasis.com/methenyonkennyg.htm

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Reports

BPI teachers survey (2019)
https://www.bpi.co.uk/news-analysis/bpi-calls-on-government-to-tackle-growing-inequality-in-access-to-music-in-state-schools/

Musicians Union Education Statistics Report (2015)
https://musiciansunion.org.uk/Files/Reports/Industry/Education-Statistics-Report.aspx

Arts Council - Creating a more inclusive classical music (2021)
https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/sites/default/files/download-file/Executive_Summary.pdf

Arts Council - In Harmony programme (link to a report on the homepage)
https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/music-education-hubs/harmony

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Books

“Mozart: Portrait of a Genius” by Norbert Elias (1993)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mozart-Portrait-Genius-Norbert-Elias/dp/0520084756

“Mozart” by Maynard Solomon (1995)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000ROKXXS/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

“The Secret Power of Music” by David Tame (1984, read at your own risk)
https://kupdf.net/download/david-tame-the-secret-power-of-music_58d59399dc0d60cb7cc34628_pdf

“Class, Control, and Classical Music”, Anna Bull (2019)
https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/oso/9780190844356.001.0001/oso-9780190844356

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Film

“The Filth and the Fury” - a documentary by Julian Temple

“Mao to Mozart - Isaac Stern in China” (1979)
https://youtu.be/1JtXq63b-Fw

A Laughable Sales Pitch - The Unison MIDI Chord Pack

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In this video, I review the Unison MIDI Chord Pack, which is advertised as a revolution for beginners who want to produce great music or great beats. It's not.

Please consider supporting me on Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/Tantacrul

Twitter
https://twitter.com/tantacrul

Discord
https://t.co/a3oYi1Rbnc?amp=1

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ABOUT UNISON AUDIO

Some Adverts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqZsK-vVzg4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUIfGxBFeRc

Business details
https://www.bbb.org/ca/bc/vancouver/profile/music/unison-audio-inc-0037-2400854/details

Trust pilot Reviews
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/unison.audio

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Subtitles by Pentameron

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YOUTUBERS APPEARING IN THIS VIDEO

Liam Taylor
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIioZmfa319qfzquQJfeDHg

Afro Hamurai
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xGErvTsV5o

Jessica Williamson
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRSj9Yr5P1X1So3Lq8T8C0w

Ave Mcree
https://www.youtube.com/user/AveMcree

Will Parker
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7biDFz7ytPrIM9GLiqLyJQ

Ben Levin
https://www.youtube.com/c/BenLevin

David Bruce
https://www.youtube.com/c/DBruce

Hbomberguy
https://www.youtube.com/user/hbomberguy

COPYRIGHT & DMCA TAKEDOWN NOTICES

Lumen (a public record)
https://www.lumendatabase.org/notices/19275210#

Discchord: Takedown on journalist
https://discchord.com/appnews/2019/10/04/unison-audio-part-2-the-unison-fucks-back


THE SHLD FREE & OPEN SOURCE CHORD PACK

https://drolez.com/blog/music/free-midi-chords-progressions.php

Main blog:
https://drolez.com/freemidi

GitHub (where you can download it)
https://github.com/ldrolez/free-midi-chords

Video about the pack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNBI6uQXltY


ABOUT THE DISCCHORD BLOG

YouTube: https://youtube.com/discchord
Twitter: @discchord
Instagram: @discchord

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CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
03:21 About Unison
07:51 Knife
12:58 The details
16:43 The crazy

The Story Behind Audacity

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Audacity is the world’s most widely used audio editing & recording software. It is free and open source software (FOSS) and maintained by an amazing community. In this video, I’m announcing my own involvement in the project, which I’m very excited about. For those worried about MuseScore (an open source notation & music app that I also lead): don’t be. I’m not going anywhere!

Please consider supporting me on Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/Tantacrul

Twitter
https://twitter.com/tantacrul

Discord
https://t.co/a3oYi1Rbnc?amp=1

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Subtitles by Pentameron

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Any highly experienced developers, designers or product owners interested in a career working with either Audacity or MuseScore, please check out: https://mu.se/careers

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Audacity Links

Homepage
https://www.audacityteam.org/

Forum
https://forum.audacityteam.org/

Social Media
https://twitter.com/getaudacity?lang=en
https://www.facebook.com/AudacityTeamOfficial

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Other Links

About Logo
https://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=83108

https://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic.php?t=108140

https://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/The_Audacity_Pumpkin


Roger Dannenberg’s Work
https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rbd/videos.html

Waterfall Spectrogram
https://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Proposal_Waterfall_Spectrograms

Joe Essay: Review of Paul Licameli’s De-clicker Plugin
https://youtu.be/3zESSLTU4vw

Data Bending example by Max Liberatori
https://youtu.be/-we2okCiBG8

More on Data Bending
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxeXm5GAUnc&ab_channel=SimonHutchinson#

Use of Audacity in various disciplines
https://becausebirds.com/visualize-bird-songs-with-spectrograms/

Music on Reality TV is Insanely Manipulative

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The use of stock music on Reality TV (Gordon Ramsay & Kitchen Nightmares, America's Got Talent, The Bachelor, Married at First Sight, etc.) has become more blunt over the last 20 years, constantly reusing the same tropes to present a simplistic, highly reified portrait of people & animals. Misrepresenting the world. In this video I break down the most common musical tropes used across various types of Reality TV comparing them to similar tropes used in nature documentaries to show how manipulative and unsophisticated they are.

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Please consider supporting me on Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/Tantacrul

Twitter
https://twitter.com/tantacrul

Discord
https://t.co/a3oYi1Rbnc?amp=1

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Subtitles by Pentameron

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The 'Other' in Music

Western Music and Its Others: Difference, Representation, and Appropriation in Music https://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Music-Others-Representation-Appropriation/dp/0520220846

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/12/23/how-star-wars-reinforces-our-prejudices/

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About Archetypes in Branding
https://brandsbyovo.com/expertise/brand-archetypes/

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Helpful Reification Links:

Introductory:

Reification, Music and Problems of Modern Philosophy - Jonathan Lewis, 2014
https://pure.royalholloway.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/reification-music-and-problems-of-modern-philosophy(c07e3c0b-baa5-4001-85f5-a8a6db1c8340).html

Adorno: A Critical Introduction - Simon Jarvis, 1998
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0745611796/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Advanced:

History & Class Consciousness, Georg Lukacs, 1923
https://www.marxists.org/archive/lukacs/works/history/hcc05.htm
Dialectic of Enlightenment - Adorno, Theodor, 1944
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dialectic-Enlightenment-Classics-Theodor-Adorno/dp/1859841546

Philosophy of Modern Music - Adorno, Theodor, 1949
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Philosophy-New-Music-Theodor-Adorno/dp/0816636664

How I Designed a Free Music Font for 5 Million Musicians (MuseScore 3.6)

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This video covers how I designed a music notation font for MuseScore 3.6, in collaboration with my friend Simon Smith, a professional engraving expert. Apart from MuseScore's 5 million users, this font is available for free for anyone to download and use. Along the way, I also discuss the inspiration for our font: an application called SCORE, created by Leland Smith.

Please consider supporting me on Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/Tantacrul

Twitter
https://twitter.com/tantacrul

Discord
https://t.co/a3oYi1Rbnc?amp=1

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Learn More about Simon

http://oktophonie.net
https://youtube.com/ingemisco

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GET MUSESCORE 3.6 (FREE)
https://www.musescore.org

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GET OUR MUSIC FONT: LELAND
https://github.com/MuseScoreFonts/Leland

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https://www.scoringnotes.com/

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SCORE & LELAND SMITH

Leland interview:
https://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/leland-smith

Scoring Notes Obituary
https://www.scoringnotes.com/news/leland-smith-dies-at-88/

Stanford Obituary
https://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/january/leland-smith-obit-010914.html

Bill Holab on Leland Smith
https://www.scoringnotes.com/news/bill-holab-on-leland-smith-and-score/

Thomas Brodhead on Leland Smith
https://www.scoringnotes.com/news/thomas-brodhead-on-leland-smith-and-score/

ScoreBox
https://www.scorbox.com/

Machines of Loving Grace (Composition by Leland Smith)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bU0rS-n-mM&ab_channel=ccrmalite1

Original History of SCORE (Wayback machine)
https://web.archive.org/web/20190602040203/http://scoremus.com/score.htm

Writing For The Piano Trio - It's Tough

💾

The Piano Trio is one of the most popular chamber ensembles in classical music. In this video I discuss how composers write for it and why it's difficult. Along the way, I look at one of my own compositions along with examples (with sheet music) from Telemann, JS & JC Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Ravel, Rachmaninoff, Schubert, Clara Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Andriessen, Morton Feldman, Gordon McPherson, Donnacha Dennehy, Jonathan Harvey, etc. I also describe my own writing process too, drawing on a great performance of my work by the Fidelio Trio.

Support me on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/Tantacrul

Twitter
https://twitter.com/Tantacrul

Discord (Server name: Tantachat)
http://discord.gg/fRUCjz9

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THE FIDELIO TRIO
Albums
http://www.fideliotrio.com/cds.html

Twitter
https://twitter.com/fideliotrio

Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/artist/1rlIcQWOO0ZE9Q3b2cYV7n


OTHER LINKS:
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THE ATOS TRIO (featured in this video)
www.thomashoppe.com
www.atostrio.com

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OTHER
Description of Mozart’s relationship to the emergence of the PianoForte
https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/30/arts/music/30moza.html

LITERATURE
The Piano Trio: Its History, Technique, and Repertoire - Basil Smallman
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Piano-Trio-Technique-Repertoire-Paperbacks/dp/0198163045

An experiment in variation: The finale of Mozart’s piano trio in G, K.496 - Ivanovitch, R.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/290766238_An_experiment_in_variation_The_finale_of_Mozart's_piano_trio_in_G_K496

The Effect of Scoring on the "Sonata-Form" in Mozart's Mature Instrumental Ensembles - N. Lee Orr
https://www.jstor.org/stable/830514?seq=1

Donnacha Dennehy’s ‘Bulb’ Score
https://issuu.com/scoresondemand/docs/bulb_56546

Morton Feldman’s Trio Score
https://www.universaledition.com/trio-for-violin-cello-and-piano-feldman-morton-ue16401

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THE IRISH COMPOSERS COLLECTIVE
https://irishcomposerscollective.com/
❌