Program Note

Here is some guidance to the whimsies of this site, itself a great imaginary stage where I stand "in the wings," "musing on music and performance." The majority of entries are my own personal writings. The people I write about are the characters and actors onstage, a metaphor I try to extend by titling the entries with my own sort of stage directions (enter: the critic, at work, etc.) Occassionally I depart from that model with reviews of concerts or recordings, or shameless self-promotion of upcoming concerts.

Entries with simple Roman Numeral titles are texts that I've lifted verbatim from other writers. For now, I leave them without further commentary, though I may in the future compose some essays on why a particular text appeals to me or how I think it relates to music or performance. I often collapse these entries due to their length, so click on "continue reading" to see the full text.

The Soundtrack is a brief list of music that I've either performed or heard in the span of time between soundtrack entries. Like the literary quotations, I don't critique or annotate these entries (though at some point I certainly could), but the reader should know that the selections are pieces that made me stop. And think. Profound thoughts. I offer the spartan list with the hope of encouraging others to go listen to (and wonder and think and comment on) this music.

More often than not, the entries are simply autobiographical clips that I've attempted to focus and make, perhaps, generally relevant to a forum of thought on contemporary performance, the practice of music, and the living of life as a professional musician.

Enjoy.