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The 21st century digital world has many resources available to the music student and teacher. Just a few years back, in order to hear how someone else performed a given work, one had to go to the record store, buy the vinyl or cassette or better yet, go to live concert. Now with iTunes, YouTube, Vimeo, et. al., one can find virtually any work performed somewhere across the globe. This is not to imply that they are remarkable performances, which gets at the subject of this article: interpretation. What is interpretation of music? Reading the comments under a given YouTube performance, undoubtedly one will

When one mentions the word discipline, many different ideas come to mind, from raising children to athletic training. Those in the arts immediately think of the hours of training, practice, memorization, etc. that must precede a successful recitation or creative presentation. While these ideas impart some of the nature of discipline, the thoughts of rigor tend to overshadow the spiritual commitment necessary for motivation. Discipline stems from the very word that the writers of the Gospels and the Book of the Acts used to refer to the “followers” of Jesus Christ. Since I enjoy a bit of etymology, I am

The “activity bus,” as it was known, was the only way home for one student athlete living more than 15 miles from the school. It was an hour and a half trip through rural Western Pennsylvania, where stone houses are rare, but I relished passing the old museum on Route 8, hoping one day to see inside. Though I never was able to tour it, the house captivated my attention to such an extent that the bank and I now own one – a dream nearly realized.  It was not an acquisition for the faint of heart, as the only stone house an