For the music and everything around it.
Independent notes on festival planning, live music and getting more out of the shows you choose.
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Scordatura deliberately changes normal string tuning. Hear how it contributes to musical character, and distinguish the tuning instruction from the key signature.
Hear how a minor-key piece can close with a major tonic chord. A simple keyboard comparison makes the Picardy third easier to recognise.
A pedal point keeps a pitch in place through changing harmony. Try a short keyboard example and listen for how a stable bass can create changing tension.
Hear a simple hemiola by keeping six pulses steady and changing their grouping. Try an accent exercise before following the effect in a performance.
Rubato allows expressive flexibility in musical time. Try a focused listening exercise that separates a shaped phrase from a simple permanent change of tempo.
Hear how sul ponticello changes a bowed string’s colour near the bridge, and compare it with ordinary bowing without confusing brightness with loudness.