Play one note. Wait until it becomessomeone else’s note. Play another. Do not listento the instrument. Listen to the distancebetween the instrumentand the person listening. Imagine a pianoat the bottom […]

Strike a chord on a piano. We say the music is “out there,” but half of it is manufactured in a dark factory behind the eyes. I sit at the […]

Socrates and Plato walked through the Agora when they encountered a crowd gathered around a curious bronze box. From within came music. Not merely melodies. Entire symphonies. Love songs. Funeral […]

John Coltrane and Louis Armstrong found themselves seated on a park bench overlooking a city. Music drifted through the air from every direction. None of the musicians were visible. ARMSTRONG: […]

Socrates was sitting beneath an olive tree when a man appeared wearing round purple glasses, black clothes, several silver crosses, and an expression suggesting he had survived both history and […]

The two musicians tuned quietly before the rehearsal. The bassist wore a black-and-white keffiyeh around his neck. The pianist a Star of David. For several minutes neither mentioned either one. […]

“Open a little wider,” said the dentist. The musician obeyed. “No, that’s an E-flat,” said the dentist. “I need more of an F.” The musician attempted to laugh but was […]

Part of being a musician is periodically lobbing your little paper airplane over impossible fences just to see where it lands. Sometimes it drops immediately into a decorative fountain. Sometimes […]