I fear that any music-related narrative that I’d attempt to relate today might be misinterpreted as some kind of joke, so instead I thought I’d ponder a couple of the hoaxes that made it into my web browser today.

We clearly advocate for different reasons. But there is a kind of advocacy that has an altruistic underpinning: I’m thinking of when a musician, or group of musicians, takes on the role of presenting artists in situations where they might not be heard elsewhere.

What comes first, the repertoire or the available and interested performers? Having written more than my fair share of brass works, I find myself asking why more composers don’t try their hand at it.

Preparing tax returns is one of my least favorite activities on planet earth. What method(s) do you use to keep track of expenses and income?

There have been many purposes for music—dance, worship, military formations, political campaigns, etc.—but listening can make all of music available to you whether or not you partake in those activities.

For those of us who work with composition students, we are now squarely in that time of year when project deadlines begin to coincide with exams and the mid-term demands of other courses to the point that the pressure to complete a musical work can seem insurmountable.

It has been great to read all of the comments on last week’s post about bad performances—I’m glad to see both composers and performers sharing their thoughts. In the interest of addressing both sides of this coin—or maybe that greener grass over there—I’m also interested in unpacking aspects of good performances. Yes, they do happen!

Should Cobra be considered a composition in the classical sense, or is it something different? And if it’s something different, what rules of ownership should apply to it?

The so-called passive mode of experiencing information—music, books, theatre, film, visual art, lectures—enabled me to pay attention to others and offered me world views that can span any place or any time. All of this would have been completely out of reach to me otherwise.

Two weeks ago, the new music world received the news that after eight seasons cellist Jeffrey Zeigler would be stepping down from his position with the Kronos Quartet. We asked him what’s next.