There’s a long history in dictionaries, encyclopedias, and even atlases of including false and funny entries to protect from copyright infringement. The Grove Dictionary has had some classics over the years and now they’re giving the rest of us the chance to write some ourselves.

In addition to being a serious lot, composers tend to be both competitive (as the lifeblood of our art—performances—are of a limited supply) and not a little sensitive about their own self-perceived flaws. Humor, therefore, is a rare bird.

Have you ever written a piece of music for someone? Not pieces that are dedicated to performers or to whomever commissioned the work, but rather compositions written specifically for a love interest, or maybe a spouse?

For change to have meaning, an element must remain fixed, and often the most hyperactive music conveys no motion at all.

Before I ever got interested in classical music, it baffled me that dead composers were more of a draw than living ones, but perhaps that’s why classical music doesn’t capture the interest of more of the general public.

When one looks at the actual handwriting of a 31-year-old Russian composer who had not yet achieved his place in the mythos of our musical heritage, it not only allows us to see the piece and the man writing it in a more normal, grounded manner but it allows us to see ourselves and our own work in a context that is ultimately more healthy and realistic than before.

One of the best parts of traveling around to interview composers for NewMusicBox is often having the opportunity to see their living spaces. It’s always interesting, and in many cases surprising to see the spaces that composers create for themselves. But I wonder if the spaces in which we feel the most comfortable are always the best for composing?

The lure of live performances of Steve Reich’s Tehillim and The Desert Music was enough to convince me to board yet another airplane (less than 12 hours after I returned home from France) and brave the weather in Winnipeg where it was -34°C which equals -29°F!

Learning music has been shown to be important to the development of our minds and bodies. What music is addressing issues of culture deprived curricula in education?

I’ve recently taken over directorship of a music ensemble in the Washington, D.C. area, and it’s remarkable how many relics of the composing world appear totally transformed when donning the “hat” of artistic director. So far, one of the most interesting things about this new role has been the way it tends to shed light on certain composer habits.