On Music, Teaching, and Sound
‘Music is always more than notes. It is made out of sounds. Confusing these two is not a small matter’.
Thought for the Day: Predictions on Artificial Intelligence and Music
Despite history being littered with predictions about the future that are spectacularly wrong, I threw in my two cents nonetheless on the topic of music and AI.
Game of Thrones, Guitar, and Identity
None of us are mono identities, whether we feel as if a particular ‘thing’ defines us or not.
Scotland Is Celtic (Sort of)
Contrary to popular belief, Scotland has never been an exclusively Celtic nation, and has included Anglo-Saxons, Normans, and Scandinavians from its medieval beginnings.
Lessons In Listening - Part 1
Creativity is about synthesising ideas, but synthesising ideas depends on having a universe of ideas to recombine in the first place.
Inputs and Outputs
The ‘input-output' mental model is a conceptual tool that can be used across all fields and is particularly effective in creative areas such as music composition and essay writing.
(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction: Composition, Performance and the Allure of Musical ‘Satisfaction’
In writing and performing music, it is pertinent to reflect on what constitutes a good-sounding composition or a good-sounding performance.
Deciphering Greatness in Art
Deciphering greatness in the arts is a surprisingly difficult and complex philosophical problem, which many aesthetes, philosophers and other thinkers have attempted to grapple with.