M Ryan Taylor

Wrapping up the Summer

M Ryan Taylor — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 23:07:12 +0000

First, what’s up: Emceeing for Concerts in the Park, each Monday 7pm through August 22nd at the American Fork Amphitheater. I’ll also be providing the preshow on August 8th, so if you’d like to hear me sing, please arrive at 6:45pm. Time to plan the Fall Semester for both the American Fork Children’s Choir and the

June Already?

M Ryan Taylor — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 01:11:27 +0000

Wow! Where did May go? It has been almost 2 months since I posted, so I thought I’d better take minute and update on the happenings around here. First, here’s what is coming up . . . Starting next week, June 6th, I’ll be attending the Intermuse Academy at BYU for 10 days to get my level 1

2011 : The Year So Far

M Ryan Taylor — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 22:38:43 +0000

With my 39th Birthday coming up in a week (luckily coinciding with my wife's Spring Break - hiking time!), and a momentary pause in the flurry of activity that the last month has contained . . . I thought it might be a good time to reflect on some of the highlights of 2011 so far. I began the year with a goal to clear out my backlog (complete or delete) and work on one project at a time. So far this is working out pretty well. I've managed to make a big dent in my unfinished composition projects and deleted some that were not going to go anywhere. Many of the completed projects

The Joy is in the Playing

M Ryan Taylor — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 22:52:54 +0000

2 Schroederisms

Lucy: "What happens if you practice the piano for 20 years and then end up not being rich and famous?" Schroeder: "The joy is in the playing."

I was at a 'thank you' dinner for people serving on the American Fork Arts Council a couple of nights ago, and my table neighbor remarked on how much I'm volunteering in the community with a hint that I was being 'too' generous with my time without compensation. He may be right, but what can I do? The joy is in the playing. If people aren't willing to support financially what I give to the community, what can I do but continue to give? In the past, when I've gotten caught

New Music and Musings

M Ryan Taylor — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 02:42:54 +0000

New Musings!

First of all, please check out the new essay I wrote for LDS Music Universe:

Gospel Harmony and Music

Also, I've written a series of four articles about putting health as a first priority and my weight loss progress for Classical Singer Magazine. They've asked me to write some updates on my progress for their blog. Here are the ones that have come out so far (more forthcoming):

As for my current state of being, between my 10th

Abinadi : BYU Opera Production Photo Gallery

M Ryan Taylor — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 18:40:40 +0000

I recently did an update to the page that has information on my first opera Abinadi. It includes a new piano/vocal score, recordings, videos and production materials. Unfortunately, there is not room to host all the archival photos I have from BYU's 2003 production of the opera on that page. I have therefore placed all the photos I have pertaining to that production in this gallery:

[gallery]

Set Designs from the 2003 production at BYU by Doug Ellis.

The sets, as designed by Doug Ellis for the mainstage production by BYU exceeded my wildest expectations. The pyramid was this

Simply Eating : Almond Apricot Bars (Gluten Free)

M Ryan Taylor — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 01:16:10 +0000

I love apricot jam. My mom and sister used to make huge batches of apricot pineapple jam when I was small. I think that's where I grew to love the flavor of apricots, but . . . I'm not crazy about eating them plain, fresh or dried (something about the texture). This recipe is an attempt to get that apricot jam flavor into a bar, without all the sugar. I think it works. I loved how these turned out, naturally and mildly sweet with lots of apricot flavor.

Directions:

Add the following to your food processor . . .

4 oz Almonds

. .

The True Cost of Procrastination

M Ryan Taylor — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 22:42:21 +0000

The problem with procrastination is that the true cost is far greater than any external consequence of the delay. For example, I don't know who has been waiting with 'baited breath' for a copy of the score to my first opera, Abinadi (based on the story from The Book of Mormon), but someone asked me where they could obtain a copy a few weeks ago. This brought up the fact that for the last 7+ years I have been procrastinating putting in the revisions I made to the score while it was undergoing its production at BYU under the directorship of Lawrence Vincent (revisions that were

Simply Eating : Banana Date Nut Bars (Gluten Free)

M Ryan Taylor — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 02:38:33 +0000

My newest creation; light, cake-like, banana bread bars. They taste awesome, and are awesome for you.

Directions:

Add the following to your food processor . . .

2 oz Walnuts
2 oz Cashews

. . . and process until almost a butter. Add . . .

4 oz Deglet Noor Dates

. . . and continue to process until the dates are evenly distributed with in the nut mixture. Add . . .

1 large Banana (about 4 oz - Dates and banana should equal 8 oz combined)
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Vanilla
1/2 tsp Real Salt

More New Scores : Song, Band, Chamber Music and More . . .

M Ryan Taylor — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 18:28:29 +0000

I've sent another volley of 'new' scores out into the world as part of my 'complete or delete' project. None of them is more than ten years old, but this is the first time I have published most of them. This update includes . . . Works for Band (new section of the site):

Overtones for Concert Band
Titterie-Ayrie-Aye arranged for Wind Ensemble

Additions to the Songs and Art Songs section:

Ode to a Fruitcake : a comic song for medium voice and piano.
The Word : a Christmas piece for baritone and brass quintet.
The Terline Tree : an excerpt from my never-to-be-completed

The Key Ingredient

M Ryan Taylor — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 05:40:38 +0000

Dixie and I had a cooking 'experience' last week that got me thinking. Dixie was making my Quick Panang Curry.This is one of those recipes you just throw together and heat up. I was reading off the ingredients and she was pulling them out. Soon she had it on the table and were ladling it over some sweet brown rice. We started eating and right off I noticed something was wrong. At first I thought maybe she hadn't put in enough peanut butter, but that wasn't it. I just kept eating it, but it wasn't savory in the slightest. I proposed several things. Did it have salt? Was it too much lime juice? Finally, it clicked

Using Cute PDF to Export Finale Files and Share Your Scores

M Ryan Taylor — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 04:44:26 +0000

The Most Important Thing

The most important thing to remember when exporting a PDF from Finale is that you must embed the fonts into the PDF. If you do not embed the fonts, those fonts will be replaced by whatever the person who downloads the file happens to have on their computer; in other words, all the notes will be replaced by letters.

The Software for Sharing Scores via PDF

PDF has become one of the most common ways to share music scores via the internet. For a long while I used the full version of Adobe Acrobat to export my scores to PDF. However, upon moving to a more updated form of Windows

Simply Eating : Spiced Brownies (Gluten Free)

M Ryan Taylor — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 03:32:31 +0000

Spicey, sweet, chewy, delightful brownie with a ‘nutty’ crunch. This is a simplified brownie version of a gluten-free seed cake I posted a while back. I am personally more of a brownie person than a cake person.

Directions:

Add the following to your food processor . . .

2 oz Walnuts
2 0z Cashews

. . . and process until almost a butter. Add . . .

8 oz Deglet Noor Dates

. . . and continue to process until the dates are evenly distributed with in the seed mixture. Add . . .

1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Vanilla
1/2 tsp

New Scores: Pan Among the Reeds & American Revolutions

M Ryan Taylor — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 20:15:58 +0000

As part of my 'complete or delete' project, I've added a set of new scores and minus tracks to my sites.

Pan Among the Reeds

The first of these is a project that has been waiting about 9yrs for me to do something with it, even though it is a project I adore: Pan Among the Reeds for Winds and Percussion. Subtitled, "A Drama for Musicians and Dancers," it features the first Oboeist as a love interest for the Flute playing Pan. The piece is highly programatic, and even contains recitative-like dialogue between the Flute and Oboe 1. This dialogue is not sung, but used as a sort

Complete or Delete

M Ryan Taylor — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 14:38:20 +0000

I wrote shortly ago about my new years resolution to only work on one project at a time. In addition to that I've added a maxim, "complete or delete." I've posted a lot of content over the last decade, but as someone who gets far more ideas than he has time for, I've also hoarded the remnants of many an incomplete project. This last year as I was starting to get my health in order, I also started to clean out my extranious posessions to simplify-declutter my life and surroundings. The time has come to do the same with my backlog. To begin with, getting into the spirit of the project, I

One Thing at a Time

M Ryan Taylor — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 23:47:02 +0000

First of all, please have a look at the new site and menu design and let me know what you think. It actually does have something to do with this post. :-) Perhaps it is a little late to start talking about New Years resolutions, half way into the first month of 2011, but I wanted to give it a trial run before I started talking about it. So what's the resolution? Work on just one thing at a time. So far it is going pretty good. One of my great problems is the plethora of ideas that assault me from all directions. There never seems to be any end of good ideas and

Simply Eating : Pumpkin Pie Bars (Gluten Free)

M Ryan Taylor — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 17:02:26 +0000

Very reminiscent of pumpkin pie, from the texture to the mild sweetness and hint of traditional spices. Directions: Place in your food processor:

2 oz Walnuts
2 oz Hemp Seed
2 oz Cashews
2 oz Pecans

Process until almost a nut butter. Then add:

4 oz Deglet Noor Dates

Process till well combined. Add:

7.5 oz (half a small can) of Farmer's Market - Organic Pumpkin
1 Large Egg
1/4 tsp each of Nutmeg, Ginger, Allspice and Real Salt
1/2 tsp each of Cinnamon and Baking Soda

Process until well mixed

New Christmas Music : All Heaven and it was One Hour Old

M Ryan Taylor — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 22:37:32 +0000

Earlier this year I released the CD of my Christmas song cycle, "All Heaven and it was One Hour Old," featuring soprano Venicia Wilson and pianist Lynn Claire Jemmison-Keisker. It is now available on Bandcamp, which is my favorite method of sharing music with my friends, as you can listen to complete tracks before you purchase. This cycle is based on the lovely Christmas poetry of Katherine Tynan. When I decided I wanted to do a set of Christmas songs, I naturally gravitated to her thoughtful and thought-provoking work. In searching for a 5th poem to complete the set, I stumbled across an obscure reference to a poem called "The Christmas Bird" in a university 'special collections' archive and requested a copy of the poem

Simply Eating : Apple Seed Spice Cake (Gluten Free)

M Ryan Taylor — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 17:26:36 +0000

This is a true seed cake. It has a spicey, sweet, cake texture with a 'nutty' crunch. It combines the amazing nutritional value of a number of 'super seeds' with the sweetness of dates and a fragrant mixture of spices and applesauce. Directions: Add the following to your food processor . . .

2 oz Raw Pumpkin Seeds, hulled
2 0z Roasted Sunflower Seeds
2 0z Shelled Hemp Seed
1 oz Golden Flax Seed

. . . and process until the seed mixture is almost a butter. Add . . .

6 oz Deglet Noor Dates

. . . and continue to

‘Cast Away’ Thanksgiving

M Ryan Taylor — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 04:56:40 +0000

One of our unusual Thanksgiving traditions is to watch the film Cast Away (starring Tom Hanks) each year. It is one of my favorite films. It mixes a realistic love story, tragic events and survivalist plot with humor and tenderness, including a particularly poignant 'open' ending. The film reminds us that even though it seems like we don't have a lot (I'm speaking both personally and of the recession), we are truly wealthy. Simple things like clean, readily-available water, fire, shelter, clothing and a rich variety of food choices are often taken for granted, but are all we really 'need' to sustain our life. Hanks' character leaves a marker on the Island, saying that he 'escaped

The Giant Emerges

M Ryan Taylor — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 18:55:31 +0000

Progress update on "The Giant's Heart" : I finished scene 3 this week. Now on to scene 4, featuring giant spiders with electric guitars and the she-eagle of Mount Skycrack. This is actually my first post about this project, which is strange, because I've been working on it for a while now. So, a little about this new micro opera:

"The Giant's Heart" is based on the story of the same name by George Macdonald, of whom C.S. Lewis said, "I have never concealed the fact that I regarded him as my master; indeed I fancy I have never written a book in which I did not quote from him."
The completed work

Recurring Nightmare

M Ryan Taylor — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 18:12:21 +0000

I have a new recurring nightmare . . . I am at the opera house Everyone is lavishly draped in 18th century attire The multi-tiered set reminds me of one I saw for Carmen years ago The chorus is singing and moving about the stage I can see the indistinct forms of the audience beyond the brightness of the stage lights It dawns on me that the time for me to sing my role is fast approaching I don't know this music I've never seen the score I run from the stage and try to locate a score There are none in the wings There are none in the

Simply Eating: Ultimate Fudge Brownies III (Gluten Free)

M Ryan Taylor — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 19:36:30 +0000

Honestly, you sink your teeth into one of these brownies and you'll never know it is gluten-free, and made with 5 simple whole-food ingredients. As denoted in the title, this is version number 3 of this recipe. Version one was good. Version three tastes awesome. In addition to improved baking time/temperature, and a move from cocoa/fat to dark chocolate, I was inspired by Jules Clancy's 5-Ingredient challenge on Stone Soup Minimalist Home Cooking to simplify the recipe even further. I'd gotten it down to 6 ingredients in version 2, but couldn't think of how to cut anything else out. When I querried Jules on

Love = Time . . . or How the Internet is Icing

M Ryan Taylor — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 00:11:56 +0000

I haven't been loving enough. I say I'm a composer, but how many hours have I spent composing in the last week? One and a half, actually. I say I'm a vocalist, but how many hours did I spend practicing my art? I've been performing in a show this month, so that mandates some singing time, but outside of that . . . ahem, nada. Before singing and composing I aspired to be an artist, but how's that coming along? It's been weeks since I took up a brush. These are some of the great loves of my life, but I'm not giving them my love, because I'm not giving

The Spice of Life (Part III) : Three Loves (Conclusion)

M Ryan Taylor — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 10:45:58 +0000

Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love) relates an account of a woman who came to Sri Ramakrishna, an Indian saint, fearing that she did not love God enough. "And then the saint said, 'Is there nothing you love?' The woman admitted that she loved her nephew. And the saint said, 'There then. He is your Krishna, your beloved. In service to your nephew, you are serving God.'" Love of our neighbor, and love of God are so closely intwined that it is almost impossible to talk of one without talking about the other. Jesus teaches that all the 'law and the prophets' can be summarized in the two great commandments to

The Spice of Life (Part II) : 3 Loves (Love of self)

M Ryan Taylor — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 17:06:12 +0000

This is part 2 of a series of posts on the real spice of life: Love. As I see it, Jesus teaches about three loves (see the end of the previous post):

Love of God
Love of man
Love of self

All three are interconnected. Let's talk about the last one first, because it's the easiest and gives a reference point for the other two. I'm not the first to point this out, but when Jesus says to "love thy neighbor as thyself," there is an assumption that you do actually love yourself. I've had a big problem in my life with self-loathing; loving myself doesn't come

The Spice of Life (Part I) : Loving More to Live More

M Ryan Taylor — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 20:04:20 +0000

Whoever first said that 'variety' is the spice of life must have been a marketer. Anyone who has ever really lived, even a little bit, knows that 'love' (in all its many forms) is the real spice of life. Love is what makes it worth getting out of bed in the morning. Love is what makes life good, despite all the problems, horrors, concerns, injustices, etc. that face us each and every day. If you want to live more, love more. I say this as much to remind myself as anyone. I could easily apply this statement to writing music and singing, to family relationships, to community involvement or practically any aspect of my

Simply Eating: Quick Panang Curry (Thai Curry with Shrimp)

M Ryan Taylor — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 20:07:40 +0000

A local restaurant, Thai Village in American Fork, serves several curries that are simply to die for. Unfortunately, each time we go in there we spend over $30 plus tip (the curries themselves are $9 each), and that is a little rich for anything but a special occasion for us. I did quite a bit of research and came up with a substitute for one of the curries they serve (may not be exactly the same, but it is really good). This is an extemely rich and luscious coconut, peanut curry that is great served with shrimp (or chicken) and sweet brown rice. Quick Panang Curry Serves

Simply Eating : Aztec Chocolate Fire Food (Cocoa Mole Homemade Larabar)

M Ryan Taylor — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 22:00:23 +0000

If you've ever been lucky enough to have a Larabar, you know that an all-natural, sugar-free, gluten-free, preservative-free energy bar can taste great. The drawback with Larabars is that they are not cheap enough to eat every day (though they sometimes go on sale for a buck and a quarter at our local Good Earth). As the ingredients are simple, it is pretty easy to re-create the Larabar experience at home, and since Larabar just announced that they are retiring one of my favorite flavors, Cocoa Mole, I feel it is an appropriate time to retire it right into your kitchen. Aztec Chocolate Fire Food eMBar (Cocoa Mole

It Will Not Be Easy : Restoration Done Right

M Ryan Taylor — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 19:00:14 +0000

It seems that thousands of the ads that bombard us every day are obsessed with giving us easy access to health, wealth beauty, love, fun, etc. In regards to health: Everyone knows it is NOT going to be easy, but we keep looking for that quick solution, the magic diet, the 7-minute exercise routine. I have even been guilty of trying Atkins, magic herbal formulas, liquid diets and even self-hypnosis to lose weight (I don't think it even helped slightly). One of the fundamental changes in my thinking that has allowed me to drop 54 lbs thus far, is a complete rejection of the idea that I will find an easy way to gain the health I want for

Zero Gravity : on Freedom, Weightlessness and Tangible Goals

M Ryan Taylor — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 17:10:00 +0000

I was reminded today about real goals; tangible, living goals, not just the 'I've got to do this to be healthy' or 'I've got to get out of debt because debt is the Devil' kind of goals, but goals that I can sink my teeth and hold on to like some mad badger. Baker, at Man Vs. Debt, calls them 'sexy' goals. I've blogged a couple of times about losing weight, here and here, but what's it really all about? Why am I doing this? And it isn't just my physical weight I've been focusing on; I'm trying to unburden myself from the weight of the stacks

You Get UNLIMITED Rounds

M Ryan Taylor — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 19:04:31 +0000

. . . and you cannot be defeated! If my lifelong struggle with overeating had been a boxing match, I would have been declared the loser long ago. After all, in a boxing match you typically only get 12 rounds and then, assuming you haven't been knocked out, the judges declare a winner based on points. If pounds were points, eek! Farewell . . . In this life, however, you are given UNLIMITED rounds (at least until the final knockout) to conquer your personal Goliaths. I may have lost hundreds upon hundreds of rounds in my struggle to attain a healthy/ideal weight, but its not over til its really over. You can take

Simply Eating: Wild Rice and Mango Salad

M Ryan Taylor — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 02:56:38 +0000

Today I looked in the pantry and noticed all these new grains we bought to try out, and in the fridge there was a perfect mango. So, I looked online and found a recipe for Wild Rice and Mango Summer Salad. I decided to simplify/adapt it just a little. We have a person here who doesn't like hot food so the chilles got left out. I served it hot with grilled salmon and it turned out really good. I also tasted it cold after refrigerating it for a couple of hours and it is great that way as well. Wild Rice Blend and Mango Salad

Simply Eating: Garden-Fresh Pizza Sauce

M Ryan Taylor — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 21:20:07 +0000

So, the garden is producing way too many tomatos to eat before a few of them start to look really ripe. Well, the weather is cooling down . . . It's time to make pizza!!!

Throw 6-8 cups of Tomatos into your food processor and let it spin for a minute or two on high speed.
Pour this into a regular collander over your sauce pan and stir with a spoon to help let the sauce part through. All that should be left are the seeds in the collander after about a minute of stirring (if not, try another collander with slighltly larger holes, but not too big or you'll let the

Three L’s to Moving from the Sidelines

M Ryan Taylor — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 17:34:07 +0000

We have pro athletes who do our workouts for us. We have pro singers who do our singing for us. We have pro artists whose work (usually in a 'print') adorns our homes. We have pro cooks (and production lines) that prepare our food for us. Is there something wrong here? It's true that specialization, to a certain degree, is useful in a society as large as ours, but . . .

When people start believing they can't open their mouths and sing their heart out for fear of sounding

Innoculate Yourself Against the Zombie Plague . . .

M Ryan Taylor — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:33:23 +0000

. . . of Criticism. Your Life Depends on It!

I keep trying to think of a nice way to broach this subject, but its not a nice subject, so here it goes: The Zombie Plague is REAL! There are carriers all around you. They look like normal everyday Joes and Jills. They will pretend to be your friends. Some of them are mentors and authority figures. Others are experts in their field. Some of them may be your teachers or gatekeepers to high-level institutions. They are waiting; watching carefully for an opportunity to infect you.

These Carriers will usually remain dormant until you share with them one or more

The Power of a Simple Mantra

M Ryan Taylor — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:37:00 +0000

For instance, when I feel drawn to eat some tempting non-food, I have fallen back on the phase: "I'm changing my life."

At times, when I've felt been out-of-breath and weary on the trail and I start to want to turn back, I list some of my goals in a mantra-like way:

"Stronger, leaner, swifter."

When I feel tormented by self-doubt (and dare I say, self-loathing), I find peace in repeating these words of Jesus:

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth give

Changing Your Life

M Ryan Taylor — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 17:32:11 +0000

My whole youth and adult life I've been looking for an easy way to lose weight; crazy diets mostly. Last Spring something popped and I didn't want an easy solution anymore. I wanted to earn my way to health. I wanted to burn and pound myself into the ground; I wanted to rise up from the ashes like a phoenix.

Force & Flow

M Ryan Taylor — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 04:44:49 +0000

Force & Flow. Intellect & Instinct. Effort & Ease. Yin & Yang. My old voice teacher, Clayne Robison, used to talk about the balance of force and flow in singing. His theory was that force and flow were two ends of a scale. If you were all force in your singing there would be no sound because there was no flow. The opposite is also true, if you were all flow you would only hear breath and no vocalization. The magic point, right in the middle, was where you would find a boost to the power and beauty of the voice. He would talk about this

William Byrd’s Eight Reasons for Singing

M Ryan Taylor — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 04:41:46 +0000

William Byrd (1543-1623) was the first of the great English composers. The leading musician of the Elizabethan era, he was a renowned organist and in one of the obituaries that followed his death was described as a “Father of Musicke.” He also wrote on music, and in the preface to his Psalmes, Sonnets & Songs, published in 1588, he set down these reasons “to perswade every one to learne to sing” :

William Byrd’s Eight Reasons for Singing

It is a knowledge easely taught and quickly learned, where there is a good Master and an apt Scoller.
The exercise of singing is delightfull to Nature

Elder Hostel

M Ryan Taylor — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 04:33:41 +0000

Last year I had the opportunity to be a part of an Elder Hostel program that is held in conjunction with Utah Festival Opera by Utah State University faculty on the USU campus in Logan. In the program seniors come and stay the week and attend various cultural events and classes. Lynn Jemison-Keisker, director of their Opera Theatre program invited me. She, on piano, and soprano Venicia Wilson performed my song cycle "All Heaven and it was One Hour Old" as the subject of the lecture/panel discussion for the hour and a half class. It was a great experience. First Lynn and Venicia would

Becoming the Producer

M Ryan Taylor — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 04:21:50 +0000

Here is a copy of the article I wrote last year for Classical Singer (offered here with permission):

BecomingtheProducer.pdf

Modern Bel Canto

M Ryan Taylor — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 04:18:14 +0000

I was once asked by a friend about the possibility of creating an opera in the ‘Bel Canto’ style mixed with a modern sensability. To better acquaint myself with the period, I put some operas in my netflix queue: Cenerentola & Barber by Rossini (the latter I’ve seen before) as well as Elixer and Daughter of the Regiment by Donizetti. After seeing all four of these operas I gained a new appreciation for Donizetti. He is clearly a superior composer to Rossini, his pacing is better, and while he has a definite style (especially in ensemble numbers), there is more variety in his music. Of course, I’m

Music as a Metaphor for Life

M Ryan Taylor — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 09:43:03 +0000

What meaning can music have? Can a tune portray a specific event or storyline? There are many pieces and works that are definitely associated with stories and events, but is it really the music that tells the story? or is it the title of the piece, words and images that go along with music (as in songs or movies), or even the program notes at a concert? I think music can and does tell stories, but only in the most broad of terms. Music is like a mythology, which in itself is a time-dilated metaphor for our own lives. We’ve been taught the stock characters: the hero