Thomas J. West Music

Everyone in modern Western culture has heard this music before. Bach's cello prelude in G major is consistently used in the background of television commercials and is often the first cello solo that young cellists the world over ask to learn how to play. It's execution and interpretation have been scrutinized by cellists for hundreds of years, and it is pretty much required learning if you consider yourself a cellist.

This morning, one of my students sent me the link to thi...

Over the past four years as I have written articles for my website, I have given long and careful thought to just about every aspect of music education. I have shared things from my own experience in the inevitable on-the-job training all music teachers go through as they start their careers. I have also shared many articles on practice tips and the me...

I often am contacted by website owners who ask me to share their articles with my readership. This particular article is quite appropriate, as it illustrates a modern application of masterful music composition. Take a moment to review 10 Most Masterful Mo...

Most public school music ensembles spend 95 percent of their classroom time preparing for public concerts. It takes many hours of repetition of the music in order to program the body to perform the music accurately. Band and orchestra directors basically run rehearsals for a living and become very good at  providing the repetitions necessary to program th...

I always admire instrumentalists who clearly demonstrate mastery of the technique of their instrument. Thousands of hours of repetition and skill building are necessary for even the most naturally gifted musician to be able to perform at this level of proficiency. Add to that Kevin Olusola's killer beatboxing to the mix, and suddenly an expressive piece of cello music takes on a whole new creative dimension. Classical purists would turn their noses up at this performance, but I fi...

This is the final post in a series. View the other entries here.

It's been a few exhausting days since the spring concert occurred, and I can officially declare the Experiment in Excellence a success. The spring concert was by far the highest quality performing acros...

My soul needed this today.

Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations are one of the major works for symphony orchestra, and few movements of orchestral music are as moving, poignant, sensitive, and emotional as Nimrod. Music students need to be exposed to music of this level. It is simultaneously simple, yet has tremendous depth. Most students would dismiss it immediately as "slow and boring," but grow to love (or at least respect) it after spending time in ensemble wit...

When I began my first music teaching job in 1998, one of the first changes I made to the way the instrumental music program at my school ran was adding a third concert each school year. In addition to the winter concert in December and the spring concert in May, we held a Chamber Music concert in April. This concert was held at a local church rather than in our auditorium to achi...

Music PLN member Brandt Schneider shared this video today. There are so many things about this that are just simply superlative: Mahler's mastery of composition, Bernstein's embodiment of the music, the excellent performance quality of all involved...

This is part 4 of a series. View the other entries here.

The deadline approacheth!

In just four days, all of my middle school students must have their concert music checked off in order to play it as part of our sping concert, which occurs in twel...