The first thing to do on arriving at a symphony concert is to express the wish that the orchestra will play Beethoven's Fifth. If your companion then says "Fifth what?" you are safe with him for the ...

How four notes can be enough to make great music Using fewer notes changes how melodies are written. Focus shifts to rhythm, phrasing, and repetition. Four notes can create tension, release, and ...

Four notes—just four—and the world is never the same. It’s a piece you know, even if you don’t know you know it. But what happens next? The answer is a story of struggle, triumph, and one composer’s ...

Four singers, and one piano, with just four notes — A, B, D and E — for a little over than an hour. Sound exciting? Well it was. In 1972, composer Tom Johnson had the premiere of his “The Four Note ...