A Minute with Miles

It wasn’t until the late 1700s and early 1800s that the brilliant operatic tenor as we know him today came into his own.

Under the heading “Real Musical Understanding,” here’s something that Sergei Rachmaninoff wrote in 1910...

If there are such things as “good pieces” or “great pieces,” then there must also be such things as bad pieces.

Good composers write coherent pieces, not collections of interesting materials.

Music can give meaning to time.

When “classical” public radio stations surveyed their audiences some years back, the most common answer to the question, “Why do you listen to classical music,” was, “Because it’s soothing.”

Music can give meaning to time.

Are you one of those classical music lovers who apologizes for not knowing enough?

If you are a regular listener of our show, you’ve probably heard our many discussions recently about South Carolina’s SmartState program where 51 endowed chairs are tasked with developing centers for economic excellence based on their research efforts. Since 2012, research at our next guest’s center has resulted in six patents and the formation of a startup company that is working on commercial development of nanotechnology for the remediation of oil spills in the environment. Mike Switzer interviews Jamie Lead, founder of GeoMat and the endowed chair and professor at the Center for Environmental Nanoscience and Risk at the University of South Carolina in Columbia.

In string playing, to play notes staccato means to play them with a bouncing bow.