“Sonata form” and the musical form known as the sonata are not the same thing. A sonata is a piece—usually for piano or for piano and one other instrument—that’s composed of several distinct sections called movements.

Miles Hoffman concludes this week's discussion about popular overtures. A Minute with Miles - a Production of South Carolina Public Radio, made possible by the JM Smith Corporation.

Miles Hoffman continues his musings about the history of the overture. A Minute with Miles - a Production of South Carolina Public Radio, made possible by the JM Smith Corporation.

Miles Hoffman talks about the most popular types of overtures. A Minute with Miles - a Production of South Carolina Public Radio, made possible by the JM Smith Corporation.

Miles Hoffman continues his discussion about the birth and evolution of the overture. A Minute with Miles - a Production of South Carolina Public Radio, made possible by the JM Smith Corporation.

Miles Hoffman discusses where the word "Overture" comes from and the earliest iteration of the overture. A Minute with Miles - a Production of South Carolina Public Radio, made possible by the JM Smith Corporation.

Dmitri Shostakovich's political views have long been subjects of controversy. Was Shostakovich a loyal Communist, or was he a secret rebel who suffered for years under oppressive conditions and yet contrived time and again to encode powerful subversive messages into his music?

A wind instrument is any instrument whose sound is produced by a column of air vibrating inside some sort of tube, or pipe. But I’d like to clear up a common misconception: Wind players aren’t blowing away to try to fill up their instruments with air —the air inside a wind instrument is already there.

When the dance known as the waltz first became popular in Europe in the late 1700's and early 1800's, it was considered by many to be the ultimate in lewdness and licentiousness.

The double bass is the one member of the modern violin family whose roots are in the viola da gamba, or viol family. The next time you see a double bass, notice that its back is flat, like a viol’s, not arched, like a violin’s, and it has the steeply-sloped shoulders of a viol.