In America, everything is possible, even Mission Impossible. Especially Mission Impossible. The theme music proclaims it. Bursting out of a high tremolo like a fuse burning fast, the opening trombone-heavy groove is jaunty yet resolute.…
Posts published by “David Yearsley”
The suburbs are a war zone. That was how the General saw things. He was my aunt’s father-in-law. I met him only a handful of times over the years, mostly at family celebrations, like my…
(Amidst all the pugilistic politics marking Mexican-American relations of late, the Musical Patriot limbers up a column that trotted into the ring of public opinion ten years ago, in May of 2015.) Although the singing…
In these days when the formerly public sphere is balkanized by billions of individualized audiotopias in which so many are plugged into their own algorithmized soundtracks, the actual choosing of music for a road trip…
When war broke out in Europe in early August of 1914, that month’s edition of The Etude, America’s “Journal of the Musician, the Music Student and all Music Lovers,” had already appeared. The editor, James…
Just think of all the nervous energy coursing through all those kiddies lined up for this Sunday afternoon’s piano recital. And then think of all the victims of this ritual that came before and of…
Water is a frequent image in Bach’s music. Placid rivers sing the praises of enlightened monarchs. Other streams rush by, murmuring their eternal truths of earthly life’s fleeting nature. Elsewhere, storms rise up, from strafing…