Category Archives: music

Yesterday was another wonderful musical performance here in Massachusetts, this time the jazz violinist Regina Carter. The show was held at Artist’s for Humanity in South Boston. Carter and her 5-piece band held the audience’s rapt attention with their music, but also their poetic interludes about housing, gentrification, and displacement of Black/Brown communities from AmericanContinue reading “Regina Carter in Boston”

Yesterday began with a 5K around Jamaica Pond and then a trip to the Hale Reservation to watch a trail race. It was beautiful spring weather. But then it started to rain, just as I got in the car to go to Worcester. No matter. Aided by the klezmer album “In the Fiddler’s House,” IContinue reading “An Evening with Itzhak Perlman”

Last night I attended a delightful concert in Dorchester by the jazz singer Naledi Masilo. She is originally from Johannesburg and sang in English, Shona, and, I believe, isiZulu and Sesotho. A graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, she was backed up on piano by Kevin Harris and on saxophone/flute by Shahar Amdor.Continue reading “Naledi Masilo in Dorchester”

We are lucky here in Boston, because there are two top violinists coming to Massachusetts the weekend of March 26-27. I am thrilled to have a ticket to see classical virtuoso Itzhak Perlman in Worchester on the evening of March 26. I am also planning to attend the jazz superstar Regina Carter concert in BostonContinue reading “Two top fiddlers coming to Massachusetts”

Right next door to Upham’s Corner Health Center, where I take care of patients, is the Conservatory Lab Charter School (CLCS). This is a K-8 school which endeavors to empower children through a unique and rigorous academic and music education. Conservatory Lab teachers believe in the power of music to transform the lives of students andContinue reading “Is Venezuela’s El Sistema the answer?”

I started learning the violin at age 3, and am still studying it at the age of 41. Lately, I have been taking jazz lessons with Rob Flax, a terrific improviser who studied at the New England Conservatory of Music (NEC). I’m learning a lot. However, I’m not certain my playing is improving as fastContinue reading “Practice Makes Perfect?”

In partnership with Global Arts Live, “SanDance!,” an independent documentary film about the age-old dance culture of Africa’s San (Bushman) First Peoples, will stream live on Facebook and YouTube on Sunday, Feb. 6 at 2 p.m EST. After the live broadcast, which will include a Q&A with filmmaker Richard Wicksteed, the film and conversation will beContinue reading “SanDance film Sunday at 2 PM EST”

A few days ago, my violin teacher Rob Flax introduced me to the song Cissy Strut, which was recorded by The Meters in 1969. Of note, Art Neville, brother of Aaron, wrote the song and also played it. Rob told me, “In my opinion, if you are making music you are singing or drumming, orContinue reading “Cissy Strut”

Earlier today, I sat in the fifth row at Boston’s Symphony Hall, next to my seventy-one year old mother, and we watched and listened as the Me/2 Orchestra performed selections by Berlioz, Elgar, Rossini, Grieg, Beethoven, and Milad Yousufi, a young Afghan composer. It was an inspirational, yet odd experience to be in the audience,Continue reading “The Myth of Mental Illness”

Despite all the problems we are facing, from COVID to the inequities in our public schools to the violence and suffering that are ubiquitous in our society, we need to keep our spirits up. So here’s a song, Jingle Bells, to bring some holiday cheer. Be strong, and of good courage.