Michael Lawrence
Contributor
BSR Contributor Since October 26, 2013
Michael Lawrence is an organist and composer who lives in Philadelphia.
Michael Lawrence is an organist and composer who lives in Philadelphia.
By this Author
28 results
Page 1
Reforming applause
The stuffiness of the modern classical concert must end, but the music must also be heard. Our best model would be rock performances in dive bars.
Articles
4 minute read
Steven Pressfield's 'War of Art'
Battling the demons of Resistance
The title of The War of Art, a little book on how to break through creative blocks and finish projects, is apt because author Steven Pressfield doesn’t pull any punches.
Articles
4 minute read
Nice music
Nice music mimics the past, thrives on expectations, and never breaks ground. It won’t make you think, though it might make you feel nostalgic or sentimental. It never makes you listen, since there’s nothing to hear.
Articles
2 minute read
Calvin Hampton: An appreciation
An American genius
Calvin Hampton dared to take musical chances. While the results are uneven, his better compositions deserve a place in the repertoire.
Articles
3 minute read
Mennonite singing
Make a joyful noise unto the Lord
You haven’t lived until you’ve heard 200 farmers sing chorales unaccompanied.
Articles
2 minute read
Remembering Robin Williams (six)
Robin Williams: Empathetic hero
Robin Williams didn’t just make people laugh, he made them think, as we see in his best roles, when he played wise mentors.
Essays
4 minute read
Allen Ginsberg, 'Selected Poems'
Best of the Beats
It is fashionable and therefore easy to appreciate "Howl," but this volume, however inconsistent, is filled with gems that belong in the western canon.
Articles
3 minute read
Townes Van Zandt: An appreciation
Townes Van Zandt was all artistry, and if he wasn’t popular, he nonetheless influenced many other musicians who were.
Articles
3 minute read
Why I ruined my life for music
The only way to play music is as a child, that is, for the sheer joy of it.
Articles
2 minute read
Composing shortcuts
How do you write down an idea that can't be put into words?
Articles
2 minute read
Jean Langlais: An appreciation
The gems this composer and organist left behind, imbued with a distinctive harmonic language, should not be forgotten.
Articles
2 minute read
In defense of uselessness
There is no higher calling than doing something gorgeous for no reason in particular, and it is time to stop apologizing for it.
Essays
2 minute read
How I learned to improvise
In music, as in life, there's nothing worse than someone who talks all the time but never says anything.
Articles
2 minute read
Saved by rock ’n roll
No kidding: How rock expanded my musical horizons
It’s easy for a professional Classical musician like me to get stuck in a rut. Then rock music reminded me why I became a musician in the first place.
Articles
4 minute read
'Léger and the Metropolis’ at the Art Museum (2nd review)
Joys and neuroses of the machine age
Léger sought to escape the limits of the picture frame and use color to make an artwork part of the space in which it existed. But by celebrating mechanization, he and his contemporaries took the concept a bit too far.
Articles
3 minute read