Why Are Pop Songs So Short?

“Most pop and rock songs are based on structural repetition of various units: verses, choruses and the like.” That very structure nearly precludes the possibility of songs that go on longer than a few minutes.”But it is when musical themes and motifs are used to bind the music together that we really start cooking up a rock symphony.”

Now Appearing, In The Role Of Poor Yorick

“A concert pianist’s dying wish to appear on stage in Hamlet has been realised 26 years after his death. André Tchaikowsky, a Polish Jew who escaped the Holocaust and settled in Britain, bequeathed his skull to the Royal Shakespeare Company to be used as a macabre prop… The relic finally emerged to take its place centre stage when David Tennant took on the role of Hamlet in Stratford-upon-Avon.”

Opera Australia Chief Tries Not To Cast Blame For Hickox’s Death

Calling the storm of argument over Richard Hickox’s tenure as the company’s music director “guerrilla warfare,” Opera Australia CEO Adrian Collette wouldn’t say that stress over the affair caused Hickox’s heart attack last weekend. But he made a point of saying that “I suppose if you are under a constant criticism then it must take its toll.”