Michael Monroe

To quote Sondheim: "I'm still here!" Check out my unique multimedia creations, many either visualizing or distorting (or both) the classics. YouTube: youtube.com/MMmusing Blog (16+ years): mmmusing.blogspot.com Random Sampler (spin the wheel!): thedoctorinspiteofhimself.com/machine.html

Happy Birthday from The Alcotts: youtube.com/watch?v=9GH1i4… Blogged: mmmusing.blogspot.com/2026/04/happy-… Birthday Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=… Charles Ives Concord Sonata Happy Birthday Alcotts

...and, speaking of the "New World," a sort of mystical variation on "America the Beautiful" youtube.com/watch?v=vRcl2A… Blog post: mmmusing.blogspot.com/2025/08/post-7…

...and some Westernized Dvořák: youtube.com/watch?v=esMaxq…

August has been busy on the blog. Two Dvořák posts: mmmusing.blogspot.com/2025/08/to-exp… mmmusing.blogspot.com/2025/08/a-whol… including fun content like this: youtube.com/watch?v=lL1Rud…

HAPPY AUGMENTED SIXTH DAY!! To celebrate, I wrote a little waltz featuring MANY augmented sixth chords. Hear here: youtube.com/playlist?list=… Read more about it here: mmmusing.blogspot.com/2025/08/the-au…

When two students named Claire and Elise request a mashup of two famous Claire and Elise pieces, there's no saying no. youtube.com/watch?v=xupQTV… Read more about it here: mmmusing.blogspot.com/2025/07/claire…

...or, perhaps you prefer it more in Dre's key and tempo: youtube.com/watch?v=OQkYmY…

The mash-up of Chopin's Prelude in E Minor and Dr. Dre's Still D.R.E. you've been waiting for: youtube.com/watch?v=SVtbi2… (even though you didn't know it) Read more here: mmmusing.blogspot.com/2025/05/music-…

Just before 5/4 is over, a new re-working of a Star Wars theme in 5/4 time: youtu.be/uAF7GILA7mo Read a little more about it here: mmmusing.blogspot.com/2025/05/may-fo…

New interactive website for diving into the THREE dances Mozart combines in the Act One Finale of Don Giovanni. Get in there! thedoctorinspiteofhimself.com/dondances/ Read more about it here: mmmusing.blogspot.com/2025/04/mischi…

Strange new smash-up of Bernstein's "Officer Krupke" and Bizet's "Le bal." youtube.com/watch?v=6al-SN… Read more about it here: mmmusing.blogspot.com/2025/04/this-k…

Oh, today is the 150th birthday for the great #Ravel. Made this a few years back: youtube.com/watch?v=1yK4lh…

@jeremydenk ...oh, here's a working link: youtube.com/watch?v=AYhNeL…

@jeremydenk Au contraire. I've been trying to forget this melody for thirty years. I would pay to have it removed: Delius - To Be Sung Of A Summer Night on the River (II) - YouTube

Delius is a miraculous composer in the sense that you forget his melodies even while you are listening to them

It's March, but very much still Winter (projected to be below 20 tomorrow.). Here's a full Winterreise for you from...the previous century. With full text/translations to follow along to: youtube.com/watch?v=oiW9yb… Read a little more about it here: mmmusing.blogspot.com/2025/02/winter…

@jeremydenk makes sense. (I'll admit that i'm less sensitized to parallel 5ths than some - which is a way of admitting I don't always notice them when I should!) It's definitely a striking, elemental theme. I tend to find the opening more neutral/mysterious - w/a lot of weird/wild soon after

@MMmusing Part of it is the voicing and the way the implied parallel fifths are awkwardly exposed (c g dflat aflat) and emphasized …

it’s weird in so many recordings of the brahms piano quintet that the players don’t seem to appreciate how weird the first D-flat is

@jeremydenk not saying I disagree, but can you explain more what makes it weird. That flat-6 to 5 motion seems pretty conventional, analogous to very common Neighbor IV6/4 thing. Obviously, like many openings, the monophonic texture makes things a little vague. Not arguing, just curious...

@MMmusing Yes obv it can’t be a d natural but that doesn’t really make the d flat less weird

New "Christmas Eve" anthem...for Christmas Eve. Hear here: youtube.com/watch?v=OPjRg1… Read more about it here: mmmusing.blogspot.com/2024/12/christ…