What's the difference between violin playing and fiddling? Daniel Johnson explains.


Violin vs. fiddle: How to tell the difference?

A total solar eclipse like this is the type of event that many people want to share with others, so many homes and campgrounds within the path of totality will be hosting eclipse-viewing parties. This begs the question: what music will you play while waiting through the partial phases of the eclipse that lead up to the big moment?


Soundtrack for an eclipse

Some classical compositions really seem to speak of the beauty of farms, fields, nature, and animals. In some of these cases, the composer was specifically attempting to draw the listener's attention to these details, and in others the pastoral theme is more subtle.


Classical 'country music': Composers inspired by rural areas

There are some classical pieces you know you can hum if someone mentions the name - but there are other pieces you may not even know you knew.


Classical music you didn't know you knew

If you're a writer with an unfinished "Grapes of Wrath" in hiding, let Daniel Johnson help you make the most of your writing time by offering some musical suggestions to get help set the mood.


Music for writing your novel

Country singers are full of praise for farm work, and a little country can be great when you're hauling hay. That doesn't mean, though, that there isn't also room for Beethoven in the barn.


When to turn the barn radio from country to classical

It's funny how a personal experience with a piece of music can cause you to have a unique reaction to it, different from anyone else's. Regardless of what it's composer originally intended, it's the personal encounters we have with music that truly define what they mean to us.


Daniel Johnson

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