John Michael Cooper
THE MUSIC WILL NOT BE SILENCED
Artists have transformed the crisis of the COVID-19 shutdown into an opportunity to innovate and ensure that the music will not be silenced.
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John Michael Cooper
Sep 30, 20206 min read
A RECKONING (PART TWO)
I believe we now are facing our reckoning as a country, one which was perhaps long overdue.
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John Michael Cooper
Sep 14, 20207 min read
“OUT OF THE CRUCIBLE” OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY
After 82 years, the Fantasie nègre that won Florence Price Honorable Mention in the Wanamaker Contest is making a comeback -- finally.
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John Michael Cooper
Sep 5, 20205 min read
CHALLENGING A "SONIC REFUGE OF WHITENESS" IN UNDERGRAD MUSIC HISTORY COURSES
A small Liberal Arts college music-history sequence to abandon its "sonic refuge of Whiteness" and teach more inclusively.
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John Michael Cooper
Aug 30, 20204 min read
#SONGSOFCOMFORT:
A new and consciously LIVE music video of Margaret Bonds's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" offers a fresh look at her musical world.
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John Michael Cooper
Aug 28, 20205 min read
ART, REVOLUTION, AND A REUNION OF HOPE
A virtual reunion with college sophomores offers surprises, wisdom, and a snapshot of Hope for a troubled time.
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John Michael Cooper
Jul 30, 20203 min read
WHEN THE DOVE ENTERS IN
The newly recovered gospel song "When the Dove Enters In" by Margaret Bonds & Langston Hughes delivers a symbolic message for our own time.
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John Michael Cooper
Jul 22, 20205 min read
FLORENCE PRICE AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN AFRICAN AMERICAN CLASSICAL STYLE
The Boulanger Initiative's programs of piano music by Florence Price help to understand how Price developed her distinctive musical voice.
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John Michael Cooper
Jul 20, 20202 min read
TESTIMONY: A #BLACKLIVESMATTER MANIFESTO
41 readers ages 5-81 voice their support for #BlackLivesMatter in a collaborative reading of a Civil Rights manifesto by W.E.B. Du Bois.
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John Michael Cooper
Jul 16, 20206 min read
FLORENCE PRICE AND RACIST STEREOTYPES
In two little-known piano suites Florence Price took on popular Black stereotypes by humanizing her subjects through her music.
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John Michael Cooper
Jul 14, 20204 min read
FLORENCE PRICE, TEACHER
The time is ripe for a thorough exploration of Florence Price's teaching pieces for piano and her influence as a teacher.
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John Michael Cooper
Jul 13, 20202 min read
FLORENCE PRICE AND TRANQUILITY
Florence Price's newly published and recorded Village Scenes (1942) offer a sorely needed contemplation of tranquility, peace, and nature.
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John Michael Cooper
Jun 10, 20206 min read
WALK WITH ME
The global #BlackLivesMatter marches and Florence Price's spirituals give voice to the power of the cosmos in mandating racial justice.
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John Michael Cooper
May 24, 20204 min read
SILENCE AND SOUND
Margaret Bonds's little-known settings of Robert Frost's well-known "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" teach important lessons.
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John Michael Cooper
May 11, 20205 min read
SUMMER MOON
Unforeseen beauties appear when we examine Florence Price and her music on her own terms. The newly unearthed “Summer Moon” is an example.
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John Michael Cooper
May 3, 20205 min read
THE HEART OF A WOMAN
Florence Price's "The Heart of a Woman" gives eloquent voice to the issues faced by African Americans as well as women.
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John Michael Cooper
Apr 30, 20204 min read
THE WEAPONS OF LIGHT
A little-known aspect of Felix Mendelssohn's 1840 Song of Praise shows the importance of learning and optimism in times of crisis.
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John Michael Cooper
Apr 24, 20204 min read
FLORENCE PRICE AND THE SORROW SONGS: "I'm Troubled in My Mind"
Florence Price's newly published piano arrangement of the slave song "Troubled in My Mind" eloquently sounds spirit of the ancestral melody.
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John Michael Cooper
Apr 16, 20205 min read
TAKE THE CHALLENGE: GIVE THE CHALLENGE
The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented disruption in our daily lives. Musicians can turn that into a creative opportunity in their art.
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John Michael Cooper
Apr 8, 20205 min read
THE ARTS LEAD
The arts are where our imagination grows the strange new fruit of new world-views that open the way to a brighter future.
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