Where do the amateur classical/jazz musicians hang out online?

October 28, 2008 10:36 AM

Where do the amateur classical/jazz musicians hang out online?

I'm looking for good forums or blogs for non-professional musicians...I want to hear about the latest repertoire, the latest hot violin soloist, pracise techniques, tricky piano fingering and phrasing discussions, why Glenn Gould's recording of Prelude in C is so stacatto...

Classical and jazz, piano, violin and guitar--but anything goes, really.

posted by lemonade to media & arts (4 comments total)

Why limit yourself to non-professionals?

Jazz Houston provides some good but sometimes sparse discussions. Although obviously centered around the Houston scene, wider discussions pop up and the regulars will appreciate any thoughtful discussion.

Talk Bass has some lively discussions about classical and jazz - mostly about bass, but wider topics, too. There are tons of rock n' roll trolls, though. Very active forum, so you'll have to sift for items of interest.

Lots of young professional classical musicians participate in the forums at MyAuditions.

Hope that gets you started.
posted by GPF at 12:39 PM on October 28, 2008

There are many sites devoted to particular instruments. As a clarinetist, I spend a lot of time at the Clarinet Bulletin Board, and the site also has (less active) areas for other woodwind instruments. Another fine site is Sax on the Web.
posted by KRS at 1:55 PM on October 28, 2008

Well, I guess they could be professionals--I just thought they might not talk about fingering at those stages... :)
posted by lemonade at 2:49 PM on October 28, 2008

I'm sure professionals do talk about fingering :)

I'm a member of the 'viola' yahoo group, which contains all sorts of players, amateur and professional. I'm sure there are similar e-groups for other instruments.

But really, though I spend quite a bit of time online on work-related non-musical forums, I do most of my musical talking in real life, with people I've met through my musical activities (in my case, orchestral and chamber music). For me that's much more satisfying than any online option.
posted by altolinguistic at 3:53 AM on October 29, 2008