This week marks a full year that Good Music Speaks has been in operation. The success of this blog is beyond anything I could have imagined. That was really part of the point of the whole experience, to give it a try and see what happens. One year and 100 posts later, I am really happy I gave this blogging stuff a try. I have heard from some old friends, and made a few new ones. Along the way, I’ve garnered over 2,000 followers and 12, 000 views in a span of only twelve months. I am truly blessed and grateful for all who have stopped by and read a bit of my writing.
The very first post was about Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony. Looking back, it is not quite as bad as I remember. Every long journey begins with the first steps, and many of the first steps in the beginning were about learning the basics of using WordPress. Here is that post again, if you weren’t one of the twenty or so friends/family who read it the first time around.
Symphony in B minor, Franz Schubert
By far, the most read post came when I was fortunate enough to have the blog featured on Freshly Pressed. I had a concept of three very successful albums that would have been owned or heard by a college student in the 1960’s. The first post in this series was about Glenn Gould and his legendary recording of the Goldberg Variations. My blog received a large increase in views and followers as a result of being featured by WordPress, a positive effect I am still experiencing four months later. I have nothing but gratitude for that good fortune.
The vitally useful statistics page at WordPress indicates that the least read post was one that was first published in July 2014. The entire summer had a small dip in readership, I’m guessing because people were outside enjoying the good weather. I spent the entire month of July writing about American composers, trying to tie things in the with big American holiday of Independence Day on the Fourth of July. One of the unique things about this rarely read post, is that it was (unofficially) the first time Aaron Copland and the movie Fight Club have been written about in the same article.
As I was mulling over ideas for this post, I heard that the legendary jazz trumpeter Clark Terry died over the weekend. Clark Terry had a long and amazing career, playing in the big bands of Count Basie and Duke Ellington before a stint with the Tonight Show Orchestra. He led small groups, played with every great musician you can name, and was a pioneer in jazz education. Clark Terry was a man of great humor, exceedingly generous spirit, and a giant influence on anyone who ever picked up a trumpet and even pretended to play jazz music. He died at the age of 94, in hospice surrounded by family and friends. If I live to be 194 years old, I doubt I could reach as many people, touch as many lives, and put as many smiles on faces as Clark Terry did. If there is a VIP entrance to heaven, Clark Terry should be given the first place in line.
Clark Terry on Trumpet
Clark Terry singing his trademark “Mumbles”
Clark Terry on Flugelhorn
Good Music Speaks 
Thank you for all the effort and planning you put into this blog. What a continuing value to all music lovers and educators everywhere!
Congratulations on your year of blogging! And you’re costing me money – I just HAD to download The Oscar Peterson Trio Plus One after hearing that 😉 Great music! I’m surprised I haven’t heard it before. I’m afraid to listen to the one with Monk because I know it will mean another album download….
Awesome. Congrats on the great first year with WordPress. You have a wonderful blog. I look forward to more visits. T
Congratulations on the anniversary! I hope it’ll be a good year ahead for your writing.
Good stuff
Happy anniversary x
Thanks for your “Like” on my most recent post. I followed the link to your blog and discovered with great delight that someone who also has eclectic tastes in music had a post mentioning Glen Gould! We have a very large number of his recordings, and although I am not as huge a fan as my husband is – I don’t seem able to ignore the humming – his interpretation of Bach is phenomenal. I can listen to recordings of younger pianists and harpsichordists and often tell that they have studied Glen Gould’s phrasing and touch.
His death came hard upon the death of Calvin Simmons, the then new director of the Oakland Symphony. We were fortunate to attend 2 of his concerts in the Bay Area before he died. I was mesmerized by how laconic his physical connecting seemed to be, and yet the sound he evoked from the Oakland Symphony was anything but. His exceptionally long arms would wave gracefully and seemingly effortlessly through the air, and the symphony would respond with the most incredible interpretation of Mozart that I had ever heard from that young a conductor. I was especially saddened by his death at so young an age.
Thank you for providing a place to give tribute to these two great men. Because their passings were so close together, I can no longer think of one without thinking of the other. In the deaths of both of these remarkable musicians, we lost their rare talent far too soon.