Happy Birthday to You, perhaps not surprisingly, is consistently one of our top five pieces here on 8notes. We have versions for 50 instruments as well as a cool Happy Jazzy Birthday arrangement by composer and 8notes founder David Bruce. Whilst the piece may seem familiar, however, its history is full of surprises and even the occasion whiff of controversy... Continue reading...
If you come to 8notes.com looking for music for one particular instrument or by one particular composer, or if there are parts of the site that you regularly use but require a few clicks to get to, we've now made things a whole lot easier for you. Continue reading...
At 8notes.com we're always looking for ways to make it easier for you to discover the music you want. If you're looking for vocal music, there's a good chance that at least some of the time, the language the music is sung in will be an important part of the decision. That's why we've introduced a new drop down on the listings pages for voice and choir. Continue reading...
![King Charles III and Queen Camilla [source: Wikipedia]](/discover/charles_camilla.jpg)
The Coronation of King Charles II on May 6th 2023 was an occasion dripping with magnificent music, both familiar and newly composed. In a lavish ceremony lasting over two hours the crack team of musicians provided all the pomp, gravitas and emotion that the ancient Coronation rite demands.
Here is the ultimate chronological guide to the music played on that day, complete with links to recordings of the newer works and the sheet music to those familiar classics, so you can play through the Coronation music yourself.
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Malakai Bayoh recently wowed the judges on Britain’s Got Talent with his extraordinary performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Pie Jesu (from his Requiem). Originally written as a duet, Bayoh sang the trickier upper line as a solo with a purity and effortlessness that won the hearts of the Britain’s Got Talent audience and stony-hearted judge Simon Cowell. He ranked it as a ‘Golden’ performance, putting him straight through to the next round of the competition:
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Three years on since the first lockdown, in-person musical activity has - with a few exceptions - more or less returned to the way it was pre-COVID.
For all the difficulties and tragedies of the period, one thing that did happen was a flourishing of musical creativity. Despite the restrictions and the challenges, people found creative to musically connect with one another during that strange time. Here we celebrate a few of them.
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The biennial Cardiff Singer of the World competition has become a great springboard for those on the cusp of their professional careers.
Established in 1983, it is regarded as one of the most important operatic competitions in the world, reflected both in the stellar nature of the judging panel, which has included Sir Geraint Evans, Dame Joan Sutherland, Galina Vishnevskaya and Christoph Prégardien, and in some its iconic finalists.
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The 95th Academy Awards were announced in typically glitzy fashion on Sunday night.
Actors Brendan Fraser (in ‘The Whale’) Ke Huy Quan and Michelle Yeo (both in ‘Everything All at Once’) took home trophies for their acting, with’ Everything All at Once’ picking up best film and best director for Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.
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![King Charles III and commissioned composer Andrew Lloyd Webber [Source: Wikipedia]](/discover/charles_webber.jpg)
Buckingham Palace has revealed the names of the composers commissioned to write new pieces for the coronation of King Charles III.
The diverse list includes music from legendary theatre composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, who will write a new Coronation Anthem, and a new Coronation March from Patrick Doyle, best known for his works for film, including a number of collaborations with Kenneth Branagh (Henry V, Sense and Sensibility, Hamlet, Carlito's Way and Gosford Park).
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![Beyoncé alongside the classical artist she beat to become the greatest ever Grammy winner [Source: Wikipedia]](/discover/beyonce_solti.jpg)
On 5th February the music industry’s 65th Grammy Awards were announced in a glitzy ceremony in Los Angeles. Amongst the categories, the most distinguished include best record, which went to Lizzo’s, ‘About Damn Time’; best Album, won by Harry Styles’ ‘Harry’s House’; and best song, which went to to Bonnie Raitt’s ‘Just Like That.’
But it was Beyoncé that made all the post-awards headlines. Her four wins, for Best Dance Recording (‘Break My Soul’), Best Dance/Electronica Album (‘Renaissance’), Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance (‘Plastic off the Sofa’) and Best R&B Song (‘Cuff It’), makes her career Grammy Awards haul, with 32 wins and 88 nominations, the largest of all time.
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