9/21/25: Bringing Order to My Corner of the Sky
- john koenig
- Sep 21
- 3 min read
The title for this blog post draws from two of my favorite works of musical theater, Pippin and Sunday in the Park with George. In the second number of Pippin, the titular character dreams of find his place, carving out his “corner of the sky.” In the opening of Sunday in the Park With George, George Seurat explains his personal and artistic challenge: “bring order to the whole, through design, composition, tension, balance, light, and harmony.” This blog is my corner of the cyber “sky," and here I hope to do, in some small way, what George tries to do; entertain, enlighten, and help you (and myself) try to make some sense of and bring order to something we may be curious about. Since I have lots of “hot takes” as the kids say, there will probably be some tension (looking forward to the musings on the connections between the intellectual giant Antonin Scalia and musical score study and interpretation, for example…), but hopefully I can present these ideas and encourage discussion in a way that allows some balance and new perspectives to develop.
In this corner of the sky, I will attempt to increase accessibility to musical understanding and appreciation primarily for people who are not trained musicians. Many of my friends are not trained musicians, and I have met innumerable people who wish they could do what musicians do. To those who think they can’t create or understand music, let me let you in on a secret: you can! I’m a big believe in the Ratatouille philosophy of “anyone can cook” when it comes to music. The astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson believes that children (and by extension all people) are born scientists (check out the video linked below). I believe the same is true of musicians. We are all born with the ability to understand, create, and communicate through music. However, over the course of our lives (mainly through structured, rigid, and backwards-looking educational models…shots [clap] fired [clap]) we are taught that the “talented” become musicians and everyone else cannot be a musician (and then are confused when people fail to see the value in supporting music education and arts in our communities...). The idea that everyone is not capable of enjoying, understanding, and legitimately participating in music is, in the words of Antonin Scalia, “pure applesauce” (see his dissenting opinion in King v. Burwell, linked below). Anyone can cook.
To make musical chefs out of as many people as possible, I have placed certain restrictions on myself as far as these posts are concerned. First, the posts must be short, no more than two double-spaced pages. You don’t have time to read my philosophical musings for hours on end, and I hardly have time to think about this stuff for hours on end…fun as that would be. So, brevity will be king. Second, I will prize simplicity and clarity. Some topics (such as tonality v. atonality) are complicated areas that highly educated people debate constantly. However, the basic concepts are not all that complicated. Often those of us that are interested in these topics get “lost in the sauce” between need-to-know information and information that is interesting but ultimately confusing and overwhelming. So, simplicity it is.
Finally, I have resolved to post at least once a week, primarily on Saturday mornings. I think Saturdays are nice days, so far as days of the week go. Many people enjoy slow Saturday mornings with a cup of coffee. These little posts might be a nice addition to that routine. If not, read them whenever you want! But new ones will certainly come up on Saturday mornings.
So, welcome! I hope you will find something here you find interesting and enlightening about music. Carl Sagan thought of himself as a science communicator, and I’d like to follow that model here. I am not a trained musician preaching to a "non-musical public" (whatever that means...). I am am a music communicator to an inherently musical public. If you want to engage with me on anything you read here, please reach out through the contact me tab! I’m always happy to chat. Welcome to my corner of the sky.
Sunday in the Park with George, Opening (Original Broadway Cast, Bernadette Peters and Mandy Patinkin)
Pippin, “Corner of the Sky” (New Broadway Cast, Matthew James Thomas)
Neil deGrasse Tyson, “Kids Are Born Scientists”
Antonin Scalia, dissent in King v. Burwell:
Opinion begins on p. 473, Scalia’s “applesauce” comment can be found on p. 507.
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