At least, so says Rosina, the heroine from Rossini‘s opera, The Barber of Seville.

In Rosina’s well loved solo, she presents herself as coy and sweet, but wickedly clever. She sings “A thousand tricks I play until I have my way; be on your guard.” Then, working with her lover, she proceeds to make an idiot out of a cruel, elderly suitor. Don’t let the gorgeous bel canto singing fool you – and definitely don’t play games with this woman!

One of the challenges of being a composer is finding that sweet spot where good music lies. If your style is too conservative, audiences will be bored – they’ve heard this before. If you writing is too progressive, audiences will put off – they don’t understand it. There’s also an argument that there is a finite number of melodies that can be composed, and what does one do when they’re all used up?

Sometimes, the best stuff is the simplest stuff. The main theme to the second movement of Dvořák‘s New World Symphony is so simple that it might as well be a nursery rhyme or a preschool song. But it continues to stir the souls who hear it, over a century after it was composed. It’s a bit to the right of the sweet spot, but boy is it sweet.

Sweet.

How can one capture Martin Luther King in a short blog post? Or one piece of music? It’s a daunting task that took me through lots of pieces, many of which I had never heard before.

American jazz musician and composer Dave Brubeck wrote a piece in 1969 called “The Gates of Justice.” It is a religious concert work, taking its text primarily from the Psalms. However, in one movement, Brubeck  incorporates portions of King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech, as well as the ancient Jewish leader, Hillel the Elder: “If the time for action is not now, when is it?”

Brubeck had a fascinating life, including a scandalous graduation from a music conservatory without being able to read music, starting one of the US Army’s first interracial bands, and developing strong religious views despite growing up in a non-religious family.

The words of Hillel remain pertinent today, and probably, always: “If the time for action is not now, when is it?”