Music

CENTRAL COUNTY audiences are accustomed to excellence when it comes to theatrical and musical productions. On any given night, one can attend a presentation by the Navy Band, the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, Colonial Players, Annapolis Summer Garden Theater or the Annapolis Chorale. It's only natural that youngsters exposed to this level of talent are inspired to practice, practice, practice, with the hope of distinguishing themselves in the the performing arts. Through talent and dedication to her instrument, 17-year-old violist Dorothy Couper, a senior at Severna Park High School, earned the opportunity to play last month on the stage of Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore, a setting most teen-agers only dream about.

Allen Klevens and Jason Shapiro don't spin vinyl at parties or nightclubs, but they might just be the ultimate DJs. If you've checked into a Marriott recently, eaten at Wolfgang Puck's Cut or gotten a facial at Spa Nordstrom, you've probably heard their mixes. It's a science, said Klevens, a former musician who started his Prescriptive Music business by compiling and peddling soothing CDs for surgeons to play in operating rooms. Today, Klevens and Shapiro help hotels and restaurants create a vibe.

FROM TIME to time, I'm wrong. Usually, when I'm wrong in print, it involves an opinion, which is always open to argument and further refinement. But now and then, to my shame, I blow it on a fact. Sometimes this gives me a chance to set things right and offer readers more information - hopefully all correct. So here goes: In last week's column about iTunes, Apple's online music store, I wrote that Apple sells music in a proprietary format called AAC. As a small legion of Mac fans wrote to protest, AAC is not proprietary but an industry standard.

The McDaniel College department of music will begin its holiday season of concerts this week with three performances. A piano recital by the students of David Kreider will be held at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Levine Recital Hall. Student performers include Myfanwy Jacob, Jane McIlvain, Heather Kirkwood, Kristen Ion, Neil Bozievich, Sarah Lantz, James Gibbs, Jessica Bradford, Alexandra Hill and Stacy Fitzwater. Music will include compositions by Haydn, Chopin, Debussy, Mozart, Ginastera and Schubert.

For the cynical, all politics is local, and the local perspective is a recipe for disaster: ignorance, selfishness, isolationism, tribal and racial strife.Yet popular culture, especially popular music, has a way of turning real-world troubles inside-out, and it is not pop's cynics but its idealists who have come to believe that all of the best music is local, made by hometown bands for hometown fans. It is pop's job to carry that music -- or at least its most accessible efforts -- from the periphery to the broader public.

JOANNE JUSKUS combines her passion for music with compassion for those in need. The Oakland Mills singer-songwriter produces a concert series that features local musicians playing their own music, as well as regional and national acts. A portion of the proceeds from each concert goes to Baltimore-area nonprofit organizations that offer services to the homeless. The series, called Sound Foundation -- formerly known as The Bottom Floor Concert Series -- is in its third year, and its popularity among musicians and audiences is growing.

When the rousing "Washington Post March" was composed by John Philip Sousa in 1889, it became an instant hit and remains a mainstay of bands today.But the Post wasn't alone. Some 65 newspapers and press organizations, including The Sun, had marches dedicated to them in the 19th century heyday of concert bands.In fact, there was hardly a business or civic organization that didn't have its own march.Most of those tunes haven't been heard for decades. But Dana Rothlisberger, Towson State University's band director, plans to bring some of Baltimore's long-forgotten toe-tappers back to life on April 28 at the school's annual spring concert.

Bjork Selmasongs (Elektra 25332) Lyle Lovett Dr. T & the Women (MCA 688 112 381) These days, pop music soundtracks are mainly about marketing - about using the fame of a hot rock or rap act to add to the buzz around a movie, or about using a movie as a means of breaking a new single. As a result, few of today's pop-based soundtracks contain songs that are actually written to connect with the action on screen. At best, they'll just toss in a phrase vaguely connected to the action - "Asteroid's a-comin'," say, or "Pokemon fight!"

DRAMA AND MUSIC pupils at Severna Park Middle School are tuning up for their version of Lerner and Lowe's "Guys and Dolls" at 7 p.m. today and Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday.Eighth-graders take the lead roles, with Jennifer Seyer as Sarah Brown, Charlie Estberg as Sky Masterson, Kristin Kushner as Adelaide and Ryan Locke as Nathan Detroit.Directed by Kathleen Gabriele, with music directed by Kerry Salisbury, the 1950s Broadway musical features such familiar tunes as "Luck Be a Lady Tonight" and "Bushel and a Peck."

I HAD almost forgotten the glories of a good fire until the other evening, when the temperature dropped into the 40s and rain hammered the tin roof of a remote hunting lodge in Western Maryland. Our host got a flame going and, in no time, there was a loud, familiar crackle in the stone fireplace and a warm, familiar atmosphere in the room. The glow, the smell and the sound of the fire made me feel as though I'd been to the lodge 100 times before. I watched the logs burn until I fell asleep.