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background is a sheet of music with a purple overlay. Photo of Stratton on the left and a photo of Richie on the right. Below that in bold, white text is "Entering Music", with "Fridays at 10 am" and a white BTPM Classical logo below that
Entering Music

Neo Romantics

By Stratton Rawson,
Richie English
Published August 7, 2026 at 10:00 AM EDT
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background is a sheet of music with a purple overlay. Photo of Stratton on the left and a photo of Richie on the right. Below that in bold, white text is "Entering Music", with "Fridays at 10 am" and a white BTPM Classical logo below that

Stratton often tells Richie how lucky they are because they have available to their ears over one thousand years of music-making and the opportunity to bring into their daily lives the joy of music once enjoyed, say, by Viennese Princes, Elizabethan poets, or American beatniks. That’s why Stratton encourages Richie to introduce him to the popular music he pointedly refused to take notice of while he was virtually buried in the music of Beethoven, Schubert, Mozart, Haydn, and hundreds of others. And so, yep, much of the time that means communing with the legacy of dead, white men. The ghost at hand at this moment is David Bowie.

Entering Music 2026
Stratton Rawson
Stratton Rawson grew up in the Hudson Valley of New York State midway between the Hudson River and the Appalachian Trail in the shadow of some the oldest mountains on earth.
See stories by Stratton Rawson
Richie English
Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, Richie English has worked extensively as a pianist, teacher, and composer since childhood. He began studying piano at ten years old with Frieda Manes, and within a year was the youngest piano teacher registered with Denton, Cottier & Daniels in state history.
See stories by Richie English
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