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Music for the Community
Welcome to our Music for the Community page! Since we can't take our music out to local nursing homes and libraries at the moment, we're inviting you in to enjoy it here instead. Each day you'll find a new student performance on this page, along with some info about the composer or instrument - and sometimes words too so you can sing along.
If you're interested in a particular category, you can sort performances by student age, instrument, singalong music, composer and so on - click on the orange tags under the text. We hope you and your family will enjoy watching our students share their music!
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Monday, June 08 2020 00:00
Day 46 - Hongroise (Hungarian Dance)
Violinist age 9 plays "Hongroise" by Robert Pracht.
Robert Pracht (1878 -1961) was a German composer and music educator who composed many piano and string works for both professionals and students. He was also well-known in Germany as a choral conductor, and composed over 200 works for male voice choirs.
This short dance is in the fiery Hungarian style - and we'll have more of this later in the week. For now, if you’ve been following our posts on musical construction, you'll probably be able to hear the overall "A-B-"A form.
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Monday, June 01 2020 00:00
Week of June 1st: Lament
IMPORTANT NOTICE, JUNE 1st
To quote Martin Luther King Jr., "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." As members of communities both smaller and larger, what affects some of us affects all of us, and if we stay silent in the face of egregious injustice, we risk becoming become complicit in it.
To quote Martin Luther King Jr., "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." As members of communities both smaller and larger, what affects some of us affects all of us, and if we stay silent in the face of egregious injustice, we risk becoming become complicit in it.
In light of the multiple blatant incidents over the past few weeks (which of course are just the visible tip of the iceberg) involving the targeting and victimization of Americans of color, culminating in the horrific murder of George Floyd on May 25th, we therefore offer a musical commentary that surely speaks for itself: Lament.
"Lament", performed by the composer
We would like to thank the artist for allowing us to offer their powerful composition as commentary. This is our only "Music for the Community" for this week.
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Friday, May 29 2020 00:00
Day 40: The Boy Paganini
Born in Prussia (now part of Germany), Edward Mollenhauer (1827–1914) achieved success in America as a violin soloist and teacher. His best-known pieces for young violinists are “The Infant Paganini” and “The Boy Paganini”, written in homage to the legendary Paganini himself - see below - and including some of Paganini’s own special violin techniques. Of these, listen out for:
harmonics (1:40 - 1:50)
left hand pizzicato (plucking) mixed with bowed notes (2:54 - 3:11)
chords on all four strings (3:27, 3:49)
simple octaves (4:49)
Niccolo Paganini (1782-1840) himself was a household name in his time, touring Europe to rave reviews and swooning audiences. He was a great showman as well as artist, and would wow his audiences by playing so furiously that he would break all his strings except one, then finishing the piece with flair on the one remaining string (of course, he had perpared this on purpose!).
Paganini composed all the music that he played at his own concerts. In the process he wrote some of the most fiendishly difficult technical works for violin, including his famous set of 24 Caprices - which still offer the highest of technical challenges for 21st century violinists.
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Thursday, May 28 2020 00:00
Day 39: Not Jingle Bells; Row, Row, Row your Boat; and......?
Pianist age 6 plays "This is not Jingle Bells" and "Row, Row, Row your Boat"
Well, it does sound at first like it’s going to be Jingle Bells - but then it changes its mind! Can you identify the other tune? And does it come in the right order, or….?
That first one could be confusing to try and sing along with, but Row, Row, Row Your Boat is pretty straightforward, and you can feel the lilting triple time in “Mer-ri-ly, mer-ri-ly…”, as if you’re on the water.
Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream;
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily –
Life is but a dream!
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Wednesday, May 27 2020 00:00
Day 38: Bourrée 1 & 2 by Bach
Cellist age 16 plays Bourrées I & II from Bach Solo Suite #3 in C
More old-fashioned dance music today, but unlike a Minuet, a Bourrée (pronounced "boo-ray") is in duple time (ONE two, ONE two) – similar to a Gavotte. Still, like our Minuet and Trio on Day 36, this set of two Bourrées is again made on an overall A B A pattern.
Why is this such a common musical form? It's because it's satisfying: after you hear the A, then the B in contrast, returning to the A gives a feeling of “coming home”, and also provides a simple sense of symmetry. That’s true in very small pieces like Twinkle, in dance sets like this one – and even often in big symphonies by composers such as Beethoven. Teaching students to hear and understand this in the music they're playing helps them to appreciate all music more deeply.
The music of Bach’s six unaccompanied cello/viola suites is some of the most beautiful there is to play, and gives musicians both a musical and technical workout. It’s always exciting for us as teachers when student reach the milestone of being ready to discover them!
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Tuesday, May 26 2020 00:00
Day 37: Red Parrot, Green Parrot
Violinist age 8 plays "Red Parrot, Green Parrot" by Edwards Huws Jones
This is one of our favorite easy pieces for violin – the parrot squawks are always a big hit, in lessons and in recital!
It’s also great for singing along. It has a simple A, B1, A, B2, A pattern – think “Jingle Bells” with chorus, verse, chorus, verse, chorus. The only difference between the two B sections is that in the first one, the violinist has the tune and the pianist provides the parrot squawks; while the second time around they switch. Of course, that’s the part that everyone’s waiting for!
A) Red -- parrot, green -- parrot,
Perch -- on a tree,
Red -- parrot, green -- parrot,
Fly -- ing -- free!
B1) Red -- parrot squawk: SQUAWK!!
Green -- parrot squawk: SQUAWK!!
Some -- parrots talk -- but --
These ones only squawk.
Then back to A, B2, A – same words as above.
You need only 2 fingers on one string, plus the other open strings, to play this song. But you're learning several musical skills along with these easy notes – including changing rhythms, “dynamics” (switching from loud to soft, both suddenly and gradually), and listening to the other player while you keep count, so you can jump in with your squawks at exactly the right time.
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Monday, May 25 2020 00:00
Day 36: Mozart Minuet and Trio
Violist age 12 plays Minuet & Trio by Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in 1766 in the beautiful Austrian city of Salzburg. When he was 3, his father starting teaching his 7-year-old sister Nannerl the clavier (the forerunner of the modern piano). Wolfgang was fascinated and began picking out simple intervals right away, so his father began teaching him too. He began composing at the age of 5 – by which time he was already performing on both violin and keyboard.
After spending his childhood performing all over Europe, at age 17 Mozart was appointed court musician at Salzburg. But he had bigger dreams, and soon resigned the position to move to Vienna to seek more fame and fortune. He found plenty of the first and less of the second, as he frequently more money than he earned. By the time he died at the age of 35 he had composed more than 600 works and was the most highly-regarded composer of the classical period. Older classical composer Joseph Haydn, who at one point had given him composition lessons, wrote: "posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years."
We talked about “sandwich construction” on a small scale in Twinkle. A Minuet and Trio set is the same idea on a larger scale – a short “A” piece, followed by a “B” piece, then back to “A”. As discussed here, the minuet was a very popular dance music form of the 18th century. Minuets are always in triple time: see if you can hear the “ONE two three, ONE two three”.
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Friday, May 22 2020 00:00
Day 35: Vivaldi Cello Sonata in A minor
Cellist age 15 plays Vivaldi Cello Sonata in A minor
Born in Venice on the day of an earthquake, Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi (1678 -1741) is regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Baroque era, and during his lifetime he was famous across Europe. He composed many instrumental works, especially for string instruments - many of which were written for girls at the orphanage in Venice, whose musical skill improved their marriage prospects at a time when there were few other options for women. He also wrote a large amount of church music, and more than forty operas. His best-known work is the series of violin concertos known as the Four Seasons - we featured "Spring" earlier in this series.
Vivaldi wrote a set of six cello sonatas (works for a solo instrument, usually with accompaniment by a keyboard) between 1720 and 1730. All of them have four alternating slow and fast movements (separate pieces); this is the second movement of the third sonata.
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Thursday, May 21 2020 00:00
Day 34: The Dance of the Spider and the Fly
Pianist age 8 plays "The Dance of the Spider and the Fly" by Donald Waxman
A native of Baltimore, Donald Waxman met his wife Jho at the Peabody Conservatory, and shortly after graduation the couple founded a music school in Nyack, New York. Like our Day 2 composer, Kabalevsky, the Waxmans felt that musical language in the piano methods of the time was dated, and not challenging or interesting enough for 20th century students.
Mr. Waxman says, “ I wanted young students to be working in a language more varied than that of so many piano method books. I wanted students to be playing and hearing music written in a wide variety of intervals, modes and tonal and chromatic combinations that go beyond the extreme limitations of music based primarily on the triads.” We think you’ll agree that he succeeded!
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Wednesday, May 20 2020 00:00
Day 33: I Want a Popsicle
Day 33: Violinist age 5 plays Twinkle Variation D, “I Want a Popsicle”
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Tuesday, May 19 2020 00:00
Day 32: Harry Potter
Cellist age 9 plays Harry Potter: Hedwig’s Theme and Fireworks
“Hedwig’s Theme” (by John Williams) is the dominant theme used in all of the Harry Potter films. In spite of its title, it doesn't always specifically represent Hedwig, Harry’s owl, but rather the wider idea of magic and the Wizarding World.
This young performer not only found and prepared this music herself, then persuaded her talented Mom to accompany her - she gave us an extra bonus by performing in full Harry Potter costume!
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Monday, May 18 2020 00:00
Day 31: Lollipop Man
Violinist age 8 plays "Lollipop Man" by Katherine and Hugh Colledge
Husband and wife team Kathy (b.1952) and Hugh (b.1945) Colledge both worked as instrumental music teachers in East London before moving to Norfolk in 1995. Their compositions and arrangements are a joint effort, with Kathy being the string instrument composer and Hugh writing the piano accompaniments.
This student learned "Lollipop Man" as part of her preparation for the Royal Conservatory external evaluation program. We’ve offered this program since 2014 for students who want to challenge themselves; we’ve seen enormous growth those taking part, and have been proud to see several of them honored with both Evaluation Center and State level “Certificates of Excellence” for the highest mark at their level.
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Friday, May 15 2020 00:00
Day 30: Mozart Violin Concerto #3 (Skills, part 5)
Violinist age 16 plays Mozart's Violin Concerto #3 in G major, 1st movement
We hope you’ve enjoyed a peek behind the scenes of students’ musical and technical development in this week’s entries. Our aim as teachers is to help students enjoy and celebrate all these stages on a well-planned journey, giving them appropriate music for their age and skill level along the way. But we do this also with - from their very first lesson - the long-term goal of giving them full ownership of their own musical and expressive voice.
So to finish our week, here’s a video to show where this has all been heading: a performance by a student who is well past the basic and intermediate stages, and is now ready and equipped to explore professional-level repertoire in the form of one of Mozart’s sparkling violin concertos.
While the video was not taken from the best angle, we’re pretty sure you’ll enjoy this young man’s sensitive and expressive playing, and how he's now able to put his technical skills at the service of Mozart's beautiful and timeless music.
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Thursday, May 14 2020 00:00
Day 29: Seitz Viola Concerto in D (Skills, part 4)
Violist age 15 plays Seitz Concerto in D, first movement
Friedrich Seitz (1848 - 1918) was a German violinist and composer, conductor, concertmaster (first chair in an orchestra), and teacher. He wrote five “Pupil’s Concertos”, as he called them, as a stepping-stone between easier short pieces and the longer, more challenging concertos of Vivaldi, Bach and Mozart. This student is well on the way to completing that transition.
The viola is bigger and lower in pitch than the violin – see also these performances. It loses the highest string (E) on the violin in exchange for a lower one (the C below middle C) at the other end; this, and the greater volume of air inside it, makes for a darker, richer, velvety sound. But the fingering system is exactly the same as on violin, so anything written for violin can be very easily adapted for viola, as has been done here.
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