Violinist age 9 plays "Spring" from Vivaldi's Four Seasons, first movement

We’ve finally had some great spring days over the past week – we hope you’ve managed to get outside and enjoy them! With spring really getting underway, this seems like the perfect time to offer this beautiful sound picture.

Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi lived from 1678 – 1741 (more or less at the same time as Bach), and his "Four Seasons" violin concertos are among his most beloved compositions. Each movement of each season is paired with a poem, and it’s thought that Vivaldi may have written these too. 

Here’s his poem for this first movement of the "Spring" concerto - and where in the video you'll hear the matching music:

Springtime is upon us. [opening theme]
The birds celebrate her return with festive song, [00:36]
and murmuring streams are
softly caressed by the breezes. [1:25]
Thunderstorms, those heralds of Spring, roar, [thunder at 2:03, lightning at 2:06, rain at 2:14 on]
casting their dark mantle over heaven,
Then they die away to silence, [2:43 - 2:53]
and the birds take up their charming songs once more. [2:53]

Painting the full picture takes a lot of notes - you might notice the young violinist moving over from one page to the next a couple of times!

Violinist age 9 plays “Allegretto” by Suzuki

Musical pieces usually have a clear structure somewhat like a Lego building, and when you can begin to hear that, putting them together from their parts is much easier! This one features the Three Bears, and is built in sections like this: 

A1

A2 (almost the same, but a different ending)

B (completely different)

A2 

Just as in the singalongs on Day 4 and Day 8, you can hear how the same music has (mostly) the same words. We’ve also underlined the A1 and A2 endings, so you can hear the difference between them.

[A1] In a place far away on a hot summer’s day, the three bears’ cabin stood on the edge of a wood.

[A2] In that place far away on that hot summer’s day,the three bears went away for a walk.

[B] First the big Papa Bear, then the kind Mama Bear; far away, with his chair, came the small Baby Bear…..

[A2] In a place far away on a hot summer’s day, the three bears went away for a walk.

Pianist age 9 plays “Tick Tock the Jazz Clock” by Bill Boyd

Jazz music started in the African American communities of New Orleans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and by the 1920s had taken America by storm. It’s continued to take new and interesting forms since then. Try searching on bebop, cool jazz, jazz-rock fusion, Latin and Afro-Cuban jazz – you’ll all kinds of great listening! 

Jazz has a great swing to it because many of the notes come a little before or after the main beats. That may sound complicated - but this fun duet is easy to play! Listen to how the student plays the “tick tock” part, making a beat for the teacher’s music to dance around.

Violinist age 9 plays "Musette" by Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach lived from 1685 to 1750. He was born in what is now Germany, was the youngest of 8 children, and had a thorough musical education from his father, uncles and older brother.

He was a very hardworking musician who lived and worked at the courts of various dukes and princes, where he had to produce new music on a weekly basis for courtly events and chapel services. Not surprisingly, his published works number well over 1000, and it's thought that there were many more which have been lost over time.

His main performing instrument was the organ, but he wrote pieces for many other instruments, including voice. He wrote this Musette originally for harpsichord, a forerunner of the modern-day piano. A "Musette" was actually a kind of bagpipe popular at the time, and Bach was trying to imitate one here - if you listen carefully to the piano accompanying the violin, you may be able to hear the held bass note or "pedal tone", just as you would with a bagpipe.