Music Education Portal
After you’ve read all about Peter and the Wolf, watched the videos and listened to each instrument, see if you can answer the following questions: The first six questions relate to this video: There are seven characters played in this video. For each of the seven examples see if you answer these questions: What instrument […]
Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf never fails to delight us! This introduction to the orchestra was originally intended for children, but everyone is entranced by his beloved masterpiece. We may be five years old, acting out each character and giggling through growls. Perhaps we’re ten and just beginning to compose for different instruments — yes, […]
Everything about the competition sounded like fun! The year was 2011. The sponsor was a performance group in Hanover, Germany, who was giving their third annual Composers Competition. The Plathner Eleven chamber group certainly had a sense of humor and creativity. The rules for the competition were similar to other competitions, except for the theme […]
Life Lessons from a Piano Student A gifted piano student learns to “play horizontally” on the piano and “live horizontally” in her everyday life. Article by Emma Armstrong-Carter, originally published on our previous site, March 9, 2011. Reprinted with permission of the author. My piano teacher teaches me music theory and technique, but the […]
Inspiring Performance https://videos.files.wordpress.com/2GVkYyvT/voice-musicwiz-glenn-gould-goldberg-variations-bach-aria_hd.mp4 Starting each new day by listening to Bach is a great way to become inspired, whether you are a performer, teacher or just someone who loves beautiful music. In this 1981 performance of the Aria from Bach’s “Goldberg Variations”, Glenn Gould shares with us the power of playing slowly, and bringing out […]
Studying the Bach Goldberg Variations brings up a few questions, and some very exciting answers! “What on earth could a composer do with only eight notes?” we might ask. “Not much!” we might answer, especially if those notes were just the first four tones of a descending G major scale, a skip of a third, […]
Brendan Toller’s documentary I Need That Record! The Death (or Possible Survival) of the Independent Record Store (2008) tells the story of the demise of the independent record store, though it might just as well tell the story of the demise of the independent video or book store, all of which were victims of box […]
I first heard Bach’s choral prelude Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ (“I call to thee, Lord Jesus Christ”) in Tarkovsky’s Solaris (1972). It seems to me one of the most beautiful compositions, and Tarkovsky’s scene, in which the piece harmonizes with the camera as it plays over Brueghel’s Hunters in the Snow (1565), […]
Here’s an easy way to remember the order of flats and sharps: The word “FLAT” has four letters – the order of flats moves up by 4ths: B C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C D E F The order of flats is B E A […]
The Circle of Fifths is a wonderful tool for beginners in theory as well as for the most advanced composers! Here are some of the many things you can learn from the Circle of Fifths: Key Signatures Relative minor and major keys Chord Progressions I – IV – V in any key Dominant Substitutions Advanced […]
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