Good morning everyone. I hope you enjoyed a great weekend. We are now working from the school. I am very happy to be out of my basement and back in the music room. Last week we looked at the life and music of J.S. Bach. This week we are going to focus on W.A. Mozart, the man history refers to as the greatest composer of classical music. If you recall when we did The Prince and the Penguin-one of the characters at the ball was based on Mozart-Do you remember Wolfgang Amadeus Walrus? He was supposed to play at the ball but had cut his playing hand on a can of Tuna fish?! 

Look at the following website to learn about his life and music: https://www.classicsforkids.com/composers/composer_profile.php?id=46. One thing you should notice right off the bat is the fact that he only lived to be 35 years old (1756-1791). In fact, history named him the greatest composer in history, because of the staggering amount of music he composed during his short life time. After you read the story of his life there are two music clips; the "Turkish Rondo" (which I'm sure you have all heard on tv commercials) for piano and "Ah Vous Dirai-je Maman" (you will notice this is the main theme of Twinkle Twinkle with variations (different ways to play the melody) of this song. A lot of music you hear on tv commercials is borrowed from the music of these great composers who lived hundreds of years ago. I wonder in 300 years will students be studying the music of our time?

The next part of the website I want you to look at tells the story of Mozart's life and plays several examples of his most familiar music. https://www.classicsforkids.com/shows/shows.php?id=65. Again, you may recognize some of this music. Grade 7 will appreciate the Horn Concerto because they know how hard it is to get a nice sound on this instrument. The final piece is one of Mozart's greatest works, "The Requiem" ( a mass for the dead). Keep in mind, he not only wrote the orchestra parts for this, but the vocal/choral parts as well. Let me also remind you during Mozart's time- electricity had not been invented-he did not have a computer; he wrote by candle light and with an ink blot quill pen. The story goes that he wrote this while his own health was failing. Here is a small sample of the Requiem with the music score. You will see how busy the score looks with the vocal lines and the orchestra parts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTlTTKYHalg Just before he died, one of his students finished the final part of this music.

I also want you to read the section on his Operas (these are like super long plays where all of the dialogue is sung in addition to the songs you hear in the opera. An orchestra plays all of the music.)  https://www.classicsforkids.com/shows/shows.php?id=103. This gives a brief story of his operas and music samples. Again, you may recognize a few of these music clips. On this same page you will notice they give special mention to his opera "The Magic Flute". Read this and listen to the samples. https://www.classicsforkids.com/shows/shows.php?id=207.  This seems like a lot of work-but I only want you to "LISTEN" as the narrator tells the story and take notice of the names of each music sample as it plays. 

Mozart was a musical genius. Even though he may seem to you kids to be a "boring composer of classical music", you would be wrong. Mozart was a child prodigy, composing and playing music from the age of 4 years old. As are many child stars- he was in plain terms- a bit of a brat!!  When he grew into adulthood-he partied like a rock star while composing some of the greatest music of all time. He should have been a wealthy man-but he was broke at the time of his death and left nothing for his wife and children. Instead of being given a State funeral- following his death-he was buried in a common grave (for regular people-not aristocrats) on a stormy winter's day- with few people in attendance. A tragic end for a great composer. Spend some time looking over this material. He really had a fascinating life. Think about this question; Does his story sound familiar or comparable to modern day music stars? 

Hey, good-morning everyone. Looks like summer temperatures in store for us today- I hope everyone had a chance to look over the orchestra videos I assigned on Tuesday. I look at the orchestra much the same as creating a painting or a putting together all pieces of a puzzle; each part is necessary to the overall vision- but it is the final product that is the real joy. Here is a story about a boy, Farkle McBride. His parents want desperately for their son to learn to play an instrument. They provide him several different options, but Farkle just doesn't seem to have success with any of these instruments. We discover at the end of the story, as did little George (or HM!) that he doesn't want to focus on one specific instrument; he would instead prefer to  be the conductor of an orchestra. In a way being the conductor is a perfect role because you get to stand in front and appreciate the blending of sounds from each family of instruments.

The story was written by the actor, Jonathan Lithgow. Your parents may remember him as the lead actor in a tv series "Third Rock from the Sun". You students, will recognize his voice as that of Lord Farquaad in the "SHREK" movie. Although I have this book in the music room, I prefer to show the video version of the book. You will hear the author, Jonathan Lithgow, narrate the story with an orchestra accompanying in the background. Having the orchestral accompaniment really adds the perfect touch to the story. I am confident you will recognize all of the instruments and enjoy the story of "The Remarkable Farkle McBride." Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oM5pmq5nr1Q. Here is another version of the same story. I put it here just so you could see Jonathan Lithgow.  https://vimeo.com/44690670. 

Have a great long weekend everyone. I'm not posting any work until next week but thought you might get a kick out of this video. I'm still laughing as I'm watching some of these singers trying their hand at the National anthems prior to NHL hockey games. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CZpXUTqVHM&t=30s Again-everything comes down to being prepared for your performance. Sometimes however, even though you are a professional singer (she is from Fredericton & is very well respected in the genre of opera & classical music) -the singing style just isn't right for the Gig! The video ends on a high note with an amazing vocalist who has the right kind of pipes for a hockey arena. Next week I will show you several videos that re-visit the orchestra. In particular, you will see a video featuring a boy who looks an awful lot like one of our classmates- who wears glasses- and loves video games! All will be revealed on Tuesday. Stay tuned!

Good afternoon. I hope you enjoyed the video of musical mishaps. Let's get back to the keyboard family. I will refer you once again to the following website to look at the next instrument; the organ. Click on keyboards and scroll to the organ. https://www.classicsforkids.com/music/instruments.php?family=Keyboard. The organ looks really complex because it can have up to 4 keyboards-numerous stops (which change the sound) and foot pedals which provide the base note of the chord. An organist really has to be able to multi task! Playing the organ is kind of like driving a stick shift while having your right arm in a sling; tricky to shift the gears!!

Take a look at this video which shows the organist using the 4 keyboards. He is playing a well known piece of music by the great composer J.S Bach, "Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uXn6nDN7ck. The next piece of music, "Pachabel's Canon", shows the organist playing the foot pedals. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukA2xvsA1qg. Again. a very well known piece of music we often hear on tv weddings.

Finally, everyone will recognize the Toccato and Fugue in D minor by J.S. Bach. We associate this piece of music with Halloween and horror films. It was not written by someone in Hollywood though; it was composed by J.S Bach in the 1700's. Not many artists can boast having their songs played for over 300 years! This is just a video of the opening section. This particular organ is not as powerful as some of the full pipe organs. You can look up another video on youtube to see the entire piece. It runs about 10 minutes.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzWViu_hWN4. Enjoy.