December's Music Minute

Can you believe it is December?  Wow, how time flies!  Because it is December, I wanted to have a more festive post.  I found this fun rendition of the Christmas Song and thought it was very appropriate.

For any student in Book 1 or above, I want you to find at least 2 words you recognize and share with me the definitions.  For example, if they said "crescendo", you would tell me the word and that it means to grow louder.  There will be many words or topics you will not recognize yet, and that is okay...we will get there soon! :)

For my students in the purple book, just enjoy listening to the song!  Parents, please let me know that they listened so I can give them credit.


Click here and enjoy listening!

November's Music Minute

The History of the Piano

The Piano can be a member of the orchestra or a solo instrument. It is one of the favorite solo instruments of all the instruments in the orchestra with works by Beethoven, Brahms, Gershwin, Mozart, Ravel, Tchaikovsky, and many more. Stravinsky's Petrouchka and Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring are excellent examples of compositions where the piano plays a role as an orchestra member. The piano player is referred to as a pianist.

History
The first piano was built as early as 1694 and was invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori of Padua, Italy. The three pianos built by Cristofori that survive today date from the 1720s. The piano replaced the harpsichord as the most popular keyboard instrument of the Romantic era. The piano was first referred to as a pianoforte which means soft (piano) loud (forte) instrument. It was named the pianoforte because, unlike the harpsichord, it allowed the player to control the degree of loudness and softness of a note by the way he/she would strike a key.

How It's Made
Grand piano builders begin by coating thin sheets of maple or beech with glue and then layering these sheets until they have enough to form the outer rim of the piano. The layers are then taken to a rim press to give the wood its proper shape. After 24 hours in the press, the glue is dry enough to remove the rim from the press. The contoured rim is then taken to a conditioning room for 30 days to allow additional time for the glue to dry. Next, piano builders add a system of braces and tension rods to make the piano very sturdy. The piano is now ready for the sound board which is the amplifier of the piano. This is the part of the piano where choosing the right wood matters the most. In quality pianos, the sound board is made of solid spruce because of its strength and weight. The sound board and two bridges are placed above the brace system. The piano builder then adds ribs to the sound board, gluing them in place, clamping them tightly, and leaving them to dry. The glue will dry for about an hour. Next, the bridges and cast iron plate are added. Good craftsmanship is very important here. If the sound plate is not correctly assembled, the piano will never work well. The piano then goes through a finishing process where it is sanded and given its final look. In the next step, piano builders add the pin block, pins and steel piano strings. Dampers are then added to stop the strings from vibrating after a note is played. The keys and hammers are added next, carefully checking the action of the keys to insure that they will respond perfectly for the player. Add three legs and three pedals and there you have it... a piano!

Fun Facts
By the time a piano is put together it can be quite heavy. A Steinway Concert Grand can weigh up to 990 pounds. The largest piano built, the Fazioli F308, weighs in at a whopping 1520 pounds!

Piano playing is sometimes referred to as "tickling the ivories".

Information taken from www.makingmusicfun.net

October's Music Minute

Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, Germany in 1685. As a child, Bach's father taught him to play violin and harpsichord. His uncles were all musicians, serving as church organists and court chamber musicians. One of his uncles, Johann Christoph Bach, introduced him to the art of organ playing.

In 1707, Bach married Maria Barbara Bach. They had seven children. In 1720 Maria died and Bach married Anna Magdalena Wilcke in 1721. Bach had 13 more children with Anna Magdalena. He was a father to 20 children in all.
In 1723, Bach became the cantor, organist, and music composer for St. Thomas Lutheran Church in Leipzig, Germany. Bach remained there for the rest of his life.
Some of Bach's most famous works include the Brandenburg Concertos, the Well-Tempered Clavier, and the celebrated organ work Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.

Johann Sebastian Bach died in 1750. Bach was not appreciated during his own lifetime and was considered an "old-fashioned" composer. Today, Bach is considered to be one of the most influential composers of all time. In fact, he is now such an important composer that the year of his death is a defining point in music history. It marks the end of the Baroque Era.  

Next month, we will talk more about the different time periods in music, included the Baroque Era!  

This biography was taken from www.makingmusicfun.net

By the way, my little dog was name after this composer!  His name is Sebastian!  

Music Minute for September

Meet Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 

(1756 - 1791)

  

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born to Leopold and Anna Maria Pertl Mozart in 1756 in what is now Salzburg, Austria. His father Leopold Mozart was a choir master, a minor composer and an experienced teacher. When Mozart's sister Nannerl was seven she began keyboard lessons with her father while the three year old Wolfgang watched with fascination.

At age 4 Wolfgang himself began keyboard lessons playing without fault and with great sensitivity, and by age 5 he was composing short pieces which his father wrote down for him. In the following year Wolfgang and Nannerl began traveling through Europe with their father giving concerts in the courts of Europe. While touring, Mozart learned to play the violin and the organ.

At the age of 8 Wolfgang published his first two sonatas for the harpsichord. His skills as a composer continued to develop, and by the age of 13 he had composed his first opera at the request of an emperor.

By the time Mozart was in his mid-twenties he had established himself as one of the most accomplished keyboard players in Vienna, and was recognized as an talented composer. Some of his most famous pieces include Eine Kleine Nachtmusik for string orchestra, which means 'A Little Night Music', and Ah vous dirais-je, Maman* for piano solo, which is a set of twelve variations on a french tune that Mozart would have known as a young boy.

On December 5, 1791, Mozart died at 35 years of age, leaving behind a collection of more than 600 compositions, including works for the symphony, the piano, and the opera. Some of these pieces are considered to be the finest works in the Classical style.

Source:  www.makingmusicfun.net

Do you want to hear some of Mozart's compositions?

Click here to hear Eine Kleine Nochtmusik performed by the Slovak Chamber Orchestra.

Click here to hear Ah vous dirais-je, Maman.  Do you know what song this is?  

Hey kids!  To earn your 25 points, be sure to tell me at lesson that you read this and you can take a quiz!  Thanks for reading about Mozart.  Practice hard and you may play and compose as well as Mozart one day!