Good Morning and Happy Monday to all of you! I hope that everyone is staying healthy and finding some new way to enjoy this unexpected time with those closest to you. No one could have predicted all that we are going through. Stay strong and remember to smile each day!
Today I am linking to a bunch of performances that I believe are “mood boosters!” There are different styles of music included here. Do you have a favorite? Is there something there that you don’t like? See if you can name a few reasons why you like or dislike these different types of performances rather than just saying, “I like this” or “I don’t like this.” Click read more to see the whole post!
Today I am linking to a bunch of performances that I believe are “mood boosters!” There are different styles of music included here. Do you have a favorite? Is there something there that you don’t like? See if you can name a few reasons why you like or dislike these different types of performances rather than just saying, “I like this” or “I don’t like this.” Click read more to see the whole post!
The first piece of music is called “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” performed by Bobby McFerrin. Bobby McFerrin is a very popular American vocalist who performs mostly in the Jazz style and even does a lot of scat singing that we talked about last week. This song won “Song of the Year” and “Record of the Year” honors at the 1989 Grammy Awards show. Here is a video of Bobby McFerrin at the Kennedy Center doing nothing but improvising. Improvising means making things up “on the spot.” It is a little bit of a longer video but it really speaks to me as to how powerful music can be – just an entire roomful of people making music together. So often we are satisfied with being “music consumers” - people who listen to music but don’t actively participate, whereas, I feel that this type of performance and music making is much more satisfying. Here is the link to the video!
URL 1 - https://safeyoutube.net/w/2hw3
URL 2 - https://safeYouTube.net/w/nho7
Our second piece of music is a piece of music called “Take Five” by the Dave Brubeck quartet. As indicated in the name of the group, Dave Brubeck was a very important member but also included Paul Desmond, Eugene Wright, and Joe Morello. Dave Brubeck lived from 1920 – 2012 and was always very fond of the jazz style of music. Did you notice that this piece of music did not have any words? I love when music has no words because you can make up the story in your head. If you like this style of instrumental jazz music, here is another piece by the Dave Brubeck Quartet called, Blue Rondo a la Turk. Enjoy!
URL 1 - https://safeyoutube.net/w/Cjw3
URL 2 - https://safeYouTube.net/w/O2o7
The third selection is a piece written 300 years ago(!) by a very famous composer named Johann Sebastian Bach. Can you believe it? Why do you think many people still perform and listen to this piece if it was written so long ago? It has a very long name, Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 – Allegro Moderato. This means it was Bach’s third Brandenburg Concerto and it was made up of many different parts or movements and each movement was titled by its tempo marking – in this case – Allegro Moderato.
Bach wrote an incredible number of different compositions during his lifetime, 1685-1750. If you go with your parents onto YouTube, you will find hundreds of different recordings of his music. Here are two more videos that I think are particularly good. The first is Tocatta and Fugue in D minor – you might be surprised that you may have heard parts of this piece before. It is usually played on an organ, not a piano. The next is Cello Suite No. 1, in G Major, Prelude. This video features a world-famous musician named Yo-Yo Ma playing cello. This piece is widely considered to be one of the most famous pieces of music ever written for cello.
URL 1 - https://safeyoutube.net/w/MFJ3
URL 2 - https://safeYouTube.net/w/mJo7
URL 3 - https://safeYouTube.net/w/uOo7
The fourth piece for this week is called Conga del Fuego performed by the Venezuelan Youth Orchestra. How is this piece different from the others that we have already listened to? What do you like about this piece of music? Is there anything you don’t like? Did you enjoy looking at the conductor? What can we tell about him? Do you think he enjoys his job?
URL 1 - https://safeyoutube.net/w/pQJ3
The last piece for this week features my favorite type of ensemble: choir! The piece is called Baba Yetu, composed by Christopher Tin. The music is written in Swahili and the title translates as “Our Father.” Even though most of us cannot speak Swahili, so we don’t exactly know what the exact translations of the text means – what is the overall feeling that you get from listening and watching? This performance was done by the Stellenbosch University Choir in South Africa.
URL 1 - https://safeyoutube.net/w/siw3
Finally, I have been sharing some of my favorite music by The Piano Guys. This week’s piece is called All of Me written by one of the band members, Jon Schmidt. He is also the one playing piano. It amazes me how good some people are at playing the piano, don’t you think?
URL 1 - https://safeYouTube.net/w/jsp7
I hope that all of you have a good week. Remember, if you are feeling overwhelmed or stressed by the work that your teacher is giving you, have your parents reach out to them. All of us know how difficult all of this is.
“Where words fail, music speaks” - Hans Christian Andersen
Mr. Baur :)
URL 1 - https://safeyoutube.net/w/2hw3
URL 2 - https://safeYouTube.net/w/nho7
Our second piece of music is a piece of music called “Take Five” by the Dave Brubeck quartet. As indicated in the name of the group, Dave Brubeck was a very important member but also included Paul Desmond, Eugene Wright, and Joe Morello. Dave Brubeck lived from 1920 – 2012 and was always very fond of the jazz style of music. Did you notice that this piece of music did not have any words? I love when music has no words because you can make up the story in your head. If you like this style of instrumental jazz music, here is another piece by the Dave Brubeck Quartet called, Blue Rondo a la Turk. Enjoy!
URL 1 - https://safeyoutube.net/w/Cjw3
URL 2 - https://safeYouTube.net/w/O2o7
The third selection is a piece written 300 years ago(!) by a very famous composer named Johann Sebastian Bach. Can you believe it? Why do you think many people still perform and listen to this piece if it was written so long ago? It has a very long name, Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 – Allegro Moderato. This means it was Bach’s third Brandenburg Concerto and it was made up of many different parts or movements and each movement was titled by its tempo marking – in this case – Allegro Moderato.
Bach wrote an incredible number of different compositions during his lifetime, 1685-1750. If you go with your parents onto YouTube, you will find hundreds of different recordings of his music. Here are two more videos that I think are particularly good. The first is Tocatta and Fugue in D minor – you might be surprised that you may have heard parts of this piece before. It is usually played on an organ, not a piano. The next is Cello Suite No. 1, in G Major, Prelude. This video features a world-famous musician named Yo-Yo Ma playing cello. This piece is widely considered to be one of the most famous pieces of music ever written for cello.
URL 1 - https://safeyoutube.net/w/MFJ3
URL 2 - https://safeYouTube.net/w/mJo7
URL 3 - https://safeYouTube.net/w/uOo7
The fourth piece for this week is called Conga del Fuego performed by the Venezuelan Youth Orchestra. How is this piece different from the others that we have already listened to? What do you like about this piece of music? Is there anything you don’t like? Did you enjoy looking at the conductor? What can we tell about him? Do you think he enjoys his job?
URL 1 - https://safeyoutube.net/w/pQJ3
The last piece for this week features my favorite type of ensemble: choir! The piece is called Baba Yetu, composed by Christopher Tin. The music is written in Swahili and the title translates as “Our Father.” Even though most of us cannot speak Swahili, so we don’t exactly know what the exact translations of the text means – what is the overall feeling that you get from listening and watching? This performance was done by the Stellenbosch University Choir in South Africa.
URL 1 - https://safeyoutube.net/w/siw3
Finally, I have been sharing some of my favorite music by The Piano Guys. This week’s piece is called All of Me written by one of the band members, Jon Schmidt. He is also the one playing piano. It amazes me how good some people are at playing the piano, don’t you think?
URL 1 - https://safeYouTube.net/w/jsp7
I hope that all of you have a good week. Remember, if you are feeling overwhelmed or stressed by the work that your teacher is giving you, have your parents reach out to them. All of us know how difficult all of this is.
“Where words fail, music speaks” - Hans Christian Andersen
Mr. Baur :)
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