Social media enables instant recognition of musical talent including that of young musical prodigies. A music prodigy is literally an individual that demonstrated musical talent before the age of 10. Such talent is inspirational and should be experienced by others. That is not to say that everyone will be as talented musically but that all individuals will be able to find an area of interest that allows for their personal growth and increase of self esteem. A few years ago I came across a family of musicians in a band called “Liliac.” The siblings range in age and are lucky to have a music producer for their father. Here is one of their performances when they were just gaining their fame.
This 7 year old boy Jesus del Rio sings ACDC’s “Highway to Hell” in the Spanish version of The Voice for Kids. His remarkable talent impresses the judges and the audience.
9 Year Old Pinxi Liu or YOYO from China is a highly talented guitar player and her talent is obvious to any who watch her perform “Angel of Darkness.”
Nandi Bushell achieved fame by challenging Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters to a drum battle where she dominated her competition. She is 11 years old and has received celebrity status through social media.
To conclude this post I will introduce Lydian Nadhaswaram who began playing the drums at the age of 2 and then started studying the piano at age 8. Now at 15 years old he can play over a dozen instruments.
When studying Music whether in school or through private instruction, there are certain names that are always remembered. Amadeus Wolfgang Mozart is always remembered first – not necessarily for his prolific skills in composing remarkable music but for the skills he demonstrated at an early age. He was a child prodigy who not only performed regularly for royalty but also starting composing at an early age. Thinking about Mozart had me wondering about other note worthy child prodigies in music. In classical music we can also include composers such as Frederic Chopin, Franz Liszt, Sergei Prokofiev and Camille Saint-Saens. I have already included compositions from these composers in earlier posts but did not realize that they were considered to also be child prodigies.
I also began to think about the performances of young musicians from the 2003 film “School of Rock” starring Jack Black. As a substitute teacher, he teaches his students how to become a rock band and is astounded by the talent demonstrated in class. Here is an example of their talent from a Battle of the Bands competition.
Some of the more famous modern child prodigies in music include Freddie Mercury, Elvis Presley and Stevie Wonder. Freddie Mercury – lead vocalist for the rock band Queen demonstrated his musical talent at an early age and was gifted with a four octave vocal range. At school he had formed a rock band at the age of 12 and continued piano instruction that was started at age 7. He composed many songs for Queen and “We Will Rock You” is one of the most recognizable with it’s distinctive beat and lyrics.
Elvis Presley started a recording contract at the age of 13 years old with Sun Records and became known as “The King of Rock and Roll.” He brought African-American influences in music forefront to the music scene through his vocals and playing rhythm acoustic guitar. Here is his rendition of “Hound Dog” from his appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. This television variety show always showcased up and coming talent from all over the world.
Stevie Wonder lost his sight as an infant but that did not stop him from learning to play the piano, harmonica and drums. He has achieved many Billboard 100 hits with his blending of musical genres such as rhythm and blues, funk, pop, soul, gospel and jazz. “Signed, Sealed, Deliver I’m Yours” is just one of the many songs that he recorded.
December 15, 2020 - Posted by littles - 0 Comments
Due to the restrictions and protocols to be followed at school I opted to create a singalong that everyone can access whether at school or at home. I miss the opportunity for all staff and students to gather but am glad that we can still organize some of our annual events to boost our Nelson school spirit.
Here is the order of the songs selected:
1) The Christmas Song
2) Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
3) Last Christmas
4) Jingle Bells
5) Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer
6) Feliz Navidad
7) Frosty the Snowman
8) I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas
9) Jingle Bell Rock
10) We Wish You a Merry Christmas
11) Auld Lang Syne
We begin our selections with The Christmas Song chosen by Division 3. This song was written in 1945 by Robert Wells and Mel Torme and was made popular in 1946 by the Nat King Cole Trio.
Divisions 8, 9 & 10 chose another holiday favourite – Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The song was written by Johnny Marks and was recorded by Gene Autry in 1949 making it an instant hit.
Last Christmas – chosen by Division 2 – was released by the English pop duo Wham! in 1984 and was written and produced by George Michael. As of February 2020 Last Christmas has sold 1.9 million copies and is the biggest selling single to not reach No. 1 in United Kingdom chart history.
Divisions 12, 13 and 14 chose Jingle Bells as their singalong selection. Jingle Bells was written by American composer James Lord Pierpont and was originally released in 1857 as “One Horse Open Sleigh.”
Division 6 chose a more modern favourite – Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer. This song was written by Randy Brooks and was originally performed by Elmo and Patsy Trigg Shropshire in 1979.
Division 4 chose Feliz Navidad (Merry Christmas) – was written in 1970 by Puerto Rican singer and songwriter Jose Feliciano. This song became an instant popular favourite for the holiday season.
Division 11 chose the song – Frosty the Snowman as their selection. This song was the inspiration for the 1969 animated TV special and was sung by Jimmy Durante. Frosty the Snowman was written by Walter “Jack” Rollins and Steve Nelson and was originally recorded by Gene Autry in 1950.
Our next selection was chosen by Division 5 and 7. I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas was written by John Rox and was performed by 10 year old child star, Gayla Peevey in 1953. This song was linked to her hometown, Oklahoma City when their zoo acquired a baby hippo named Matilda.
Division 1 chose Jingle Bell Rock as their favourite Christmas song. This song was first released by Bobby Helms in 1957 and was written by Joe Beal, Jim Boothe and James Ross Boothe. The song lyrics are actually an extension of the traditional Winter song, Jingle Bells.
We will finish with two traditional songs that usually conclude our annual Christmas Singalong. Merry Christmas is usually sung by all Intermediate students to conclude their portion of the Winter Celebration Concert. I was fortunate to find a version that is similar to the lyrics we sing.
Auld Lang Syne was written in 1788 by Scottish poet Robert Burns. It means “old long since” or “days long past” and is traditionally sung to celebrate the coming of the New Year. Primary students usually sing this song to conclude their portion of the Winter Celebration Concert.
May your Winter Break be restful and 2021 be a year to remember. On behalf of the staff of Nelson Elementary have a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and a wonderful Holiday season.
At this time of year I listen to a lot of music from different genres and performing artists. When younger I remember hearing songs played on the radio, in stores, on television and on our record player. In fact I have many of these selections on records and play them frequently whenever possible during the holiday season. These five songs are my favourites when it comes to novelty secular Christmas music.
Snoopy Versus the Red Baron was written by Phil Gernhard and Dick Holler and was reccorded by the Royal Guardsmen in 1966. Snoopy was one of the characters created by Charles M. Schultz for a comic strip entitled “The Peanuts.” Snoopy often imagined himself as an airman fighting the Red Baron during World War I.
Here is another novelty song that involves a cartoon character – The Chipmunks: Alvin, Theodore and Simon. And of course their human companion Dave Seville. “Dave Seville” was actually the stage name for the composer Ross Bagdasarian who wrote a song about three mischievous chipmunks and a struggling song writer. I have always enjoyed the way the chipmunks interact with each other.
This song is not as well known as another song that Gene Autry sang – Rudolph the Red – Nosed Reindeer. The lyrics of this song describe a loyal and faithful animal that helps Santa each year with giving out toys to children across the world. It happens to be on the same record as Snoopy versus the Red Baron.
Records come in three different sizes. The most common size is 33 1/3 but I also have some that are referred to as 78’s. These records are thicker in width and rotate faster with the grooves engraved closer together on the vinyl. Spike Jones (Lindley Armstrong Jones) was a popular musician and bandleader that specialized in novelty arrangements for both for radio and television. He and his orchestra performed this song – “All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth” with soloist is George Rockwritten. The song was originally written by Donald Yetter Gardner in 1944.
The last song has been associated with another famous cartoon character: the Grinch from the 1966 animated version of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”. This character was first created by Dr. Seuss (Theodore Geisel) and featured in the 1957 book of the same name. These scenes accompanying the song “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” are sung by Thurl Ravenscroft and the lyrics were written by Dr. Seuss himself. Have a wonderful Holiday Season!
In North America, Halloween has become a day to celebrate with not only costumes and trick or treating but with decorations and light displays. Many include creepy sound effects or popular songs about monsters at their festivities to set the mood for their guests. I have only included a few favourites here from the numerous titles that are popular at this time of year.
In 1962 Bobby “Boris” Pickett released the novelty song – “Monster Mash.” The lyrics are well written and the use of sound effects create the perfect atmosphere . . . a scary party with real monsters as the guests of honour. In attendance are various vampires, zombies and of course – Wolfman, Dracula, Frankenstein and Igor (Dr. Frankenstein’s assistant.)
When the song, “Purple People Eater” was released in 1952 it was number one on the Billboards Singles Chart for five weeks from June 9th to July 14th. Although Sheb Wooley did not write this song with Halloween in mind it has become another favourite to be heard on radio stations in late October. The lyrics describe the journey that an alien takes to Earth to fulfill his dream of playing rock and roll music.
In 1964 a television series entitled – “The Addams Family” was debuted in North America and was based on the characters created by Charles Addams that initially appeared in 1938 as single panel cartoons in the publication The New Yorker. The television music composer Vic Mizzy wrote the theme song and through animated features and movies the members of the Addams family have become well known.
In 1984 Ray Parker Jr. released the song – “Ghostbusters” as a theme song for the movie having the same name. After the release of the movie the song stayed number one on the Billboard Single charts for three weeks and was nominated for an Academy Award. The popularity of the theme song continues today and was once again heard when studios released a newer version of the film in 2019. The lyrics provide “The Ghostbusters” as the answer for dealing with any type of haunting experienced.
Songs that are popular for Halloween are not just found in rock music. In fact country music also has some memorable titles that should be mentioned. In 1948 Stan Jones and his Death Valley Rangers released the song – “Ghost Riders in the Sky.” The lyrics describe a legend that warns cowboys to change their ways before they are doomed to chase the Devil’s herd across the sky for eternity.
In 1979 the Charlie Daniels Band performed a song entitled – “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.” This song won a Grammy Award for the best performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. The lyrics describe a fiddling contest between a young boy and the Devil himself. The instrumental solos are fantastic and highlight the monumental battle taking place.
Take a moment to research and listen to other song titles that are being played on the radio and featured online at this time of year to celebrate Halloween.
Division 1 & 2 students are studying how music determines the reactions and emotions of an audience when combined with images. One of their assignments will be to use Chrome Music Lab – Song Maker to create their own original musical compositions for film background music. When exploring Chrome Music Lab several factors need to be considered.
There are choices as to the instruments to be used: Marimba, Piano, Strings, Woodwinds and Synthesizer.
Choices of percussion include: Electronic, Blocks, Drum Kit and Conga
If you click on settings button you are given additional choices such as:
Length of phrases (1 – 16 bars possible in total)
Beats per bar (2 – 7 possible)
Split beats (1 – 4 possible)
Scale (Major, Pentatonic or Chromatic)
Starting Note (Low, Middle or High C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B possible)
Range (1, 2 or 3 octaves possible)
Your notes are shown by different colours for each letter name:
C – red, D – orange, E – yellow, F – light green, G – dark green, A – dark blue and B – purple and accidentals are shown by gradient colours between those notes.
The tempo (or speed) of the composition when played can range from 40 to 240 beats – roughly one to two beats per second.
I chose 16 bars, 4 beats, split into 2, a Chromatic scale starting on Middle C of 2 octaves. I also chose a tempo of 119 for the song example that I created for this project.
To begin click on any square and it will be filled in with colour that designates a note chosen. To choose and place percussion on particular beats click on the lowest two lines. Once you are ready to hear your composition click on the play button. Clicking on the play button will also stop your composition so that you may make adjustments as desired.
To remove either press on the undo button or click on any square previously chosen and the note will disappear. To begin again you may press the restart button but any changes made to the settings will also be lost as the site goes back to the default settings in place.
Once you are satisfied with your original musical composition you may save the web address to either a word document or email to yourself. We will begin the process of combining your composition with your video choice in the next two weeks.
Music can affect one’s emotions. Not only the music itself but especially when combined with images or illustrations. When moving pictures were first created they were thought remarkable due to the technology involved. They were not really popular until movie theatres brought in organs or pianos to be played simultaneously while the images were being shown. The musician was responsible to play music to engage the emotions of the audience in the action being presented. Through the emotions experienced the story was told.
In Classical Music there are several examples of music telling a story. I will introduce two different compositions to you in this post. Franz Schubert, (1797 – 1828) an Austrian composer during the last Classical and early Romantic periods, was best know for his lieder or art songs and chamber music. In 1815 he wrote “The Erlking” – a song for a baritone soloist and piano based on a poem by Goethe. His piano accompaniment replicates the pounding of horses hooves and the soloist portrays four different characters: the narrator, a father, his son and the Erlking or Death. The voice and accompaniment combine to create an uneasy feeling that increases until Death triumphs.
Charles Gounod wrote originally wrote “The Funeral March of the Marionette” in 1872 as a solo composition for piano before transcribing it for orchestra in 1879. A television show during the 1950’s entitled, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, used it as a theme song. The storyline of this composition has the marionette dying in a duel, a funeral procession passing by and mourners taking refreshments before returning to the procession.
The French composer Camille Saint Saens wrote a tone poem entitled “Danse Macabre Opus 40” in 1874. He was inspired by visiting the ossuary underneath the city of Paris to write a composition about the Dance of Death. The ossuary contains the bones of thousands of individuals and are artistically arranged throughout the tunnel that run underneath the city. Saint Saens could imagine the bones parading around in the dark tunnels. Watch the listening guide as it tells the story of the Dance of Death.
I also thought of how musical accompaniment can also affect picture books. This short video of the story of “Creepy Carrots” written by Aaron Reynolds, uses music to build tension and cause anxiety for its viewers. It is not too scary and has a humorous ending that is once again enhanced by not only the narration but the musical accompaniment.
The sequel to “Creepy Carrots” – “Creepy Pain of Underwear” uses more subtle forms of musical accompaniment. You have to listen carefully to be able to hear the persistent chromatic notes in the upper register that build in volume when joined by lower sustained notes to underline the tension of the story.
All of these examples show how much musical accompaniment can affect the telling of a story. As these videos imply music is especially effective when trying to promote fear or anxiety. But better time of year to explore this topic but close to Halloween. Feel free to explore other scary classical compositions as available online.
The holiday of Thanksgiving in Canada originally started in the 19th century as a means of celebrating faith and the harvest of crops grown. In 1908 pressure from the railways caused parliament to move Thanksgiving to a Monday to create a long weekend. The reasoning of the railways was that three days allowed for families to travel by train to visit together.
At present the holiday of Thanksgiving is a national holiday and has both a sacred and secular traditions. The word “thanksgiving” means giving or sharing grateful thoughts. Perhaps we should all take time to give grateful thoughts as we continue to experience the circumstances of this world-wide pandemic. I thought of the gifts that are unique to each of us and was inspired to dedicate this post to the tune “Simple Gifts” that Aaron Copland introduced within his composition “Appalachian Spring” in 1944.
Aaron Copland, an American composer, wrote “Appalachian Spring” for a Martha Graham ballet that tells the story of a young frontier couple on their wedding day. It tells of new beginnings and possible dreams or directions for the future. As Copland often included American folk songs within his compositions, he used a Shaker song that was composed in 1848 by Elder Joseph Brackett entitled “Simple Gifts.” Here is an orchestral performance of “Simple Gifts.” Listen carefully to the openness of Copland’s harmonies that depict the vastness of the prairie and the triumphant hope of the young couple.
The shaker song “Simple Gifts” also has lyrics that are simplistic yet profound. This performance features the classical cellist Yo Yo Ma and the Blue Grass artist, Alison Krauss.
There are several variations of “Simple Gifts” available for viewing but I discovered two that were worth sharing. The first performance includes young professional musicians that play bells and brass instruments.
The second performance is by The Piano Guys – an American musical group that includes a pianist, cellist, videographer and music producer. Their version combines the song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” with the well known Shaker song.
As a conclusion to this Thanksgiving post I will include the story “The Very Cranky Bear.” This story demonstrates how each character has different gifts to be thankful for and willing to share. It also shows how sharing a simple gift can ultimately bring about a peaceful conclusion.
Each year, during the season of Autumn, I usually choose a famous composition to study in depth with all primary students. This year I will be introducing students to Prokofiev’s famous composition – “Peter and the Wolf.”
In 1936 the Russian composer Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev wrote the symphonic fairy tale “Peter and the Wolf.” It is a composition for an orchestra and a narrator. Prokofiev assigned an instrument or family of instruments to each character of the story to help young audiences identify and recognize the sounds of orchestral instruments.
Here are the characters and the instruments used to portray them:
Peter: the string section
His grandfather: the bassoon
The bird: the flute
The cat: the clarinet
The duck: the oboe
The wolf: three French horns
The hunters: the bass drum and the timpani
Here is a short video that just plays the theme or motif for each character in the story.
Now that the characters have been introduced with their instrumental accompaniment I have selected this video of Peter and the Wolf that also included illustrations and narration. Just to ensure that you remember the characters and their corresponding themes this version repeats that information before telling the entire story.
As this composition was initially performed without illustrations, I thought it was also important to include the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra with Branwell Tovey conducting and narrating Peter and the Wolf. We are fortunate to have such a wealth of professional musicians in a local ensemble that are featured regularly on CBC broadcasts.
I will complete this post with an animated version of Peter and the Wolf that I usually share with students. This version only relies upon the music and visuals to communicate the story and features a different ending of the tale that I quite appreciate. Remember that this is only a story so don’t be afraid of the wolf when it finally appears.
September 27, 2020 - Posted by littles - 0 Comments
In a previous post I provided historical information about the composer Antonio Vivaldi. As the weather changes from the season of summer I will focus upon his third movement of the famous “The Four Seasons” – Autumn. This movement, written in 1720 at the height of the Baroque period, has three sections:
a country dance at a harvest festival (fast in tempo)
hearing the cooler air of the season arrive (slow in tempo)
a Baroque hunt through the woods (fast in tempo)
He wrote this sonnet to accompany this movement:
Allegro
The peasant celebrates with song and dance the harvest safely gathered in.
The cup of Bacchus flows freely, and many find their relief in deep slumber.
Adagio molto
The singing and the dancing die away
as cooling breezes fan the pleasant air,
inviting all to sleep
without a care.
Allegro
The hunters emerge at dawn,
ready for the chase,
with horns and dogs and cries.
Their quarry flees while they give chase.
Terrified and wounded, the prey struggles on,
but, harried, dies.
For further historical information behind Vivaldi writing “The Four Seasons” I present in this illustrated children’s book. Listen carefully and you will discover not only why the composition was written and but for what ensemble.
Although the original composition is written for string orchestra more modern ensembles have incorporated different instruments to replicate the famous third movement of “Autumn.” Here is a different string ensemble playing this composition.
I will complete this post with one last version of “Autumn” that is accompanied by illustrations of fall foliage. Perhaps you could also create your own visuals while listening to this movement.