Jayesslee

In honour of Twin Day on Tuesday, this week’s musician(s) is Jayesslee (J/S Lee), comprised of two Korean-Australian identical twin sisters, Janice and Sonia. Born and raised in Sydney, Australia, Janice is older than Sonia by 10 minutes. Singing covers of other artists’ songs, they are proving YouTube is the new model for “making it”. We listened to the first song that made them famous, Officially Missing You (Tamia), also Gangnum Style (Psy), Problem (Ariana Grande), Blank Space (Taylor Swift), This Is Me (Greatest Showman), Isn’t She Lovely (Stevie Wonder wrote this for his daughter).

Antonio Vivaldi

Antonio Vivaldi was an Italian composer in the Baroque Period. Vivaldi wrote more than 400 concertos for various instruments, especially for the violin. The scores of 21 operas, including his first and last, are still intact. His most popular work is the group of four violin concertos called “The Four Seasons”. Each concerto describes a season: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. We watched a recent recording by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra at the Orpheum Theatre (Spring

0:20, Summer

10:14, Autumn

19:55, Winter

31:10). We didn’t have time to listen to more, but here are other famous works Vivaldi composed: Trio in C Major, Gloria in D

Frank Sinatra

Francis Albert Sinatra “(December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer, actor and producer who was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 150 million records worldwide.” (Wikipedia) We listened to New York New York (referenced by Alex in Madagascar), Fly Me to the Moon (first song to be played on the moon), The Best Is Yet to Come (inscribed on his tombstone), My Way (featured in the movie Sing), Come Fly With Me, and I’ve Got You Under My Skin. Ask your parents or grandparents about him…they might have interesting stories to share!

Leroy Anderson

We listened to music by Leroy Anderson, with his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contribution to music, especially short, fun pieces for concert bands (which you might get to play if you join band in high school!). We listened to his most famous piece Sleigh Ride, which was actually written in the summer of 1948 during a heat wave. Then we listened to The Typewriter, using a real typewriter as an instrument to match the rhythms of the orchestra. We also listened to The Syncopated Clock, known for being the opening theme to The Late Show. Finally, we listened to Seventy-Six Trombones, one of the final songs from the musical The Music Man, which Leroy Anderson arranged for band.

George Handel

Our musician of the week is George Frederick Handel from the Baroque Period. His most famous work is the Hallelujah chorus from Messiah, which Christians today still sing around Christmas to celebrate the birth of Jesus. We also watched a Baroque dance to Water Music, which Handel wrote to be played for King George I of Great Britain as he and other aristocrats were enjoying a “cruise” down the Thames River and other peasants watched from the shore. Lastly, we watched musicians play Music for the Royal Fireworks, using Baroque instruments like the shawm (ancestor of the oboe), Baroque trumpet (no valves), and Baroque horn (ancestor of the French Horn).

John Williams

In honour of Throwback Thursday, our musician of the week is John Towner Williams, who’s 88 years old and lives in LA, California. You’d probably know many of the mainstream 70s-90s artists, so I chose someone more “behind the scenes” whom you might not know. He’s famous for writing music to many movies including: Star Wars Episodes I-IX, Jaws, Superman, 4 Indiana Jones films, ET, Home Alone, Schindler’s List, Jurassic Park, first 3 Harry Potter films, Memoir of a Geisha (watch this beautiful performance with Yo-Yo Ma, and the scoring process), and many more. You’ve probably watched or heard of most of the films mentioned, but TALK TO YOUR PARENTS about watching Schindler’s List together or when you get older (rated R). It’s an important film about how one man saved hundreds of Jews during WWII. I cried in class when we watched it in grade 12 History after learning about WWII (the music is so powerful I’m tearing up just listening to the music now).

We also discussed the power of music in film with the intermediate grades.

Piotr Tchaikovsky

Our musician of the week is Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky from the Romantic Era. We listened to selections from his famous ballet, The Nutcracker, including March and Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (Div. 1’s flashlight performance in the Virtual Winter Concert). Other famous pieces from this ballet include Waltz of the Flowers, Trepak, and Chinese Dance. Many have made movie adaptions based on this, including a 1990 version and a more recent 2018 version. Take time to watch a movie adaptation, ask your family if they’ve heard of or even seen this ballet live, and remember how to pronounce the name “Tchaikovsky” (chai-cough-ski)!
We discussed another famous ballet called Swan Lake (we watched the Dance of the Little Swans). You can watch the full ballet here! We also watched an excerpt from the 1812 Overture, with canons (sometimes replaced with fireworks) timed to match the music. It has been VSO‘s tradition to end with the 1812 Overture when they play at Deer Lake Park in the summer. Hope you’ll get to see it one summer after COVID!

George Gershwin

Our musician of the week is George Gershwin. We listened to the beginning of Rhapsody in Blue in class yesterday. If you have time, listen to the full performance by Leonard Berstein and the NY Philharmonic. We also listened to other jazz standards Gershwin wrote:

1) I Got Rhythm, lyrics written by George’s sister, Ira Gershwin

2) Summertime, with Louis Armstrong on trumpet & vocal (“What a Wonderful World“), and Ella Fitzgerald on vocal (“A Tisket A Tasket“)

You’ll probably hear these songs at some point in your life…they’re pretty famous! Now you’ll know who composed them!