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