MOTIFS!

Dear All Students!–Happy Sunday! It’s another chilly day in the Greater New York City Area. Keep warm. Thank you for listening to the podcast. This week’s homework is all about motifs. Try to put some motifs and some chords together. The definition of motif is below. A short melodic and/or rhythmic figure of characteristic design […]

Curious … Chord Progressions

For this week’s homework, we’re posting a live poll. It’s fun!–think about where you were in 1979. And, if you were not anywhere yet…maybe think about where some of your family members were. What types of music making were you or your family involved in? Mine was definitely piano lessons, playing piano and other instruments […]

Chord Challenges

Hi there. Thank you so very much for tuning in to The CMajor Radio Show and CMajor Before The Show. We’re still getting our ducks in a row. And, if you accidentally changed your time as a “fall back” (as I did)…please forgive our mistake. My first internet reading was right, that we get an […]

Percussion & Chords

This week’s homework is about listening…You are invited to listen and watch a performance of a Percussion Concerto…on YouTube. I learned about the piece and the performance options from one of my piano students. Check out the Percussion Concerto by composer Jennifer Higdon. See if you can recognize some of the chords/harmonies. Among the instruments […]

All About Sound Effects & Chords

This week’s homework is all about sound effects and chords. See if you can hear the blues theme that dominates the work in William Grant Still’s Afro-American Symphony. Listen for the style of the harmonization. Then listen to the music of Florence Price, Harry Burleigh, Antonin Dvorak, Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein. Note: The spirituals […]