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 […]

The Jazz Chord

Happy Coffee Day, Pancake Week and Podcasting Sunday!–It’s been another interesting week. This week’s homework is a reflection of my quest to understanding chords, chording and how to best teach my students about harmony. We are borrowing from one of our text books that asks students to, “create a jazz chord sound…” See the homework […]

More Listening Homework…

This week’s homework involves doing a bit more listening. What will you listen to? Please see your assignment below: Listen to the last movement of Mahler’s 9th Symphony. The entire symphony can last anywhere from 70 to 90 minutes. The whole symphony is in four movements, but you may listen to the finale which is […]

Important Chords…

This week’s homework is simple…begin to study chords that are important to you. Do you like the sound of an A Chord? The sound of an A Chord may remind you of the color yellow, in the case of one student’s aural observation. We talked about the B Chord on The CMajor Radio Show yesterday. […]